Oslo's opera house in Bjørvika wins European Mies Van Der Rohe Award for architecture

No surprise for something that looks as nice as this:


Dagbladet has the story in Norwegian. Quick summary:

The EU believes Snøhetta's opera in Bjørvika is Europe's best building. At ten o'clock on Wednesday it was announced that Norwegian architects would get the Mies Van Der Rohe Award 2009, the EU's own prize for architecture...jury forman Francis Rambert wrote on the opera that "The Norwegian Opera & Ballet in Oslo is more than just a building. It is first and foremost a living space(?), a gift to the city. The building can be seen as a catalyst for all the energy in the city."

This is also apparently the biggest prize for architecture that has been given not just in Norway but also in Scandinavia. The competition involved a total of 340 buildings.

Construction of the opera house took four years and cost $670 million...or so they thought. It actually came in under budget and ended up costing $625 million instead. You can see the four years of construction condensed into three minutes in a video here.