Outline 9783764388362, 3764388366

Table of contents :
Introduction: Democratic architecture - v. Barry Bergdoll (Chief Curator, dep. of Architecture & Design, MoMA) TEXT ENTRY: Jay Merrick (architectural journalist, Independent) in dialogue with the Schmidt hammer lassen partner group about their democratic approach to architecture. ARoS (DK) Nuuk (GL) The Black Diamante (DK) The Frigate Jylland (DK) TEXT ENTRY: Olafur Eliasson on art and architecture, e.g. in dialogue with partner in Schmidt hammer lassen Morten Schmidt Nykredit (DK) Danfoss (DK) Vaxjoe Library (SE) Culture Island in Middelfart (DK) Sheikh Zayed (SA) TEXT ENTRY - Discussion between MAD architects (young Chinese practice) and partner in schmidt hammer lassen Morten Holm. Keyword: Democratic architecture (further information on MAD architects: www.i-mad.com) Halmstad Library (SE) The Cathedral of Nothern Lights, Alta (NO) Spilados, Reykjavik (IS) Amazon Court, Prague Performers House, (DK) Skyttehusbugten (DK) The Crystal (DK) Thor Heyerdal (NO) NRGI (DK) Aberdeen (UK) X-ing towers (DK) Westminster college (UK) TEXT ENTRY - Article on the photographer, Joachim Ladefoged.

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Outline architecture by schmidt hammer lassen

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Birkhäuser Basel · Boston · Berlin

Outline architecture by schmidt hammer lassen

6 All photographs by: Joachim Ladefoged except page 79: Thyra Hilden Editorial team: Bjarne Hammer, Charlotte Schmidt, Runa Sabroe, Rasmus Kierkegaard schmidt hammer lassen, www.shl.dk Project descriptions: Robert Torday, Jeppe Villadsen Design and cover: e-Types, www.e-types.com Library of Congress Control Number: 2008926870 Bibliographic information published by the German National Library. The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data bases. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. © 2008 schmidt hammer lassen k/s Aarhus, Copenhagen, London, Oslo

Published by: Birkhäuser Verlag AG Basel ∙ Boston ∙ Berlin P.O. Box 133, CH-4010 Basel, Switzerland Part of Springer Science+Business Media Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF This book has been kindly supported by:

Fabrikant Mads Clausens Fond

Printed in Germany ISBN: 978-3-7643-8836-2 987654321 www.birkhauser.ch

Content



Preface by Barry Bergdoll Illuminating the human factor



Jay Merrick introduces the architecture of schmidt hammer lassen



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Katuaq Culture Centre The Royal Danish Library The Frigate Jutland, Visitor Centre ARoS, Museum of Art

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Art, architecture and archetypes

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Jay Merrick interviews Olafur Eliasson and Morten Schmidt





Art and Architecture/ The evolution of a museum



“ARoS on Fire” by Thyra Hilden and Pio Diaz



A glimpse inside the rainbow



“Your rainbow panorama” by Olafur Eliasson



Växjö Library Nykredit Headquarters Culture Island Middelfart Sheikh Zayed Knowledge Centre



Slowness, and Mao’s blank sheet of paper



Jay Merrick interviews MAD architects and Morten Holm





Performers House Skyttehusbugten Housing project The Crystal and Cloud



The process behind the creation of the Crystal and Cloud



Danfoss Headquarters University of Aberdeen New Library X-ing Towers City of Westminster College



A client’s view by Robin Shreeve

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The Crossroads, Hurum Secondary School

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Timeline schmidt hammer lassen world map Partners in schmidt hammer lassen The real picture

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portrait of photographer Joachim Ladefoged



Credits schmidt hammer lassen, April 2008 Photographs/ Notes

199 205 219

19 35 51

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243 251 267 273

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85 91 107 115

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NRGI Domicile Halmstad Library The Northern Lights Cathedral Spiladós, National Concert- and Congress Centre Amazon Court

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How can architecture suppport ecology

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Jay Merrick interviews Ken Yeang and Stephen David Willacy

