The faceted, limestone-clad facades of this town hall in Bodø, Norway, have been designed to capture the dramatic changes in light and shadow that are characteristic within the Arctic Circle.
Designed by Danish studio Atelier Lorentzen Langkilde (ALL), the town hall in northern Norway combines a contemporary building with two existing structures ? the original city hall and a former bank.

The facades of the existing buildings were preserved, with the beige Jura Gelb limestone cladding of the new building chosen to mirror both the brown plaster of the old city hall and the natural stone of the former bank
The angles that define its facades take their cues from the sloping rooflines of the surrounding buildings. They have been created using modular stone sections defined by horizontal and diagonal lines as well as angular window surrounds.
The new building is attached to both the existing buildings and is arranged around a large central atrium, which is known as the "citizen's forum".

"It is a keystone linking and transforming the flow of the existing buildings to create a flexible, circular flow around a tall and dramatic atrium," explained the studio.

Drawing on the complex spaces shown in the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the atrium features staggered balconies, numerous floor levels and protruding meeting rooms.

An artwork by Per Kristian Nygård entitled Dikt till Byråkriatiet, which translates as Poem for the Bureaucracy, continues t...