Aim for the stars if you want to win
Aim for the stars if you want to win
Despite the fact that students and employees have been using the new veterinary building at NMBU since January, the official opening found place on September 1st. Nevertheless, it was executed with pomp, splendor and a joy that would indicate people are getting comfortable.
Journalist: Arthur Devold
Translator: Sofie Palmstrøm
Photographers: Nathalie Genevieve Bjørneby & Simen Walbækken Tangen
High-tech and tailor-made
H.M Queen Sonja, three Ministers of State, the County Governor, the Chief Constable of the police, students, employees, preschoolers and many others were present when Statsbygg handed over the symbolic key to the new buildings of NMBU and the Institute of Veterinary Medicine. According to Statsbygg themselves and the chief executive of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Jorun Jarp, the new buildings are among the best in Europe for their use. “High tech and tailor made” were the words used by director of Statsbygg Harald Nikolaisen to describe them. There are 63 000 square meters of laboratories, operation rooms, aquariums, and other special areas. They have even made room for their very own swimming pool for dogs.
An impressed queen
The details in the buildings can impress anyone. There are hallways built for horses wearing winter shoes. There are green roofs dimensioned for the flood rain that will worsen in the future – and which at the same time provides work for thousands of bees. Besides, the new Bikuben with reading halls and cafeteria is placed between the new buildings and the Clock Building. Strategic, to ensure that the former School of Veterinary Sciences (NVH) and the old University of Environment and Biosciences (UMB) are really tied together into NMBU. “This is completely amazing” was among the first words of the Queen when seeing the new buildings.
Artists and scientists on the same team
Both inside and outside there is everything from small art pieces to large monuments – art that actualizes the exact problems that the School of Veterinary Medicine and the Institute of Veterinary Medicine are going to solve. Maybe the next pandemic will be stopped in the new veterinary buildings here in Ås. For the future scientists, motivation can be found in the mural Troubled mother with unexpected dreams, which shows our own earth and all the unexpected that can befall it and its inhabitants. CEO of KORO – Public Art Norway, Svein Bjørkås, emphasized that the similarity between the focus of art and the societal mission of employees and students at the Veterinary buildings shows how relevant these problems are.
Tuva Todnem Lund, former leader of the Student Parliament and AU at NMBU, current leader of the Norwegian Union of Students.
“They say that in order to win you need to aim for the stars, and in this case they really did” said leader of the Norwegian Student Union, Tuva Lund. For nearly eight billion NOK we have gotten the best facilities one could ever wish for. An area of focus is going to be threats against the health of land animals, fish and people. The past two years have shown that contagious diseases, transferrable between animals and humans, can have a hard and wide impact. How we take care of the oceans and the fish means everything for the future of Norway’s and the world’s seafood.
Problems like these were also highlighted by the politicians who were present during the opening. They talked about the importance of “one health; the importance of thinking globally, because a health threat anywhere in the world is a health threat everywhere. The Minister of Agriculture and Food, Olaug Bollestad, was excited to see the results of the project: “We need you to find answers to the most important questions of our time!” It actually seemed as though most people shared this joy over the new buildings on the opening day. This undivided positivity has not always been the case in this matter.
A hard battle
Kamara sang “You say you wanna go back, to the way it was. But it’s too late…” in front of the new buildings. For a long time that was what one could hear about the decision to move from the middle of Oslo to Ås. It has been called a political horse trade and “make-believe district politics”. However, with the results before our eyes, there is plenty of reason to be content. Was it only the festivities creating the good vibes on the opening day? No, it seems like the tables have turned – and stayed put.
A necessary battle
Some healthy scepticism about novelty can be a good thing. That is the only way to appreciate all the good that has been accomplished through 130 years at Adamstuen. If you flutter forward indifferently like a spineless leaf, without looking back and standing your ground, a lot will be lost. This is exactly why it seems as though the new School of Veterinary Medicine and the Institute of Veterinary Medicine have some bright decades ahead. The balance between good traditions and top modern facilities looks promising.
Kamara performed during the program.
