Gorgeous town hall has angles, atrium, and an illusion

What is it about the Nordic countries and their town halls? From Denmark’s Faroe Islands to Kiruna, Sweden, Northern Europeans know how to do a municipal building right.

Danish studio Atelier Lorentzen Langkilde (ALL) designed a new town hall in Bodø, Norway, to take cues from the surrounding buildings. Slotted between the old town hall and a bank, the building rises into an angular peak meant to mimic the sloping rooftops of its neighbors. Likewise, the building’s beige limestone has echoes of the brown and stone in the bank and old town hall.

Adam Mørk

Inside, the town hall is decked out in simple Scandinavian style: Five floors of glassy rooms overlook a soaring ash wood central atrium. On the atrium floor there’s a seating area with tables and chairs open to the public.

In a surreal twist, the artist Per Kristian Nygård mounted a cluster of tables and chairs to one of the atrium’s wall. The seating arrangement sits perpendicular to the offices, as if the building has been rotated, and no doubt provides an excellent distraction for employees during meetings.

Adam Mørk