How architects designed this gorgeous Oslo building to never need air conditioning

Snohetta’s new “triple-zero” office building doesn’t buy energy for heating, cooling, or ventilation.

In a typical office building, there are thousands of feet of vents along with fans that push around air. A new mixed-use building in Oslo doesn’t have any of these—and it also doesn’t have any HVAC bills.

“We have a triple zero goal for this project that we wouldn’t have to buy any energy for heating, ventilation, or cooling,” says Anne Cecilie Haug, the lead architect on the project for Snøhetta, the firm that designed the building. “And it looks like the numbers are going our way on that one so far, and it’s working.” The building’s emissions are half that of a similar conventional building.