A-301West elevation1:100
Project
Hus Fjellveien
PlaceBergen, Vestland
Year2025
Area164 m²
StatusCompleted
A-101Hytte Ulriken — axonometric, equinox sun study
Houses that hold light.
Oda is a fourteen-person studio in Bergen. We draw timber houses, cabins and small civic buildings for a coast where the sun arrives low, late and sideways — and we place every window around it.
- Standing-seam zinc, 47°
- Lime-rendered chimney
- Oak-framed triple glazing 2.2 × 4.1 m
- Heat-treated pine 22 × 48 battens, c/c 300
10:40alt 21° · az 146°
- Project
- Hytte Ulriken
- Client
- Private
- Sheet
- A-101
- Drawing
- Axo + shadow
- Scale
- 1:50
- Revision
- C
- Date
- 24.09.26
- Drawn
- O.K.
- Checked
- H.S.
(01) StudioOn light, weather and timberSheet A-201
Est. 2011
Bergen, Vestland
What we believe
We start with the window, not the façade. In Bergen it rains most days, and when the sun does come it arrives low and sideways, so every opening has to earn its place. We draw by hand before we draw by machine. We build in timber because it weathers honestly. And we stay on site until the last batten is fixed — that is where a drawing finally becomes a house.
61Buildings completed
since 2011
since 2011
14People at one
long table
long table
212Wet days a year
in Bergen, on average
in Bergen, on average
1:20The scale we draw
bedrooms at
bedrooms at
(02) Selected work2023 — 2027 · six of sixty-oneSheets A-301 → 306
Six sheets from the plan chest.
Every project has one drawing we keep coming back to. These are those drawings. Keep scrolling to leaf through them.
Completed On site In design Competition
A-302Section A–A1:50
Project
Naustet på Sotra
PlaceSotra, Øygarden
Year2024
Area58 m²
StatusCompleted
A-303Ground floor plan1:200
Project
Kvam Library
PlaceNorheimsund, Kvam
Year2026
Area820 m²
StatusOn site
A-304Axonometric, from south-east1:50
Project
Hytte Finse
PlaceFinse, 1 222 m a.s.l.
Year2023
Area42 m²
StatusCompleted
A-305Site plan1:500
Project
Fjærland School
PlaceFjærland, Sogn
Year2027
Area1 140 m²
StatusIn design
A-306East elevation1:100
Project
Tårnet, Stord
PlaceStord, Sunnhordland
Year2027
Area12 m²
Status1st prize
(03) ProcessHow a house gets drawnSheet A-401
Four phases. One sheet, redrawn until it’s right.
Here is Hytte Ulriken, the cabin at the top of this page, as it came together. Most of the work happens before a single wall is drawn.
A-401 Ground floor1:100
- 01Listen · 2–3 weeks
Listen
We visit before we draw anything. Two conversations at your kitchen table, then a long walk around the site in whatever weather it has that day. We write down how you live, not what you think the house should look like.
- You get
- A written brief, in your words
- We keep
- A notebook, a compass, wet boots
- 02Site · 3–4 weeks
Site
We measure the light before the land. Sun paths, prevailing wind, where the snow drifts, which birches stay. The house is placed long before it is shaped — this one sits between two trees that were there first.
- You get
- Survey, sun study, placement
- Trees felled
- 0
- 03Draw · 8–14 weeks
Draw
Plans, sections, then card and pine models on the long table. We draw the room you’ll wake up in at 1:20, because that is where the big decisions hide: the sill height, the view from the pillow, the first light.
- You get
- Sketch → permit drawings
- Models
- Usually three. Once, eleven.
- 04Build · 6–14 months
Build
We work with builders we’ve built with before, and we’re on site every week. Details get resolved with a carpenter’s pencil on a plank, then redrawn properly the same evening.
- You get
- Tender, site follow-up, handover
- We keep
- An offcut from every house
(04) Materials librarySamples from the shelf by the windowSheet A-501
Six materials we trust with the weather.
We keep the list short. Everything on it can be repaired, ages without apology and comes from as close to the site as we can manage. Zinc is the exception, and we’re working on it.
