Credo Backyard

Credo Backyard | Trondheim, Norway | 2023
[Fuse Arkitekter]

The michelin star Restaurant Credo in Trondheim, Norway, serves food composed of ingredients grown in Trøndelag’s soil, caught from local fishing waters and processed on Trøndelag farms. Credo’s main focus is on flavorful and sustainable ingredients. The restaurant is dedicated to preserving the authentic flavor and is constantly searching for the unique and local taste experience. Credo and its subsidiary Jossa are situated within the preserved section of the renovated Berg Maskinhall, which dates back to the 1940s. The restaurants can be found at Ladeveien 9 in Lilleby – a recently constructed mid-rise residential area.

The region has undergone development since 2018 and is home to various establishments, including Edoramen and the Credo competence centre. With a dedication to sustainability, raw materials and textures, Credo and Jossa are committed to providing their patrons with an unforgettable experience. Lilleby is a constantly evolving area. This year, Credo aimed for further changes. The backyard activates the space to activate and enhance the overall appeal of the building. The selected areas with the aim of making the space more open and inclusive for the neighbours and visitors, both physically and visually. Credo envisioned the integration of benches along the south side wall, seamlessly linking the entrance area to the backyard.

Their vision extended to transforming the outdoor seating space into a welcoming enclave within the backyard, designed to serve as both a dining and service area. Emphasizing the importance of traditional craftmanship, the objective was to showcase visible construction elements.

Skibnes Architects carried out the transformation of Berg Maskinhall in 2018, preserving its industrial heritage whilst creating a comfortable and practical restaurant. The venue boasts a central mezzanine, with Credo and Jossa located in separate wings. The building’s exposed structure is a recurring feature, as seen in both the long bench and the backyard pavilion. The projects’ clear lines showcases a complex structure in its most straightforward and seamless expression. This construction effortlessly integrates into the previously empty backyard while also providing space for the broader community and activities beyond the building.

The project employs both traditional and sustainable techniques to maximise the potential of the site, elevating it to Michelin star restaurant standards. With a focus on making a statement of architectural quality and environmental responsibility, the design draws inspiration from and blends in with the surrounding buildings, ensuring it does not stand out more than the restaurant itself. A frame to serve as a venue for large events or educational settings where people can learn about- and eat food. To accomplish this, the pavilion adheres to four fundamental design concepts.

Pavilion
The pavilion is a wooden structure that provides a space for gatherings beneath a roof. The configuration consists of a gate-type building and Nuki wood joints, rendering the construction open and translucent. The bracing is situated in the roof structure, creating an exceptional atmosphere and landmark in Credo’s backyard. The site is conducive for learning and a space to enjoy food. The building is constructed using spruce and pine supplied by Sunnset sawmill and is stained to blend in with the surroundings. The charred wood produces a rustic and natural appearance, creating diverse colour tones and patterns on the surface. Moreover, this treatment improves the material’s endurance against Trondheim’s fluctuating weather conditions.

To accommodate the long span of the building, the beam running lengthwise through the structure is connected using tenoned scarf joints. These joints provide good resistance to tension, compression and partial bending while preventing movement across the joint. The joints are placed at 1/3 of the span between column first and second, and third and fourth as this is the point where they will experience the least amount of both shear and moment force. This is also the approch we find in traditional carpentry in Norway, but then based on expirence, not the programmed diagrams as seen below.

The construction of the pavilion is inspired by traditional Norwegian and Japanese building methods; “Grindbygg” is a construction system based on the prefabrication of structural frames, “Grinder”, which are prepared laying down. When the structure is erected, the row of frames are connected longitudinally by “stavlægje”. The “grinder” and “stavlægje” form a structurally sound grid. The nuki joint is a Japanese method of joinery similar to the western mortise and tenon, but with the nuki joint one piece of wood passes completely through another.

Combining the two methods, each “grind” is constructed much like a Torii gate, where two wooden columns or posts support a beam and lintel with a wooden member in between – the member in-between ensures distribution of the forces working on the construction. Using Nuki joinery, each frame is connected longitudinally by passing through the vertical posts at slightly different heights, allowing passage through the wood in two directions. Each member in the Nuki joint was secured with hardwood wedges. Dealing with the stiffening of the building both in the nuki joint and with the cladding alleviates the need for diagonal bracing as the cladding acts as a disc in the horizontal plane.

The load-bearing structure is made of spruce as it is an inexpensive softwood commonly used in woodworking and construction. It resists fiber stress in bending and tension parallel to the grain, horizontal shear, and compression both perpendicular and parallel to the grain. To transfer the force to the ground, the connection between the timber structure and the existing concrete slab is made by means of column shoes, which are slotted into the frame and bolted from the side. To cope with Trondheim’s harsh weather conditions, the pavilion is clad with core pine, which has been treated using a traditional wood preservation method where the surface layer of the wood has been charred to allow two millimetres of the wood to be brushed off, it is then treated with linseed oil to protect it from water, rot and insects. The charred canopy sits on top of the supporting structure, providing protection for both the occupants below and the structure itself.

Furniture
The Credo backyard not only offers the pavilion itself, it also comes with complementary furniture. The furniture is completing the pavilion and includes a 21 metre long bench on the south side of Jossa, as well as benches and tables placed under the pavilion. The design of the furniture shares similarities with the pavilion in terms of both design and construction. Wood joints are utilised, and wood exposed to the weather is burnt in the same way as the pavilion to protect it from deterioration. These design elements shared with the pavilion contributes to make a holistic visual perception of the project as a whole. Text description by the architects.