A powerful case for timber.

A furniture factory in a Norwegian forest is challenging expectations of industrial architecture.

The Plus, designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group for Norwegian outdoor furniture manufacturer Vestre, has received a 2026 RIBA International Award for Excellence.

Completed in 2022, the 7,000 m² building in Magnor brings manufacturing, architectural ambition and a close connection to nature together. It is an inspiring example of timber’s potential, and of what can happen when the places we work are designed with greater care.

Timber at the heart

At The Plus, timber does much more than set the tone. It plays a central structural role.

Mass timber, including glued laminated timber (glulam), creates generous production spaces with an exposed structure that brings warmth and character to the factory floor. Glulam beams span 24 metres, providing the open space needed for manufacturing.

It is a powerful demonstration of engineered timber’s ability to meet demanding industrial requirements while creating spaces with a distinctive material identity.

Alongside timber, the building uses low-carbon concrete and recycled reinforcing steel. Together, these materials form a considered response to the practical and environmental demands of the project.

The same care extends to how the factory generates, recovers and uses energy.

Around 900 solar panels are designed to generate approximately 250,000 kWh of renewable electricity each year. Surplus heat from manufacturing is recovered to help heat the building, supported by heat pumps, thermal storage and geothermal wells.

Combined with high levels of insulation and carefully designed glazing, these systems reduce the need for supplied energy.

The Plus has achieved BREEAM-NOR Outstanding, the scheme’s highest rating. It became the first industrial building in the Nordic region to achieve this classification, recognising an approach to sustainability that reaches beyond material selection.

The Plus challenges what we expect from industrial architecture. By bringing timber, technology and nature together, it demonstrates how a factory can be designed with the same ambition as the products it creates.

A factory connected to the forest

The surrounding forest is part of the experience of working at and visiting The Plus.

Large glazed façades bring daylight into the production halls and give staff views of the trees beyond. They also allow visitors to see into the factory, opening up a process that would usually take place behind closed doors.

Outside, paths lead up to a publicly accessible roof, bringing visitors closer to the forest canopy. Manufacturing, public space and landscape become part of one connected experience.

This is where The Plus becomes particularly compelling. A working factory is also a place to explore, learn and spend time in nature.

The Plus challenges what we expect from industrial architecture. It brings the same design ambition to the factory as Vestre brings to the furniture made inside it.

Its significance goes beyond one building. It shows how timber, technology and a connection to nature can come together in a demanding industrial setting.

An inspiring example of what timber makes possible, and a compelling reason to expect more from the places where we spend our working lives.