Baked at 212 °C until it stops drinking water. It goes silver in about three winters. We let it.
- Origin
- Luster sawmill, 190 km
- For
- Cladding, soffits, decks
- Lasts
- 60 years and counting
Quarried in pieces, laid in pieces, so it can be mended in pieces. We use it wherever boots and water meet.
- Origin
- Otta, 330 km
- For
- Thresholds, hearths, plinths
- Lasts
- A century, give or take
It breathes, cracks a little, heals itself a little. Over the years it turns back into stone, which we find reassuring.
- Origin
- Local sand, Nordic lime
- For
- Chimneys, wet rooms
- Lasts
- Limewash every decade
Door pulls, acoustic panels, the bench by the stove. It absorbs sound, damp and the smell of wet dogs, in that order.
- Origin
- Voss, 100 km
- For
- Acoustics, upholstery
- Lasts
- As long as it’s sat on
Floors, sills, stair treads, handrails: anything a hand or a foot touches every day. It gets better with every one of them.
- Origin
- Kvam, 80 km
- For
- Floors, joinery, sills
- Lasts
- Generations
For roofs that face the south-westerlies. Quiet in the rain, if you detail it properly. We detail it properly.
- Origin
- The one thing we import
- For
- Roofs, flashings
- Lasts
- 80–100 years
Hover, focus or tap a sample for where it comes from
(05) RecognitionAwards, press, the occasional kind wordSheet A-601
Some kind words, carefully filed.
| Year | Recognition | Project | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Stord Viewing Tower competitionOpen competition, 64 entries | Tårnet | 1st prize |
| 2026 | Vestland Timber PrizePublic buildings category | Kvam Library | Shortlist |
| 2025 | Nordlys Daylight AwardFor a house that “reads the sky” | Hus Fjellveien | Winner |
| 2025 | Arkitektur Nord, issue 88“The houses that wait for the sun” — studio profile | Studio | Press |
| 2024 | Hordaland Craft CouncilHonour for timber detailing | Naustet på Sotra | Honour |
| 2024 | Small Buildings BiennaleSelected for the exhibition in Aarhus | Hytte Finse | Selected |
| 2023 | Bergen Building Council PrizeHousing under 200 m² | Nøstet Townhouses | Winner |
| 2022 | Fjord & FormCover feature, winter issue | Hus Kalvedalen | Press |
(06) PeopleArchitects, interiors, one model makerSheet A-701
Fourteen people, one long table.
No corner offices. Partners draw, graduates present, and everyone takes a turn on the Friday site visit — rain included, which is to say always.
- Oda KvalheimFounding partner · ArchitectJoined 2011On: Tårnet
- Henrik SæbøPartner · ArchitectJoined 2013On: Kvam Library
- Nora HalvorsenStudio managerJoined 2012On: everything
- Emil FosseWorkshop & modelsJoined 2014On: model no. 11
- Signe ThorsenInteriors leadJoined 2015On: Hus Fjellveien
- Jonas EideProject architectJoined 2016On: Fjærland School
- Aksel BrekkeTimber structuresJoined 2017On: Tårnet
- Maren LieArchitectJoined 2018On: Hytte Ulriken
- Live NygårdInterior architectJoined 2019On: Kvam Library
- Tobias RønnebergArchitectJoined 2020On: Fjærland School
- Ylva HoplandLandscape architectJoined 2021On: the birches
- Astrid VikArchitectJoined 2022On: Hytte Ulriken
- Sindre AasenArchitectJoined 2023On: Naustet II
- Kaja MyklebustGraduate architectJoined 2025On: the plotter
Year = when they joined · hover a name to see what’s on their desk
Hiring: one timber-minded architect, spring 2027 →(07) ContactNew projects, press, studio visitsSheet A-801
Let’s draw something.
Draw your plot, your view, anything.
Badly is fine. We read pencil well.
- hei@odaarkitekter.no
- Phone
- +47 55 21 40 90
- Studio
- Sjøbodgaten 14, 5003 Bergen
Third floor, the door with the brass handle - Hours
- Mon–Fri, 08:30–16:30
Coffee from 08:00
Received · A-801 It’s on the long table.
We’ll reply within two working days.