131 147 163 179

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Preface/ By Barry Bergdoll

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Preface/ By Barry Bergdoll

In the last decade the practice of schmidt hammer lassen has traveled far afield from it’s original Danish base, with major commissions in places as far flung, and as extreme in cultural and climatic differences and expectations, as Greenland and China. Formal experimentation has engaged the designers of the practice, which now has offices in England and Norway as well as Denmark, with the quest for architecture that is diverse and dramatic in its form, not least in some of the more recent urban work which brings bold forms, gestures, and presence to cities, often in places of rapid transformation, like the docklands of Copenhagen. But these bold forms and gestures, complete with structural experimentation, exploration of parametric design, and the use of new materials, is always grounded in a deep commitment to the tradition of Scandinavian empiricism and its ethic of the everyday and the commonplace. The practice dialogues not only with some of the most profound and profoundly influential practices of mid-century Nordic modernism which have repeatedly fuelled attempts to humanize the work of the avant-garde, most notably Arne Jacobson and Alvar Aalto, but also with the intense commitment to humanist values of everyday life that those practices embody in the specific locales and symbolize world-wide.

As was the case in the work of Jacobson and Aalto in the post-war period, schmidt hammer lassen do not retreat from the demands of globalizing capital to build only in small communities, although their Katuaq Culture Center in Nuuk, Greenland, with its remarkable homage to Aalto’s Finnish pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, is formative and transformative in its remote context. Most of their works, at all scales, engage with their sites and their cultural settings in a way that is subtle, sensitive and yet assertive of values that enhance a situation, leaving each place the firm has worked discretely transformed. The practice in which has been able to expand, to take on commissions associated increasingly with large firms, and yet to lose nothing of their original commitments. The work of the practice - at home and abroad – clearly reflects the values of democracy that are the bedrock of Scandinavian society. But to speak of democracy in their work is no mere platitude, for it implies buildings themselves which could be called exemplary citizens, asserting a presence and an engagement. But at the same time they exercise deference to the existing, to the landscape or to the found city fabric that sets out to leave a place improved, the citizen’s sense of a setting, of a community, and of a place challenged at the same time as fostered and enhanced. So to look at the characteristic plan strategies of the practice, in plans which tend to prefer a somewhat casual arrangement of strong figures around central voids connected to vistas and trajectories of the adjacent city district, is to perceive not simply a homage to Scandinavian empiricist versions of the modernist free plan, but to witness adept strategies for fostering community by building both strong places and strong connections with places.

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Like Le Corbusier’s great buildings at Chandigarh, the heroic forms of many of schmidt hammer lassen’s works often in turn house a veritable city within a city of forms, a village cluster complete with a path for discovery, interaction and for staging of both citizens and city. This is attested to over and over again in buildings where paths, like those James Stirling initiated in his seminal art gallery in Stuttgart two decades ago, connect parts of the city that were previously poorly linked, or undramatically so. Architecture then is not a static creation of form, but the initiation of a chain reaction. Such works as the Royal Danish Library make strollers change pace, experience themselves and their surroundings differently. This interest in architecture as an agent of gently changing consciousness goes a long way to explaining the practice’s interest in seeing their buildings as sites for the experimental and experiential practices of artists who work in their work, like exemplary engaged citizens, rather than collaborate in the old trope of art for architecture.

None is more striking in this regard than Olafur Eliasson, whose “Your rainbow panorama” atop the ARoS Museum of Art in Aarhus is at once a member of Eliasson’s cluster of devices for making spectators conscious of their own activity, and yet resonant with the types of spaces that the architects themselves explore, notably in the complex, dramatic, but yet welcoming and fostering space. In a world in which the atrium space has often been used to create protective, privatized space within institutions that reveal their distrust of the larger polis, schmidt hammer lassen have transformed the type of de rigueur public space of the modern cultural institution into an urban gesture that pursues connections through conditions of entry, transparency to adjacent outdoor spaces and city trajectories, and which weaves together both users and sites in ways that reveal the transformative capacity of the spaces in between. In short, as one pages through this beautifully assembled monograph of an impressive body of work, it is an architecture of an active engagement that radiates from this renewal of the great organic and democratic traditions of Scandinavian modernism.

