3RW was established in year 2000 as a young and independentoffice, strongly rooted in Bergen’s art and cultural scene. The foundingpartners of 3RW were all educated (and later, also taught) atthe independent Bergen School of Architecture or BAS, a schoolfounded by Svein Hatløy, who oriented the institution towards thephilosophy of ‘open form’.Open form seeks to create an inclusive architecture. It conceptualizesarchitectural language as a “democratic expression” – one which allowsfor meaningful social transformations. Designs are to be based on andinteractive with their context, material and immaterial; of the landscapeand climate.3RW architects regularly work on the completion of diverse socioculturalsite analyses, also using this site-oriented methodology in otherparticipation processes, both in the fields of planning and architecture.3RW’s starting point for carrying out sociocultural place analyses issupported by the understanding that a place is not reducible to itsphysical components, but is an ensemble made of local inhabitants’experiences, memories, values and feelings.These analyses help 3RW to identify the many understandings,interests, differences, wishes and needs of an area-bound population.Such analyses critically contribute to the dimension of socialsustainability of projects; their purpose is to unearth the relevantaspects of ‘the socially constructed place’.