Aurland Look Out in Norway by Saunders Arkitektur & Wilhelmsen Arkitektur

Today there are many people stopping at this site to enjoy the phenomenal views over the Aurland fjords. At times the areas gets filled with cars and tour busses. One of the first things we decided to do was to form a small parking area for 2 buses and 10 cars further up the road to help keep the place pure and not to disturb the look out. The construction is a bridge that one can go out onto, as a structure in the air. The structure is 4 m wide, 30 long, and 9m high out at the very end.

To make the situation even more dramatic it was important for us to create the experience of leaving the mountainside. We wanted people to come out in the air. The construction creates a distinct horizon; a bridge in the open room of this large fjord.

Architect: Todd Saunders & Tommie Wilhelmsen
Client: The Norwegian Highways Department
Technical Advisors: Node AS, Bergen
Contractor: Veidekke AS, Sogndal
Road Engineer: Asplan Viak
Project year: 2005
Photographs: Todd Saunders