Barry Bergdoll Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art, New York

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Illuminating the human factor/ Jay Merrick introduces the architecture of schmidt hammer lassen

Jay Merrick, commentator and novelist/ The architecture critic of The Independent, London. He has also written on architecture, art and design for publications including Blueprint, New Statesman, ArtReview, Art+Auction and The Observer.

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Illuminating the human factor/ Jay Merrick introduces the architecture of schmidt hammer lassen

To stand on the steps of the City Hall in Aarhus, Denmark, is to be caught between the poles of a powerful magnet whose architectural charge has travelled instantly across half a century of time. As your fingers settle on the varnished wooden handrail at the entrance to Jacobsen and Moeller’s town hall, you can look beyond the children ice-skating in the small park on the other side of Frederiks Allé. And there, rising beyond the plaza alongside Vester Allé, is the bold cubic mass of ARoS, the Aarhus Museum of Art, completed in 2004 by schmidt hammer lassen. The architectural manner of the two buildings is very different, yet both communicate the same thing in the bright January light: a civic identity, a point of reference that creatively affirms context and democratic existence. The City Hall was constructed during the second world war to levels of material finish whose sensuality and precision are still breathtaking. In 1942, the building made a distinct (and rather beautiful) point about the values and determinations of individual lives within this community in Jutland. The architectural mass of ARoS, held above an almost panoptic strip of glazing, gives clear views across the city on three sides, and is informed by the same mantra. This building expresses human and urban values at a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to pursue the architectural firmness, commodity and delight advocated by Vitruvius more than two thousand years ago. The dictatorships of technology, or wilfully extreme shape-making, have had a polarising effect that is causing many significant buildings to be designed as either sterile instruments, or ironic entertainments; this kind of architecture radiates what Ignasi de Sola-Morales described as “the isolated stupor of the object.”1 But in the Radhuspladsen, it is Geoffrey Scott’s The Architecture of Humanism that springs to mind. Eight decades ago, he argued that the commodity, or usefulness, of architecture must “come into existence to satisfy an external need. That, also, is a fact of history. Architecture is subservient to the general uses of mankind... Buildings may be judged by the success with which they supply the practical ends they are designed to meet. Or, by a natural extension, we may judge them by the value of those ends themselves; that is to say, by the external purposes which they reflect. These, indeed, are two very different questions. The last makes a moral reference that the first avoids...”2

In other words, architectural usefulness should be about more than purely functional success. In 1957, at the beginning of high tech modernism, consumer brandscapes, and the so-called experience economy, Alvar Aalto echoed Scott’s sentiment: “Architecture is not mere decoration; it is a deeply biological, if not a predominantly moral matter.”3 It is from this fertile but complex moral ground that the architecture of schmidt hammer lassen arises. Their aim is to produce democratic architecture in the 21st century and, in key recent projects in countries and regions including Scandinavia, Britain, central Europe and China, to develop ways of delivering environmentally considerate buildings that are not simply extrovert display cases for high tech windmills or photo-voltaics. At a time of relatively strong western economies, and explosive growth in countries such as China, India and Russia, schmidt hammer lassen’s design ethos challenges those cultures, and clients, whose dynamics are based on production, consumption, corporatism and entertainment (see Slowness, and Mao’s Blank Sheet of Paper, page 121-123). “What is the purpose of new form,” asked Aalto in 1927, “if there is no content.” Aalto’s content drew on humanism, nature, art, and a desire to serve what he often referred to as “the little man.” How can those qualities be expressed in architecture today, in an influential critical climate that largely accepts the fractured gravities of dystopia – Rem Koolhaas’s “fuzzy empire of blur”4 – as a trans-cultural norm? This particular ballgame – relativistic, obsessed with the magnification of obscure geometric or phenomenological detail – doesn’t interest schmidt hammer lassen.

