“Bo i nord” is a varied and relatively close-set area of wooden housing situated on a northwest-facing slope on Tromsø island, about four kilometres west of the centre of Tromsø, with an outlook towards the airport and Kvaløya. Here there are more than 200 houses, divided into areas, surrounded by lush green areas of parkland. Footpaths provide connections between the housing areas. The houses are a mixture of old peoples housing, collective housing, young people’s accommodation, flats, terraced housing and detached houses. There are also play areas, a nursery and a communal barbecue hut.

In the planning of this environment, climate adjustment was a keyword. Two connecting east-west situated parkland areas are sited as communal areas between the housing, and other, lesser climate protection zones provide shelter from prevailing winds. Each housing area is formed as a climate screen in its own right by the way in which the body of the building is largely formed of “walls” to the north-west.

The area takes its name from, and was established for, the housing exhibition Bo i nord (Live in the North) in 1990. The housing exhibition was a collaborative venture between the municipality of Tromsø and Norske Boligutstillinger (Norwegian Housing Exhibitions), and was part of the Winter Cities promotion in Tromsø in 1990. The building plan for the area was devised by Tromsø municipality under the leadership of the head of town planning, Kai Bertheussen. Climate and landscape analysis was carried out by Anne Brit Børve, Arne K. Sterten and Kine Halvorsen Thoren. The Arctic parkland area was designed by the Finnish architects Kimmo Kuismanen and Veli Karjalainen from Oulu. Various architectural firms designed the houses and housing groups (see area site plan).

1988-1990

Diverse

Tromsø municipality and others

Housing

Timber constructions

half-timbering

residential area

woodwork half-timbering

climate adaptation