The silo was built by the Norwegian engineering firm Alfred Bonde in Kristiania (as Oslo was then called).
The cyan silo in 1907. Photo: Kraftmuseet archives
The silo proper is in reinforced concrete while the upper part of the building has load-bearing skeleton in reinforced concrete and non-structural brick panels. The building was one of the very first structures in reinforced concrete built in Norway.
The relief decoration was originally emphasized by a darker colour than the rest of the wall. The building still features original details as stairwells, elevator belt, screw conveyor on the top floor for filling the silo, and spouts for removing product below.
The silo interior is a large room whose walls taper downwards to the spouts below.
Inside the silo. Photo: Kraftmuseet archives
The cyanamide was transported to the attic of the silo through a hammer mill where it was ground finely after having been crushed. The two feeding screws which covered the whole length of the attic distributed the masses across the area before it fell into the different parts of the silo through openings in the attic floor. The cyanamide was removed from the silo in the basement, and packed in sacks. Most went directly to the “dicy” where it was transformed into dicyandiamide. Some was exported as industrial cyanamide. The rest was treated with water to reduce the carbide content, and diluted with finely ground limestone. This was sold as a weed- and moss killer called “Troll powder”. It was also used as a calcium-nitrogen fertilizer for slow-growing plants.
The silo will be preserved as it stands today, but it will be put into a new use, namely as an ice climbing wall.
