Viewpoint Ørnesvingen
Ørnesvingen is the most spectacular viewpoint along the steep valley sides of Geiranger-fjord in Møre and Romsdal. Located at one of its many bends of the zig-zag road, the viewpoint gives tourists unique views over the recently acknowledged Unesco world heritage site
Geiranger is a small innermost town along the Geiranger fjord. The name is likely derived from the Norse word geirr (spear) and angr which means fjord.
The town Geiranger is surrounded by steep mountains on each side of the fjord, something which has made the place one of the country’s most visited tourist destinations. The Geiranger Fjord was in 2005, together with the Nærøy fjord, incorporated into the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The town has only 250 permanent residents and goes each year through an extreme transformation due to over 700 000 tourists who visit the fjord during the 4 months of summer. During winter Geiranger is often isolated without road connection due to danger of avalanche. The fjord itself than becomes the only connection to the outside world. The project consists of three overlapping white concrete slabs overhanging the edge of a 455-metre vertical drop, enabling the observer to step out into the airspace. The horizontal slabs make an amfi to the view and reflects the calm fjord in contrast to the dramatic mountains.
3RW worked with the artist May Elin Eikaas Bjerck on how to treat the concrete slabs in different ways so it reflects the light and communicates with the nearby nature. The river on site is guided over a glazed front. Forming a cultivated waterfall on the very edge of the viewpoint it gives an atmospheric sound to the place. Information board in glass explain specific locations in the scenery with interesting traces of civilization as old farms placed in incredible places on the steep mountainsides. This story of culture and nature tells about the cultivated landscape which at first sight seems untouched by man.
The best view of the fjord is from the curved road. Here the new extended pathway was elevated out from the road. Curved benches mounted into the mountains through long steel anchors are protecting the walkway from traffic.
