Client: Hamar Olympiske Anlegg AS
Architects: Niels A. Torp AS Biong & Biong Arkitektfirma AS
Engineers: Stormorken & Hamre AS
Timber suppliers: Moelven Limtre
Main contractors: Ole K. Karlsen AS

The ship’s ribs are a succession of parallel open-webbed arches spanning up to 96m. The keel is 260m long and the entire structure used around 2,000m3 of glulam.

Literally the flagship of the 1994 Norway Winter Olympics, this structure was inspired by the traditional Norwegian fishing boat which traces its roots back to the Viking ships that plied the North Atlantic.

The shape of the upturned boat, enclosing 40,000m3, is formed from ten different spans and heights of three-pinned spruce glulam arch – the boat’s ribs. Because of their size, these arches have triangulated webs. The structure depends upon its ‘keel’ - twin spine arches, whose composition follows that of the transverse frames, spaced at 12m intervals, requiring significant but crisply detailed timber and steel bracing. The node connections are all factory-fabricated using multiple flitchedin steel plates of relatively thin section, fastened unobtrusively by plain shank cylindrical steel dowels.

Buttressed reinforced concrete piers provide the supports and the horizontal resistances for the arched frames. Externally at the eaves, round, turned and tapered glulam props support the protruding tips of the upper chords, which are protected from rain by generous roof overhangs.

The size and geometry meant that crosschecking was required between large working models and computer-generated representations, first in 2D and then in 3D. Computer visualisation software was linked to CAD-CAM modelling for frame manufacture, subsequently supporting the contracting work.