The Thief

Mellbye Arkitektur Interiør AS, Norway

The city district of Tjuvholmen is a fantastic venture and, in many ways, un-Norwegian in character. The combination of its close proximity to the water, urban concentration, and unusual architecture is unique.

Within the city is a hotel called The Thief. This lifestyle hotel is not about stealing attention; rather, it’s about emanating an elegant calm in an architecturally eclectic environment. The history of Tjuvholmen as an industrial area is reflected in the building materials. Stone, steel, and wood, in contrast to more exclusive materials such as bronze, link the building to its history but also create a formality found in five-star hotels. The building has a dark, smooth, and formal façade in contrast to its lighter and more modernist neighbors. The building’s darker style creates a heavier hotel character while acting more like an enduring, discreet backdrop for the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art.

With 124 rooms and approximately 8 400 square meters, the hotel can be divided into three parts: two lobby floors on the ground level and first floor, rooms from the second to seventh floors, and an eighth floor with a roof terrace.

The ground and first floors house the public spaces, such as the reception area, restaurant, and bar, which have been projected as open and inviting elements, especially when you arrive from the city over the bridge, a feature that expresses the accommodating nature of the hotel. The volume cantilevered over the lobby floors, featuring guest and meeting rooms, is heavier in design. The extensive use of glass in the building’s façade ensures rooms offer maximum views and natural lighting. This creates a varied façade where shadows move, screening and glimpsing the life within, creating a fascinating entirety – associating to the hotel’s name, The Thief. The eighth floor consists of a conference room and an exuberant and sprawling landscaped terrace. 

Originally appeared in Modus News 3