Alna Tributaries: A Tribute to Alna (OSLO)

The project aims at facilitating urban swimming in the Alna River while addressing urban flooding and pollution that come with heavy rains. Situated in Oslo's complex Grorud Valley, it proposes a strategy for analysing and transforming entangled urban areas. While the strategy for reopening all streams of Alna watershed is the same for each tributary, the type and design of the baths vary, depending on site-specific conditions such as topography, vegetation and urban structure, ultimately determining if the velocity and volume of water is suitable for an upstream treadmill or a secluded mud bath. Contrasting and accentuating local conditions, the baths become beacons along the main river, peaking curiosity and opening new trajectories to previously disconnected neighbourhoods. Zooming in on six widely different baths - from the Alna Olympic Pools to the Svartdalen Sauna - the potential of the strategy is demonstrated. Utilizing the utopian idea of swimming as a social generator, and the well-established strategy of river reopening as stormwater management, the Alna watershed becomes a hydropolis of business and pleasure, defined by soaring aqueducts, green riverbeds, secluded hammams and slender diving towers, with the main river as the connector between forest and fjord.