Staging Openness through Atmosphere at the Oslo Opera House

Abstract Openness is a term often found in relation with urban development projects that seek to add social value to the built environment, not least within the context of Nordic welfare cities. In this article, we explore the Oslo Opera House (OOH) as an example of contemporary Nordic architecture and interrogate its purported openness through an atmospheric lens. Our study is based on extensive fieldwork and unfolds using three interconnecting generators of atmosphere: materials, light, and movement. We argue that openness is paradoxically shaped through partial atmospheric enclosures, and further suggest that understanding the workings of atmospheres is crucial to coming to terms with how our contemporary urban spaces are produced and experienced.