Ruten Park / SpaceGroup

A street battle is over. Hard infrastructure turned soft – from central parking to central park. Sandwiched between two contexts of the (car-based) oil host city of Sandnes, Ruten park is framed by the elevated train tracks and a large shopping mall. The former parking lot provided a central and generous open space protected only by its capacity of cars. RUTEN has remained a buffer in the urban development in anticipation of something bigger - as the Central Park in New York was built before the Manhattan grid was condensed around it.