References/ 1. Ignasi de Sola-Morales, Differences, p.21. 2. Geoffrey Scott, The Architecture of Humanism, Constable 1947, p.3-4. 3. Alvar Aalto, More Beautiful Housing (lecture), from Alvar Aalto in His Own Words, p.262. 4. Rem Koolhaas, Junkspace, Content, Cologne/Taschen, p.163,168.

5. Colin St John Wilson, The Other Tradition of Modern Architecture, Black Dog Publishing, 2007, p.19.

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The practice’s design genetics arise from the inherently ethical, community-based fabric of Scandinavian architectural precedents, and from what Colin St John Wilson described as the “other tradition”, founded on a fusion of humanism, and formal and spatial poetics that avoids purely rational outcomes; a return, as St John Wilson put it, to “the original emancipatory commitment of the Modern Movement in its aim for the engagement and participation of the man in the street.”5 The key content of schmidt hammer lassen’s architecture is therefore people, in comfortable and creative relation to particular spaces and places; architectural situations whose form, programme and materiality generate a sense of the continuums of time and place. The practice is evolving in crucial ways. “The architecture of the future must be an architecture of facilitation, and connection,” explains practice partner Bjarne Hammer. “We are looking for more crossovers in design development. For example, there are new connections between architecture, art and fashion which can bring interesting values to both society and clients. In the coming years, we are going to run an open office and develop new teamwork between designers, artists and academics. Architects should be facilitators of creativity, and new ideas and influences are being brought in at the beginning, rather than at the end of projects. We see architecture as a process of uniting different approaches. We also see sustainable design in those terms. There is a need to demonstrate architecture and its environments as a holistic phenomenon – a frame, but one that is open, that takes responsibility. That, in turn, allows new architecture to emerge as a unifying force. The technical side of sustainable design is important, of course, but so is the idea of architecture that addresses people and places holistically.” This ethos has been evident for some time. The architectural forms are confident and unfussy; there are no formal or spatial riddles; materiality is decisively expressed. Yet the architecture stops short of conveying completely authoritative form.

Perspectives are typically skewed or interrupted, and shifting textures of light and mass create ambiences that are, sometimes, fleetingly baroque. There is a tendency towards finer textural finishes, but brut beton and tougher materialities have surfaced in projects such as the NRGI headquarters in Aarhus and the Performers House at the School of Performing Arts in Silkeborg. The characteristically sensuous monumental qualities of schmidt hammer lassen’s key recent buildings – notably ARoS, the Royal Library extension, the Nykredit mortgage bank headquarters in Copenhagen, and the forthcoming University of Aberdeen Library – are predicated on creating overlaps of internal space, and sightlines that pass across several levels. Light, mass and space are modulated with great care, but absolutely not in a search for Ur modernist purity: the white-painted central space of ARoS, for example, would have remained as fair-faced concrete had the client not intervened. The practice’s typical moves – flowing asymmetric surfaces, elegant bridges across space, gradations of shadow and light, fluid geometric shifts, and precise material demarcations – imply both rational movement through buildings, and Cubist abstractions of volume. The idea of free movement, and of buildings as processional democratic domains, was present even before the inception of the practice in 1986. Morten Schmidt, Bjarne Hammer and John Lassen originally worked for a commercially successful studio in Aarhus. “Our work was an industrial production,” Hammer recalls. “It was not very interesting. So we started doing competitions to see how we could work together. We won a competition for a housing project in Odense, and were fired an hour later. But working on that project gave us connections between us.

