Lysaker
Encyclopedia
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
municipality
Municipalities of Norway
Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...
of Bærum
Bærum
is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandvika. Bærum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. A suburb of Oslo, Bærum is located on the west coast of the city....
, just west of Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
Geographically, it is bordered by Lysakerelven
Lysakerelven
Lysakerelven is a river in Norway that forms the boundary between the municipalities of the capital city of Oslo and Bærum....
(Lysaker River) on the east, which also forms the border to Oslo; Fornebu
Fornebu
Fornebu is a peninsular area in the suburban municipality of Bærum in Norway, bordering western parts of Oslo.Oslo Airport, Fornebu served as the main airport for Oslo and the country since before WWII and until the evening of October 7, 1998, when it was closed down...
to the south; Stabekk
Stabekk
Stabekk is a suburban centre in the municipality of Bærum, Norway. Mainly a residential area and have most of the conservative population in Norway the current population is 6,261....
to the west; and Jar
Jar, Norway
Jar is a district in the municipality of Bærum, Norway. Its population is 4,868.It is served by the Jar rail station on the Kolsås Line.-References:...
to the north. Its economic and demographic development is in large part a result of the main rail (Drammensbanen and European route E18
European route E18
European route E18 runs from Craigavon in the United Kingdom to Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Norway, Sweden, and Finland. It is about 1,890 km in length.-United Kingdom:...
) thoroughfares from Oslo to Drammen
Drammen
Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...
and points south. The E18 thoroughfare is the busiest road in Norway, with some 170,000 cars passing through daily.
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
lived there, an increasing number of office parks have overtaken Lysaker since the late 1970s. Although a few industrial sites (Findus
Findus
Findus is a company that produces and retails frozen food. Its products include Crispy Pancakes, which were invented in the early 1970s.- Origins :...
, Barnengen, and Granfos Brug) and some office buildings (Klaveness) had been situated in Lysaker for some time, the construction of engineering offices for Kværner
Kværner
Kværner was a Norway-based engineering and construction services company in existence between 1853 and 2005 when it was merged with Aker ASA. The Kværner name was used in the subsidiary Aker Kværner until April 3, 2008 when it changed name to Aker Solutions. Kværner re-emerged on 6...
(Now known as Aker Solutions) along Emanuels vei marked the beginning of a trend that has profoundly changed the area. The built-up area in the center of Lysaker is now known as Lysakerlokket — "Lysaker lid," because so much of the construction is elevated.
In addition to office buildings, the highway system has also been changed dramatically, with tunnels, overpasses, and underpasses.
Some architectural features are worth noting:
- The characteristic round shape of the Klaveness building has become a recurring theme in newer office structures built around it;
- The old paper mill known as Granfos Brug has in large measure been preserved through the development of Granfos Næringspark
The area around Lysakerelven has been set aside and developed much like a park, with new or renovated bridges from Lysaker to the Oslo neighborhood of Lilleaker.