Nadia Stolt-Nielsen Wikborg

Norway’s energy industry is in crisis. Due to an inability to consider alternatives and having depleted natural resources, the oil and gas industries, with its associated communities are increasingly migrating to extreme environments, such as Norway's northern territory. This territory is home to other communities, that are sustained by traditional industries, mainly fishing. Can such severe circumstances inspire an alternative architectural model, whereby these two industries and communities co-exist? 

The proposal speculates on both a short-term, and a long-term future for the islands of Lofoten. The short-term future sets out the inevitable scenario of oil and gas being extracted and thereby, bringing a boost to the work force to the area, but using the infrastructure for other means. Since the fishing industry is seasonal, I propose that the fishermen are given grants by the government to carry out deep-sea research the rest of the year, while they are not fishing. This research will be based around the platforms help preserve the existing cod stocks.

The Architecture of the proposal suggests a floating island, in which the underside of the research facility cultivates a growth of cold-water corals. In the long term, after the oil and gas has been exhausted, this floating research center attracts and sustains the cod in the area, via the corals, allowing the biodiversity to thrive. The platforms become an attraction, for scientists all over the world, highlighting Lofoten as a leading deep-sea research facility below the Arctic Circle.