The state-of-the-art interactive museum has been designed by Norwegian design practice Pir II and specialist museum designer Parallel World Labs based in Canada, for the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Culture.
The museum building is located in a transformed grain warehouse in the Trondheim harbour with a cantilevered box extension built on the roof. The building has been designed to offer six floors of interactive experiences in the history of Norwegian pop and rock music from the 1950s to the present. It is also decorated with Norwegian LP covers painted on to a glass exterior and illuminated from the back by 14,000 LED lights, which allows the colour of the façade to change.
Virtual Rockheim, an immersive online museum where visitors enter a 3D real-time world, forms a key part of the Rockheim experience. Another segment of the Virtual Rockheim experience is Rockipedia, a collaborative online community dedicated to Norwegian musical artists, their music and the musical events that shaped the nation.
As the creative director of Rockheim, Parallel World Labs CEO Stacey Spiegel was responsible for the conceptualization and design of the entire Rockheim experience, which blends art and culture through technological innovations. Upon entering the museum, the visitors pass through sculptural installations at the doorway and emerge into the Main Atrium. This atrium space features a six-storey-high interactive map of Norway. Upper levels of the museum is designed to offer dozens of state-of-the-art installations and experiences, guiding the visitor through the last six decades of the country’s pop and rock culture. Among the main features are a Tribute Hall, decade-based Immersive Rooms, an Artefact Wall, a hands-on Mixing Studio and Performance Stage, Concert Hall and MediaTek lounge, and others.
The project involved collaboration between technology and museum specialists, the cultural ministry, and Norwegian performers, artists, broadcasters, archivists, and historians.
Rockheim will be responsible for the collection, preservation, and cultivation of Norwegian popular music.
