The Oslo Architecture Triennial 2026 will take place from September 17 to October 1 at Sofienberg Church in Oslo. This event will bring together over 30 international architectural projects, all under the central question: 'What if nature comes first?'
In this ninth edition, the Triennial will adopt the format of a two-week festival, integrating exhibitions, conferences, seminars, workshops, film screenings, and guided tours. Curated by Line Ramstad, the program will investigate how prioritizing nature in architectural decisions can impact what is built, conserved, modified, or kept intact.
The main exhibition will occupy both the interior and exterior space of Sofienberg Church, a building dating back to 1877, which is being adapted to function as a local cultural center in the Grünerløkka neighborhood of Oslo. The projects were developed using recycled materials and cover countries such as Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Instead of addressing sustainability merely as an addition to projects, the Triennial proposes that nature be the starting point for defining choices related to materials, structures, territory, and broader systems. The curatorial framework is structured around four dimensions: Materials, Structures, Territories, and Systems.
These categories cover everything from the selection and reuse of construction inputs to the durability of buildings, the interaction between architecture and the ground, and the regulatory and economic systems that define urban development. Project examples include the Gent Waste Brick, created by the firm Carmody Groarke from urban waste, the renovation of the old Thoravej 29 factory in Copenhagen, executed by the firm Pihlmann Architects, and the Grønn liste initiative by Built Architects, which maps properties in Oslo suitable for reuse.
Activities will run throughout the event period, with daily programming running from morning to night. The Triennial will begin on September 17 with an introductory conference on the theme and its four scales. The event will feature notable speakers, including lead curator Line Ramstad, Jonathan Grinham from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Zeynep Topçu from BC Materials, Tine Hegli from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, and Sian Ricketts from the firm Carmody Groarke.
In the following days, there will be morning lectures, seminars, and workshops focused on ecological economics, urban planning, reuse, and natural materials, complemented by film screenings and tours of the Oslo landscape.
A constant element of the agenda will be 'The Daily Sermon,' held daily in the pulpit of Sofienberg Church from September 18 to October 1. These brief presentations will address specific environmental or architectural challenges, offering solutions, while weekend meetings will allow for more extensive debates.
Other highlights include 'The New Stone Age,' a seminar dedicated to the use of stones and natural materials in architecture, and 'Nature and Economy,' which will analyze the role of ecological economics in the context of urban growth.
Additionally, there will be a seminar on September 22 in collaboration with the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, discussing the connection between cultural heritage, reuse, and development. Titled 'How Can We Make Reuse Pay Off?', this debate will involve architecture professionals, heritage specialists, and consultants to discuss the financial, cultural, and practical aspects of renovating existing buildings, aligning with the festival's broader focus on alternative solutions and available resources.
Line Ramstad, landscape architect and director of the Oslo Architecture Triennial, guides the 2026 edition with a perspective centered on materials, buildings, and existing knowledge as essential tools to reduce the environmental impact of construction and land use. She summarizes a fundamental principle of the event by stating: 'Materials are heavy and must stay in place; knowledge is light and can be disseminated globally.'
The Oslo Architecture Triennial 2026 will conclude on October 1 with a final conference that will review the festival's projects and discussions. This event fits into a larger calendar of major architectural biennials and triennials scheduled for late 2026, such as the Pan-African Biennial in Nairobi (September 7-11), the Tallinn Architecture Biennial (September 9 - November 30) under the theme 'How Much?', and the Sharjah Architecture Triennial, which begins on November 14 with the title 'Architecture Otherwise: Building Civic Infrastructure for Collective Futures.'