Hille Melbye Arkitekter

Through a varied workload, Hille Melbye historically specialised in churches before entering the world of more comprehensive projects ranging from shopping centres, hotels and offices to urban planning. Returning to their roots, the architecture firm recently won a competition to build the new church and cultural centre in the Norwegian town of Spikkestad. Together with Professor Einar Dahle, they have mastered the difficult task of creating an open space that invites people in, along with a more closed-off sacred space. “The church and cultural centre is placed at the very end of a railway track, which marks it as an end station for the journey,” explains architect at the firm, Kaja Melbye.