Skoggården is a beautiful building, located at Fougnerbakken 21. Few know who built it and what activities have been there.
Skoggården was the first building of Skogsforsøksvesenet (the forest experiment service). It was designed by architect Ivar Næss and was ready for occupancy on October 1, 1919. It consisted of two full floors where the second floor was allocated to the apartment for the experiment leader and the first floor consisted of three offices for the experiment leader and his clerks. The building was an excellent framework for the work of the Forest Experiment Service in the first years as long as the staff only consisted of 4-5 people.
Skogforsøksvesenet was established in 1917, changed its name and merged with others in turn. The first change was to the Norwegian Institute for Forest Research (NISK), then Skogforsk, the Norwegian Institute for Forest and Landscape, and from 2015 the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy (NIBIO).
The staffing in Skogforsøksvesenet increased and in 1939, from fund resources, a separate residence was built for the leader, so that the 2nd floor was used as an office. The new residence today has the address Fougnerbakken 19.
The Norwegian Institute for Forest Research transferred the building to Studentskipnaden (the student welfare organization) in Ås in the 1990s.
After 1954, when all office activity was moved to Høyskoleveien 8, Skoggården was changed and used as residences for employees.
NMBU took over the use of Skoggården
In 1986, the Norwegian Agricultural College began using Skoggården to house the newly established department called Noragric, the international environment and development center. They started a master’s program, with a scholarship program (20 scholarships per year) supported by Norad. The scholars were recruited from many different countries where Norad had activities. After a few years, the department was moved to Tivoli and Skoggården was used by scholars and students for a 10-year period. From 2001/2002, it was used as workplaces for Senter for Husdyrforsøk (the center for animal experiments) and study places for students studying Husdyrfag (animal science). For a short period, there was a bar in the basement, called Danskebåten. This was closed after various complaints about mess and noise and events of a partly serious nature.
Today's status
Skoggården is managed by NMBU. Since 2010 NMBU has rented it out to Studentsamskipnaden i Ås (Siås) for use as student housing.
Sources: Lars Helge Frivold, Pål Magnus Løken, Arnljot Mehl, Sveinar Skjevdahl.