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Redesign of Statnett's Control Room

Statnett began the redesign of it's three control rooms at Smedstad in Oslo towards the end of 1997. The new control centre was to be highly influenced by the operators of the control rooms.

A team of operators started the design work by brainstorming, but since nobody in the team was a specialist on architectural or human factors issues, the team members did not know if they where proceeding towards a good control room design. It was therefore decided that a VR model should be used to visualise their ideas, test the design against work criteria, and provide a shared basis for discussion.

Over the next two months, a variety of ideas where tested and rejected by the design team. An interior architect was hired to assist with colours, materials, and furniture for the control centre, as it's appearance was to conform with the profile of Statnett's other facilities at Smedstad. While the design team, focused on the work places together with human factors specialists from IFE, the interior architect focused on a feast for the eyes when entering the control room.

After two months and several design iterations, a final design was competed with the full approval of the operators.