MADEINSANDNES

A SHORT STORY

IV.

THE SHORT STORY OF SANDNES ‘

-how a crossroad turned into a fast growing city

SHORT ABOUT SANDNES

Sandnes is a city and municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is part of the region of Jæren. [...]Sandnes was separated from Høyland as a municipality of its own in 1860, and gained city status the same year. On 1 January 1965, the rural municipalities of Høyland and Høle, as well as parts of Hetland, were merged with Sandnes.[...]The city is named after an old farm (“Sandnæs” 1723), since the city was built on its ground. The first element is sand which means “sand” or “sandy beach”, the last element is nes which means “headland”.

[...] The coat-of-arms was granted on 21 April 1972. The arms show a piece of pottery, as pottery was one of the main industries in the late 18th century. The symbol is a leirgauk, which in English would be a ceramic cuckoo-bird (leir(e)= clay/ceramic and gauk/gjøk = cuckoo-bird). The ceramic Sandnes-cuckoo (Norwegian: sandnesgauker) is an ocarina or simple flute which was made by the potteries in Sandnes and used to advertise their products. Later it also became a nickname for people from Sandnes.

[...] The city of Sandnes is located about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Stavanger, and these two cities have expanded so as to form a conurba-tion. The municipality of Sola is located to the west, Klepp and Time to the south, and Gjesdal and Forsand to the east. The fjord Gandsfjorden is situated north-south and ends in the centre of Sandnes. The international airport of Stavanger is situated in Sola.Sandnes’s districts are Austrått, Figgjo, Ganddal, Hana (includes Aspervi-ka and Dale), Høle, Lura, Malmheim, Riska, Sandved, Soma, Stangeland, Sviland, and Trones.

The landscape of the Sandnes and Stavanger region is quite flat. On the long west coast there are several beaches and further inland the land is raised to form low plains with some small peaks rising up to 400 to 500 metres (1,300 to 1,600 ft) above sea level.

From Stavanger and Sandnes it is approximately one hour by car to alpine and skiing resorts. In Sandnes there are some easily accessible small mountain peaks, such as Dalsnuten and Lifjell, with a view over the Sandnes/Stavanger area. The renowned Lysefjord is also easily accessible by car or boat.

[...] Sandnes hosts a large array of retail shops of most kinds and is used by the neighbouring municipalities appreciating the service and wide range of selections. Sandnes is known as Norway’s bicycle city, mainly due to the fact that the bicycle manufacturer Øglænd DBS was situated here for decades. The city offers a variety of routes for everyday riders and tourists. Since 1996 a public bicycle rental programme has been in operation in the city.

The city has a vibrant industrial base, mainly in the Ganddal area in the south and the Lura and Forus area in the north towards the Stavanger boundary. There is significant activity related to oil exploration in the North Sea and also some IT related companies. In this suburban region between Sandnes and Stavanger, malls and department stores have also been established. Among these malls is one of Norway’s biggest malls, Kvadrat meaning “square” (although it is not square shaped anymore as it has expanded several times since it opened in 1984).

Around 30% of the population is employed in Stavanger (Q4 2004).[5]Sandnes was formerly known as the pottery town of Norway - due to the important ceramics industry based on the extensive occurrence of clay in the surroundings.

[...] The primary football team (Sandnes Ulf) currently plays in the high-est division of Norwegian professional football.Sandnes is the only city in Norway which is a member of the World Health Organisation’s network of Healthy Cities.

Sandnes and its neighbor city Stavanger was chosen along with Liverpool, United Kingdom, to be a European Capital of Culture for 2008.

Higher education facilities include Forus Upper Secondary School and Lundehaugen Upper Secondary School. In 2010 Forus and Lundehaugen were no longer Upper Secondary Schools, Lundehaugen is now High School. Most of Forus and Lundehaugen merged into a new school named Vågen.

*About Sandnes from wikipedia.

In the early 1900’s, the majority of the citizent was against the sale of alcohol, and protested against this, as seen in this photography from 1909.

The demonstrations resulted in the city councils defeat, and prohibition was a fact.

GANNS NEW FACTORY PIPE*

*In the late 1800’s the bay area of Sandnes is slowly filling up with factories. Espesially the brickwork industry is thriving in the village, due

to the large amont of clay in the area.

