3RW was established in year 2000 as a young and independent
office, strongly rooted in Bergen-s art and cultural scene. The founding
partners of 3RW were all educated (and later, also taught) at
the independent Bergen School of Architecture or BAS, a school
founded by Svein Hatløy, who oriented the institution towards the
philosophy of `open form-.
Open form seeks to create an inclusive architecture. It conceptualizes
architectural language as a -democratic expression- - one which allows
for meaningful social transformations. Designs are to be based on and
interactive with their context, material and immaterial; of the landscape
and climate.
3RW architects regularly work on the completion of diverse sociocultural
site analyses, also using this site-oriented methodology in other
participation processes, both in the fields of planning and architecture.
3RW-s starting point for carrying out sociocultural place analyses is
supported by the understanding that a place is not reducible to its
physical components, but is an ensemble made of local inhabitants-
experiences, memories, values and feelings.
These analyses help 3RW to identify the many understandings,
interests, differences, wishes and needs of an area-bound population.
Such analyses critically contribute to the dimension of social
sustainability of projects; their purpose is to unearth the relevant
aspects of `the socially constructed place-.
