Getting started as a small firm

Skog consists of three partners. We first got to know each other at university in Trondheim while studying architecture together, spending a lot of time and late nights at school and becoming friends. After university we all worked together for some years at the same architecture firm in Oslo. For a long time, we talked about starting a studio of our own. We wanted to create a good place to work, do projects we believe in and work in a way we enjoyed. In 2019 we took the leap and founded Skog. The projects range from the scale of urban planning and residential areas to single family houses and detailing.

Towards a responsible future

For us, architecture and urban planning should be good for both people and nature. Skog is working with creating good and social places for people to meet. Through our projects we are researching how architecture and urban planning can promote a way of living that is both environmentally and socially sustainable. We want to promote both green buildings and green living through a holistic and ecological perspective/approach to architecture and urban planning. 

Working with natural materials in all phases of the building construction, we try to avoid environmental toxins by exploring the breathing, hydroscopic and constructive abilities of the wooden material and always searching for simple, functional and beautiful solutions.

A collective work environment

The studio is located in the city center of Oslo. We are a part of a shared work place with other architects, urban planners and landscape architects. It is a friendly environment where we have joined some of the other studios in collaboration in different projects. We find it quite nice as a small studio to be a part of a bigger work environment both social and professional.We try to involve all three in the projects and have learned to appreciate the discussions that occur because of our different experiences and personalities.

Constant learning

It is easy to have an idealistic approach to architecture at school, before entering the “real world”. Working as architects in the building industry with pressure on time and with economic restrictions one can start to lose faith in what was once important. For us, having the experience from working on the whole scale from urban planning projects to the building details, gives us an understanding of many of the processes involved at different levels. Learning to understand these processes makes us more equipped to preserve what is important in a project. But architecture touches on so many different subjects and is always changing – it is a continuous learning process.