The photography abowe is taken during the installation of a new oven for the factory of Gann. Both the workers and the oven is at display, and

at the far right you can also see the manager, Petter Øgland.

GOING THROUGH THE DECADES

The streets in Sandnes was not really in the best condition and the city was rather famous for its muddy streets.

In 1861 the municipality defined the city of Sandnes and its borders and introduced the grid as the masterplan of the inner city center.

In 1962 it was approved by the goverment.

SANDNES ANNO 1860’s*

*An image of the first settlemen of 73 houses in Sandnes along the mainstreet of the city; Langgata.

In the beginning

The story of Sandnes starts in 1860. The city starts out like a crossroad, connected to Stavanger in the north and Bryne in the south, and also connected to the farmlands of the east and west. As the heart of the region, at the inner parts of Gandsfjorden,

Sandnes was the regions center for trading of gods.

Since this crossroads is located in the inner bay of the fjord, Sandnes also connects the region together with the rest of the westcoast of Norway by

boat. In the early beginnings, the settlement is located around Langgata, that

today is the longest pedestrian street in Norway.

And in 1857 it is registered 73 houses in the “city” of Sandnes.

In 1897 Sandnes experienced the worst nightmare for a small and fragile town. A big fire swept the streets of the small town, and most of the wooden houses burnt to the ground.

The ressurection of the city started right after, with some improvements.The main streets was wider than the original, and the new houses was made with bricks, to prevent new fires.

This photography is from 1898 show langgata in the middle of its restauration.

SANDNES ANNO 1900’s*

*An early image of the bay area of Sandnes in the late 1800’s. Showing the first factories as small islands in the inner bay.

A small town is taking shape

In the early 1900’s the factories start to dominate the bayline, and buildt as samll islands in the inner harbor. Sandnes is increasing in population, with around 30 factories, as a higly industrialised industri represented

with 46 electrical engines, running the machinery.

The inhabitants has increased to 2656 in 1910, and a small town is taking shape. The developers has introduced a “grid” as the foundation of the

new developement, and after the big fire in 1897, the ressurection is done with improvements of the street and houses.

The railroad is build in 1878, and it divides the city in east and west. The railroad connects the region,

with Sandnes still as a crossroad in the centre.

In the beginning of the 1900’s diffrent industries settled in the harbor of Sandnes. The city produced wool products, clothes, canned food, steel products,bicycles, bricks, pottery, ceramics and furnitures.

This photo shows the furniture factory of Bernhard Mikelsen from 1908.

The factory was the first industrial furniture factory in Sandnes, and was established already in 1868.

THE RAILROAD*

*The controversial railroad was constructed in 1878, and connected the region. In the beginning it was not that successful, people would send their gods, but still they preferred to walk them selves.

THE MARKETPLACE*

*The landfill of the inner harbor in Sandnes, connected the islands together, and some of the new land was used as a plaza, or a market place for the citizent. Today the plaza har turned into a parkin lot, but there are

plans for the old plaza to yet again be a public place; as a park.

Sandnes was a city by the fjord, as this photo showing the inner harbous of Gandsfjorden.In the early 1900’s the harbor in Sandnes was the centre in the region for trade and transportation.

*A photography taken in the winter of 1912/13 gave the citizents of Sandnes a new exerience of the fjord. They could actually skate at the fjord, because of a really cold winter.

THE CITY BY THE FJORD*

*The photography shows the hard work it was to retrieve the clay, manually, before the machines took over the job. The image is from 1915.

THE CITY BUILDT UPON CLAY*

The bay of Sandnes fillled with factories.In the beginning of the 1960’s the industri in the city reached its peak.

SANDNES ANNO 1965*

*The photo of a worker at the bicycle factory in Sandnes, in the 1930’s.

The industrial fairytale

In 1965 the industy is really at its peak in Sandnes.The city houses 102 factories, and after the municipality mergers in 1965 the

inhabitants now reached 27 000. The city was now producing bicycles, clothes, steel,brickworks, pottery, prefabricated houses, porcelain, and kitchen hardware.

Øglænd was the industy pioneers of Sandnes, and in the 1960, the enterprice owned most of the area at the inner harbour.

The innerharbour was filled to create more efficient land in the inner parts of the city.

But since the land was used for all the factories of the city, and Sandnes has sine then been seperated from the sea.