“We had a true interest in pushing the way architecture was done in Denmark. Everything was precise, reflected to the developers’ systems. At first, nothing happened for us. Our approach was to change the (design) systems and get into a dialogue with the developer. At that time in Denmark, the architect was not allowed to meet the client. We managed to say to a developer that he would make a lot of money, but only if we did the architecture. It’s banal, it’s simple – but it’s a way to open a dialogue.” That approach, which schmidt hammer lassen pioneered in Denmark, finally gelled when the practice were commissioned to design a printing works in Horsens. But the trio continued to enter competitions because they were “a laboratory where we tried what was possible, and what was not possible. We didn’t win anything. But it generated our understanding, and our dialogue. And it was fun – we had great discussions, testing how we could continue to communicate right through a project.” The breakthrough came in 1992, when schmidt hammer lassen won a Nordic competition to design the Katuaq Culture Centre in Greenland. “From one day to another,” says Hammer. “Our world changed.” Crucially, in the year before winning that commission, the three partners had become increasingly obsessed with the idea of “the democratic entrance”. The key issue, they believed, “was to make the entrance open, and in connection with the place, the genius loci; an entrance that would be a registration of the surroundings, as part of a building designed in a social way, so that it could accommodate informal ways of using it. It seemed simple, but it wasn’t, to re-think what a public building could be.” The architecture of the Katuaq Culture Centre reveals the DNA found in most of the practice’s subsequent major buildings: bold, but materially sensitive massing extrapolated from platonic solids; a graphic clarity of façade; a compressed, and more or less continuous, glazed strip along the groundplane; asymmetry of both plan and vertical volume; precise detailing; and, of course, big spaces that allow engrossing plays of mass, light and shadow. As for the internal programme of the Culture Centre, it created a kind of micro-village of small structures and alleys to ensure permeability and functional versatility. The building is fundamentally unmysterious; it invites entry; it maximises visual connections, from the outside, and from within. “Some people say we separate,” says Hammer. “No. We connect. We do dialogue.”

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Eight months later, in an international European competition that drew some of the biggest players in international architecture, schmidt hammer lassen won one of the most important commissions in Denmark in the last two decades: the extension of Copenhagen’s Royal Library. This building, perhaps more than any other, has put the practice’s democratic monumentalism to its greatest test. Hammer describes its architecture as “a reflection of the spirit of the place, and of a respect for human beings. The way the building is connected to the ground – that’s the main point. The plaza and the road are integrated, so people won’t be afraid to go into the library. We wanted to make it open for as many people as possible, even if they didn’t want to go into the library itself. And we wanted to do a building as compact as possible, so people could see more of the historical buildings around it. “The heart of the library is on that bridge (joining the original 19th century library to the new building). You’re standing in the middle of town. You’re in between something. You’re part of society. There was a closed library culture before, and now there’s an open society. And, honestly, it’s very difficult to achieve this. We’re trying to realise our democratic visions. What we really feel for – burn for – is trying to continue doing what we did in Greenland, and at the Royal Library. We’re trying to mix and integrate these buildings in society, to give meanings.” The practice’s architecture produces situations whose ambience depends on inflections of visual, haptic, and temporal qualities; a sense of pleasurable physical movement is also invariably present. These qualities are the result of the practice’s continuing obsession with the design of thresholds that initiate dialogues of space, form and materiality. “The entrance,” repeats Hammer, “is crucial. The material, the shape, the light – all in relation to the details.” The entrance may be crucial, but it is the physical and metaphysical identity of architecture – the wholeness of its presence – that gives it meaning.

Four of schmidt hammer lassen’s buildings can serve as examples of architectural unities achieved for different reasons, and in different milieus: ARoS; the Royal Library, simultaneously a public building and an iconic presence; the Nykredit headquarters building, a private domain that feels very public; and the Halmstad Library, sylvan, sensuous, Scandinavian. The Royal Library is a huge ingot on the water’s edge, canted on its two main façades, facing the port and, beyond it, Christianshavn. The polished black granite of the main façade leans forward to reflect the water – monumental, but flickering with light. The library, and its supporting administration block (the latter’s elevation is strangely suggestive of both Sverre Fehn’s Fjaerland Glacier Museum and pre-Columbian Zapotec architecture) have an initial gravitas that might be associated with large-scale sculpture. There is certainly a sense of art and deliberately created presence in architecture such as this, and it is hardly surprising to hear Henry Moore and Louis Kahn cited as éminences grises by Hammer (see Art, architecture and archetypes, pages 75-77). In terms of typology, the building is undoubtedly a bold innovation in relation to its context and, in those terms, might be compared to Aalto’s House of Culture in Helsinki, and the Seinajoki Town Hall. One enters the library through an overhanging, full-height wedge of clear glass, and the sense of iconic external mass is instantly replaced by space and sculpted form in a cleft that cuts through the building. The asymmetric flow of the balcony edges, and the bridges and long escalators, generate multiple perspectives and a strong sense of movement and overlap between the public and reading room volumes. The convivial treatment of the groundplane, inside and outside the library, is supported by a brilliantly achieved connection between the old library and the new extension: there is a subtle narrative shift, from 19th century space and details – the internal bridges in particular – to a transitional threshold above the road between the two buildings. It reaches across time and architectural manner in a way that is open-handed, sensual, light-filled: simultaneity, rather than perspectival order, is foremost. This sequence recalls Peter Zumthor’s description of an architectural condition that lies between composure and seduction: “It has to do with the way architecture involves movement. Architecture is a spatial art, as people always say. But architecture is also a temporal art.”6

