ABSTRACT
Each colour design project will involve certain issues and its own various stages of development. Known in Old Norse as ‘Svalbard’ and lying between the 76th and 80th parallel, close to the North Pole, the Spitsbergen Archipelago is part of Norway. At the start of the project, Longyearbyen was a ‘company town’ that, except for the government buildings, was completely owned by the coal mining company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompagni. As Longyearbyen continues to grow – from 1,200 inhabitants at the onset of the project – to around 2,000 presently, the demand for additional official and residential buildings has made it necessary to continue and extend the colour plan. Building regulations at Longyearbyen include colour as part of the approval for new buildings at the planning stage. Colours approaching similarity to white, black and maximum chroma can have the potential to make a sufficient contrast, while not being too strong, at most parts of the year.