The railroad, already dividing the city, was lifted and crossed the city as a highline. Because of a low budget the highline was buildt upon a concreat wall, instead of

a steel construction. The railroad was now dividing the city as a visiblible wall, closing the

east side out from the west.

The bicycle adventure in Sandnes, started in 1899 by the Øglænd brothers. Jakob Øglænd worked as the sailsman and Lars Øglænd handled the mechanics.

Their bikeworkshop, soon evolved to a small factory where they produced,sold and repaired their own bikes.

THE BICYCLE FACTORY*A

*A photo of the bicycle factory of the “DBS” bike, from the late 1970’s.

THE BICYCLE CITY*

* The DBS bike; a little piece of the norwegian design history.DBS is short for; “den beste sykkel”, meaning “the best bike”

In the 1980’s the bicycle production ended in Sandnes, and the old bicycle factory was turned into a museum, with guided tours; as shown in this photo.

THE TEXTILE INDUSTRIES*

*To the left, a personal fitting, to get the customized suit at Øglænd’s clothing shop.

THE FAIRYTALE OF CUBUS*

*Øglænds textile adventure is still alive today, as the famous clothing store CUBUS.

As the oil industry evolved, it started to influence the industry in the region. As the neighbooring city of the “oil capital” Stavanger, the oil riggs also started to influence

the cityscape of Sandnes, as shown on this picture from the early 1980’s.

SANDNES ANNO 1980*s*

*At the top:An image outside the entrance to Kvadrat shopping mall.Below: An image of the main shopping street; Langgata.

The post-industrial shopping-malls

In the 1980’s the industry is decreasing. The factories moved out of the citizentz neighbourhood

and out of the city. The old factories was renovated and turned into shoppingmall, which

until now had been an exotic stranger to the city of Sandnes became the popular work and meeting place.

The shopping malls competed with the lively shpping streets in the city center and since the 1980’s “Langgata” has worked hard to face the com-

petition, and is still struggeling with the lack of customers,

The oil industy is encreasing, and as the neighbooring city of Stavanger(Norway’s oil capital) the inhabitants in Sandnes is encreasing.

Outside of the main entrance of Kvadrat, at the opening day the 26th of April 1984.Kvadrat was the first shoppingmall in Sandnes, and was the largest in

Norway for several years, and is still one of the largest in the contry. The mall is build upon the sites of one of the many closed factories in the city.

SANDNES ANNO 2012*

*A birdseye view over the inner city of Sandes 2012, from the newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad.

A fast growing city

Today Sandnes is Norways fastest growing city, with just under 70 000 inhabitants.

The pressure on housing, kindergardens, schools, nursing homes is reach-ing its limits as the new oil found is predicting 30 000 new jobs within

few years.

The last remains of the factories are moving out of the inner harbor, and 2 large areas are free at the inner harbour.Sandnes has the opportunity to correct the mistakes from the past, and reconnect the city with the sea!

The parkinglot and bus station, is planned to be a public park, and the west side of the harbor will be developed for housing and offices.

At the inner harbor of Sandnes, the annual bikerace “Nordsjørittet” is gathering crowds of people to see the participants reach their goal of the 90km bikeride,

from Egersund in the south to the heart of Sandnes.

Sandnes ANNO 2025*

*An illustration of the municipalities plans for the innerharbour of Sandnes, from the developers webpage: www.havneparken.no.

Can we cope with the challenges of the near future?

While Sandnes is growing faster and faster, the municipality is stressing the building of an identity. They also want to enrich the city center and transform it into an attractive part of

living in Sandnes.

The plans for a densification of the city centre will give more apartments and office space to the city center. The large amount of this developement is planned at the westside of the fjord. Here there will be developed larger scaled housing blocks, and office buildings. at the end of the harbor,furtest away from the city centre, there is planned a highrise hotel with a

waterpark/bath.

The plan is providing housing and work for a quite homogeneous group of people with high level apartment buildings and workplaces for regional offices. The municipality plan will

densify the city center on paper, but the identity of the city will not change much from what it is today.

At the same time there are not developed any plans for the large site at the heart of the harbor. How should we treat this area?

How can we use this higly attractive site in the best way?

Could we add some new qualities to the urban developement,qualities that could ensure Sandnes of really becoming a city center full of life?

Printed in Bergen the 20th of march 2012.