Designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, the Ambassaden’s angular modernist stature holds a striking presence in the heart of Oslo. When it opened in 1959, it functioned as the US embassy until its closure in the early 2000s. Fast-forward to today – the building has been reopened and its programming altered. It now operates as a multi-functional space that includes music venues, restaurants, coffee and wine bars, offices, a gym, co-working spaces, and a rooftop terrace.
The building’s diverse programming presented a challenge for its positioning as a public space for a multitude of people and activities – as did the shadow of its original purpose. The physical projection of a foreign power still resonates in the urban landscape, along with the memory of its closure.
The notion of ‘identity across time’ became the driving force behind the creation of Ambassaden’s visual identity, designed by Bleed (also based in Oslo). The intersection of identity, the projection of American ideals abroad (the embassy once housed a library of American pop culture), and the host city’s reclamation and repurposing of those ideals for its own citizens all come together in this space.
Past and present, cool modernity and pop-culture joviality – these tensions play out through the motif of papers, inspired by the official documentation of passports and forms associated with the embassy. These papers become surfaces that stack and pile, both static (as posters) and in motion (online) as social content and building projections. They allow for a layered yet concise expression, and a modus for storytelling that ‘complements the building’s zeitgeist, the pragmatics of modernism, and Ambassaden’s new role in society’.
This idea plays out through – what else? – Neue Haas Grotesk (completed in 1957), supported by optimistic illustrations and intense colours that ‘breathe life’ into Karl Teigen’s photographs from 1959. There’s an invitation here to dig in, sort through, and find the piece that matters to you – your place within a space that, while materially fixed, once held the expectations, ideals, and influence of individuals and state.
These questions are wonderfully interrelated. The illustrations do a lot of placemaking, encompassing many of the experiences contained within the building. They’re drawn in a style that transcends time – are they from the past, from the present? Despite being tied to current experience, the objects and references are clearly rooted in the past. They’re consistent, creative, carefree. They are the life of the building.
Around the illustrations, type forms a structure, with Neue Haas Grotesk upholding modernist ideals – much like concrete, steel, or glass – alongside more formal black-and-white photography. The juxtaposition between assets is clear, creating distinct points of interaction that add range to the project. Motion brings everything to life – just like colour.
Together, these elements – colour, typographic composition, and illustration – effectively navigate the complex challenge of acknowledging the building’s material presence and origin, its reprogramming as a cultural hub, and its decontextualisation: of being many things to many people, rather than a projection of power and influence.
