Stubbebryteren Sjursøya, Oslo

All projectsStubbebryteren Sjursøya, Oslo

Unconventional lighting

Norway

Since 1969, Stubbebryteren has been a defining feature of Oslo Harbour. Originally located on board the ship Christen Smith, the derrick crane was used for loading and unloading railway wagons and locomotives due to India on behalf of the British government. Later, Oslo Harbour purchased the crane to lift transformers, turbines, or even entire ship sections ashore.

In the 1990s, the crane was decommissioned, but it was not until 2016 that it was dismantled and relocated to the far end of Sjursøya, near the access-restricted cargo harbour zone. The crane, also known as the "Stump Breaker," is easily visible from the sea and stands in a 7,000 square meter green area. This park features vegetation similar to the islands found in the Oslo Fjord, creating a visual continuity in the landscape. At the top of the crane, almost 20 meters above the ground, a panoramic platform provides an emotional view of the harbour and the city of Oslo.

Year

2023

Location

Oslo, Norway

Lighting design

Light Bureau

Architect

LINK arkitektur

Pictures

Tomasz Majewski

Stubbebryteren is composed of a tower that pivots at the base and is linked to a web of steel pipes and braces, which allow it to move freely in any direction. Recently, as part of an urban requalification plan, the crane has been transformed into a historic and cultural landmark of Oslo's cargo harbour.

To fully renovate the area, an eye-catching lighting system was necessary to showcase this unconventional monument with captivating color-changing effects at night. Designed by the lighting experts at Light Bureau, the concept aimed to highlight the crane's distinctive features with vibrant, saturated colors and soothing shades of white light.

To achieve this, the lighting designers used Jupiter lighting fixtures in RGBW color configuration, equipped with either elliptical or narrow beam optics. These fixtures were embedded in the semicircular anchorage structures of the derrick crane, ensuring that they were not intrusive. Additionally, the designers choose modular bars from the Parade L2 and L3 series, with wide optics and RGBW color configuration, to complete the lighting scheme with accents of bright colours. These bars were hidden among the gears of the crane to deliver unexpected effects coming from within the crane body itself. The installed luminaries are all automatically time-controlled.

The final result is stunning, as the entire height of the crane now shines brightly in vibrant hues of red, blue, and white standing tall in Oslo's harbor as a beacon in the night.

Credits:
Owner and client: Oslo harbour
Lighting design and controls: Light Bureau https://lightbureau.com/
Landscape architect: LINK arkitektur https://linkarkitektur.com/en
Intstallation: Installatøren Oslo
Pictures: Tomasz Majewski

Installed fixtures:
10x Jupiter RGBW Elliptical optics
1 x Jupiter RGBW Narrow optics
1 x Parade L2 RGBW wide optics
6 x Parade L4 RGBW wide optic