Edited by estudioHerreros, Juan Herreros & Jens Richter

Edvard Munch bequeathed his work to the city of Oslo so that it could be housed in a new museum. This is how Lambda’s story begins. Lambda Files. The Project for the Munch Museum in Oslo explores the design and construction process of the building conceived by estudio Herreros that was opened to the public in October 2021. The title echoes the pseudonym that preserved the anonymity of the architects in the international competition: unusually, the name was adopted by the public and the media thereafter. The book takes a deep dive into the archives of estudio Herreros, bringing to light the “paperwork” materials that are usually disregarded but which accurately document the project's professional, political, social, and technical context. The Munch project becomes an exploration of a number of present-day concerns, such as the importance of museums in rewriting history and imagining a desirable future, the need for dialogue as an instrument of design, environmental commitment, and the experimental responsibility of major projects.