The dialogue of form, space, materiality and sculpture conveys a sensuality – at times powerfully obvious, at other moments recessive and still – that is rather erotic. It also, suggests schmidt hammer lassen partner Kim Holst Jensen, invokes, an hermeneutic response: “It’s like Milan Kundera. When you read his books you go into his world. And when you finish, you go out and you take a good history with you. You take something away.” At the Nykredit headquarters, the architectural content is based on a formal and programmatic template whose strong diagrammatic order is naturalised, and humanised, by the materials used. It can also be seen as an homage to both Jacobsen and Aalto; to the former because of the exquisite qualities of finish and detail; and to the latter because of the way the form and programming is interrupted, graphically and haptically, through vertical, horizontal and diagonal visual planes to produce an array of subtle visual and material shifts: ultra fine, wet-skimmed plaster, oak, travertine, wenge hardwood, brushed steel handrails, white cement columns, shadow-gaps, differing qualities of natural and artificial light. The atrium volume, ostensibly the reactor core of one of Denmark’s most powerful blue-chip corporations, feels entirely social; the ‘business’ zones are wrapped around it, so that inside this monumental glass building, Juhani Pallasmaa’s remark about Aalto’s Villa Mairea dares to surface: “The composition aims at a specific ambience, a receptive emotional state, rather than the authority of form. This architecture obscures the categories of foreground and background, object and context, and evokes a liberated sense of natural duration. An architecture of courtesy and attention, it invites us to be humble, receptive and patient observers.”7

References/ 6. Peter Zumthor, Atmospheres, Birkhäuser, p.41. 7. Juhani Pallasmaa, Hapticity and Time, Architectural Review, May 2000. 8. Demetri Porphyrios, Sources of Modern Eclecticism, Academy/St Martins Press 1982, p.115. 9. Sverre Fehn, Works, Projects, Writing 1949-96, Norberg-Schulz/

Postiglione, Monacelli Press, p.244. 10. Louis Kahn, Essential Texts, Norton (Ed. Twombly) 2003, p.121.

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In the Swedish town of Halmstad, the library demonstrates a different facet of schmidt hammer lassen’s architecture. The building’s lead designer, Kim Holst Jensen “felt from the beginning the fascination of the place; this leftover space which had no connection with the old part of the town. I think of this architecture as connected to the sky, light, water and trees. It should be seen in the Scandinavian tradition. As Utzon said, what can the place give to the building, and what can the building give to the place?” The architecture of the library is gracefully gestural in its horizontal sweep, and modernist-classical in elevation. He cites Fehn’s Venice Nordic pavilion and Mies’ Farnsworth House as inspirations, and admits to the influence of Oscar Niemeyer; Jensen may have had the Brazilian’s Casa do Baile at Pampulha in mind. Halmstad Library also recalls the deft and mannerly Scandinavian tradition of minimal site disturbance in natural surroundings, and this long history of careful response to the primacy of setting has given the region’s architecture a general environmental kudos. The challenge of environmental design in contemporary architecture is considerably more fraught in urban settings, and the practice’s fundamental approach is to conceal environmental measures within the structure and programmes of buildings (see Ecologic, page 195-197). It’s noteworthy that, in Britain, this approach has been greeted with enthusiasm by those who commissioned Hammersmith City Academy. As schmidt hammer lassen’s co-founder John Lassen put it: “When they picked us, they often accentuated our approach to design issues like these as an important factor.” The practice’s environmental design strategy highlights a determination to preserve architectural clarity – which some environmental designers would regard as a return to the fortress of Modernism. But that phrase hardly springs to mind at schmidt hammer lassen’s studios in Aarhus and Copenhagen. At the Aarhus studio (which covers the top floor of a commercial building designed by the practice) the ambience of shared exploration is supported by the architecture of a space dominated by a full-height atrium which punches through the centre of the studio. This reverses the ARoS effect: the panopticism is internalised; at any one time, it’s possible to see most of what is going on, and most of the designers and administrative staff. In Aarhus and Copenhagen, where most of schmidt hammer lassen’s 180

