Follow the building process

According to Report No. 56 to the Storting (White Paper) “Founding of a national photographic museum”, Preus museum must be established in Storehouse No. 1 (also called Storehouse A) in Karljohansvern, a building owned by the Ministry of Defence.

The conversion and refurbishment of the building is documented by the photographer, Siggen Stinessen.

The building project

Preus museum (former Norsk museum for fotografi - Preus fotomuseum) has been established in Storehouse No. 1 (also called Storehouse A) on the fourth floor of Karljohansvern. This was stipulated in the agreement between Preus Foto AS and the State in 1994. The Construction Service of the Armed Forces was appointed to carry out the necessary building alterations. The cost of locating the museum at this site had not been calculated at that stage. A project was carried out to calculate the cost of converting Warehouse No. 1 and revealed that it would come to over NOK 50 million. It was subsequently decided that NOK 20 million should be allocated for carrying out a limited conversion of just the fourth floor. It proved impossible, however, to limit the conversion work to just the one floor as the building was cracked down the middle and the builders had to carry out extensive work to secure the loft. It was also impossible, within the cost limit, to meet the stringent requirements for HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) and security that the display and storage of photographs demand. This plan also took no account of the space required for storing the collection, and no account of the kind of suitable space required for the power plants and other engineering equipment.

Professor Sverre Fehn, architect, was assigned the task of converting the building at the request of Norsk museum for fotografi - Preus fotomuseum, and presented his project on 18 September 1998. His project covered a net area of 2,967.5 sq. m. This included the establishment of a common lift arrangement for the museums. The project required minimal changes in the design of the building and carried a price tag of NOK 38 million, but this amount proved unacceptable.

A revised project was submitted on 1 September 1999. In this revised project, the entrance to the photographic museum was in the middle of the main wall and there were no shared functions with the other museum. It was essential for the photographic museum that the logistics of the museum should be optimised. The parties simplified various aspects of the project and reduced the price of the conversion to NOK 36 million. The Norwegian Ministry of Cultural Affairs then decided to increase its subsidy by NOK 10 million, so that the total subsidy amounted to NOK 30 million. The Ministry of Defence, in turn, provided an advance of NOK 6 million that Norsk museum for fotografi - Preus fotomuseum has to repay in six annual instalments of NOK 1 million, and it finally became possible to start the project. The building work has been assigned to the company TKS Bygg, in Sandefjord.

The County of Vestfold and the municipality of Borre have provided subsidies totalling NOK 5 million for furniture and fittings, and for exhibitions at the museum. All in all, the museum now has NOK 6 million available for its activities. This work will also be carried out following the designs of the architect, Professor Sverre Fehn.

Warehouse No. 1, where the photographic museum has been located, was built in the years 1861–1864 at a cost of NOK 446,588. Beside Warehouse No. 1 is Warehouse No. 2 (also called Warehouse B), built in 1839, but this was partly destroyed by bombing in the Second World War. The Naval Museum, which has been located in Warehouse No. 1 since 1864, was designed by Captain P. Thrane. The outside resembles Warehouse No. 2, which was designed by Captain Frantz Henrik Aubert. To protect the historical value of the building, it was not possible to insulate the fourth floor as a fire-tight cell by adding a new, fireproof floor. Instead of this, a sprinkler system had to be installed on all floors throughout the building, including the loft. Another condition to be met was that the four stairwells had to be maintained – and this meant the original plan to install a lift and a new staircase for the photographic museum had to be abandoned. An alternative plan to build a separate lift on the outside of the museum with a bridge from the lift shaft to an entrance on the third floor was also rejected by the antiquities authorities.

The current fixed floor plan, with its many small cells, the majority of which are designed like booths with thick walls (90 cm) like permanent walls supporting a central corridor, means that substantial amounts of space are not used very efficiently. The arc-shaped walls also mean that the volume of space available is small in relation to the surface area.

The distance from floor to ceiling varies from 250 cm to 350 cm. The outside wall of the building measures 157 x 15 metres. The walls differ in thickness. The renovation of the building encompasses 2,100 sq. m. of open areas on the ground and third floors, and 300 sq. m. in the loft.

The museum will be equipped with central heating. All cabling for computers and electricity will be built into the floors. The floor itself is suspended and will be marked by means of a steel rail running along the walls and columns. The floor covering will be American oak parquet. Water will be piped under the floor on the second floor. The engineering room for this plant is on the ground floor.

The HVAC plant, sprinkler system and electricity supply for lighting are in the ceiling. Supply conduits have been drilled through the vaults. The thickness of the vaults and the rock-fill over the vaults used to stabilise them varies from 25 cm to 120 cm. Some of the drill cores measure 50 cm. The water supply for the sprinkler system, and the electricity supply are both concealed by a V-shaped, iron girder that also forms the fixing point for light fittings. This girder creates a unifying ornament in the middle of the ceiling.