The main square in Hamar is not a quiet place.On the contrary quite a few activities meet exactly at this point. Transportsof goods, crossroads and people in passing, marketing, shopping, patrons ofcafés and those who just want to watch people and the busy life from one of thebenches in the square. People, cars, commerce, work, social life and leisure –everything that is going on in this town sooner or later will appear in thissquare.

With the new and attractive library there mostcertainly will be even more people crossing the square, eager to visit thelibrary and its inviting premises with all kinds of interesting activities.These visitors, as well as others, will feel a need to stay for a while in thesurroundings around and outside the library. To read the book they haveborrowed, to wait for a friend, or just linger in this much frequented andexciting area.

In our suggestion for the main square in Hamarthese two aspects have been most important to us and they are also closelyrelated.

First, we think of the new library as theimportant change in Hamar.

Second, and as a consequence to this, the mainsquare has to be re-defined and re-constructed as a really new and social spacewith the library as cardinal point, not only in the square, but in thetown-centre. A space for people, not for big vans, buses and cars. We believethat the new library with its open and contemporary look and its multiplefields of activities is an important building for the citizens in Hamar but alsofor visitors and tourists. We have taken it upon ourselves to create forms thatwill highlight the square and help to define it as a public space. Artisticforms that we hope will act and interact with the citizens and become adistinct visual profile for Hamar.     

We have worked with two large-scale forms, abridge overlooking not only the main square but also lake Mjøsa and a planesurface set up in front of The Old Market. The plane is used during thesummer-season as base for a powerful waterwork. In the winter the plane islowered to the ground and then functions as an urban ice rink.   

The bridge and the plane surface are bothenergetic expressions that clearly define the new square and its ambitions.Having climbed the steps up to the height of 6.2  meters the visitors canenjoy the view of the lake as a means to open their minds, or they can endulgein observing people in the square. The viewers themselves, as they walk alongthe bridge up to the panorama-view, become part of the bridge and can be seenfrom the ground. From their high position they are able to see the sun set overMjösa and enjoy the full effect ofthe waterwork creating a rainbow-like mirage as the strong jet of water hitsthe metal plane in front of The Old Market.

Perhaps every town dreams of becoming somethingdifferent from what it is. In Hamar an important step already has been taken tomake a vision come through. A library provides the citizens with opportunitiesto explore and intellectually benefit from books, papers, films, music, mediaand different networks and look ahead. And just as important, the library isopen to everybody and is free of charge. It is a unique place in an otherwisecommercial center, and therefore very important for young people who seldom havemuch money to spend.

In our suggestion we want to transform the mainsquare to a really public space where people can meet, literally on manylevels, and enjoy different urban activities at the same time as they can get acloser connection to the lake-scape. The main square, as profiled place andpublic space, opens up for “the bigger splash” where Hamar shows its ambitionsand confidence for the future.

Our suggestion entails the removal of all smallbuildings and bus-shelters from the square to the new bus-stop area. We alsowant to remove all the trees in the square and pave the ground with cobblestoneinserting three distinct lines of limestone that encircle the square. We wantto turn the main square into a beautiful and open space without any cars, aspace that is easy to overlook and just as easy to get across. The square as anopen space also highlights the sculptures, or should we call it architecturewith a function, the bridge, the wall/plane with water and ice.

In the wintertime the ice rink connects toHamar´s worldfamous interest in skating. The wonderful sculptural building,Vikingskipet from the Olympic Games, is the obvious example of this interest.In the main square the skating is “admission free” and kids as well as adultsare free to skate in the middle of the city.

Our suggestion “ A Bigger Splash” is notaltogether sculpture, not entirely architecture and absolutely not landscapearchitecture, it is something in between these three and also of practical use.

It is an extensive suggestion that entailschanging and de-routing the traffic, cars as well as buses, moving and/orpulling down small buildings, paving the whole square and finally building twolarge-scale sculptural forms.