staff are based, the quest for meaningful form begins with drawings and model-making, rather than computer mouse – an affirmation that physically tactile and psychologically satisfying formal experimentation is more likely to generate physically and psychologically satisfying architecture. From the windows of the Aarhus and Copenhagen studios, unobstructed vistas of these two essentially low-rise cities form highly detailed urban backdrops to project development and design; one sees the patterns and cross-stitchings of urban form and history, evidence of incremental change, and the activity of people in the streets. There is a sense of urban communication. The expressions of contextually democratic design is therefore rooted in the particular places where the practice’s early projects were developed. Their architecture strongly opposes what Dimetri Porphyrios refers to as “disinterested semiosis in search of a touch of culture.”8 All architecture radiates signs and phenomenological connections, but the semiotics of schmidt hammer lassen’s architecture are relatively restrained. Buildings such as ARoS and the Royal Library extension can be seen as geological metaphors, or eroded Platonic archetypes; yet they also generate recognisable narratives in which the notions of procession and urban connection are synonymous. In the case of Krysset secoundary school and district social hub at Hurum, Norway, the formal metaphor is literally prosaic: imagine a skewed pile of partly-glazed books, arranged to gaze out at various angles and levels, to the countryside of Oslo Fjord.

The clarity of this effect is heightened by the material palette, which is surely cognisant of Sverre Fehn’s warning that “the pursuit of a technological minimalisation of materials has deafened man’s dialogue with the earth’s masses.”9 Though clearly interested in strongly expressed tectonics, the architecture of schmidt hammer lassen is ultimately more concerned with a dialogue with existing streets, and lives, than with primordial masses. “Architectural quality is giving meanings,” says Bjarne Hammer. “We have to challenge to do architecture with identity. A lot of architecture is without meaning. Everybody needs identity, by registering things in their surroundings. There’s a lot to do: the world is getting more complicated, not less complicated. Ten years ago, nobody talked about climate problems; now, everybody’s talking about it. We have to take responsibility for these situations.” That responsibility includes the search for architectural innovations that can communicate change with artistry, presence, and civitas. “The architect,” said Louis Kahn in 1961, “should think of new institutions as reflecting the things that are deeply ingrained in the nature of man and which, when expressed more fully, can make a city a city. And one can put new life into existing institutions by giving them other spaces, by creating new connections, and by redefining everything.”10 For schmidt hammer lassen, the pursuit of these architectural redefinitions is taking their designers to places whose physical and cultural diversity will, increasingly, put their democratic design ethos to the test in the 21st century. Considered from the steps of the Radhus in Aarhus, the practice’s profoundly embedded humanist tradition, and its new and more complex search for unifying qualities, seems unlikely to be lost in architectural, cultural, or temporal translation. _

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Katuaq Culture Centre/ Nuuk, Greenland

Katuaq Culture Centre/natural/ gathering/visibility/ arctic/inviting/ refined/contrast/ lights/inspiring/ dialogue/dramatic/ northern lights Awards/ The Nykredit Architecture Prize 1998, The Danish Arts Foundation Award 1998, The Eckersberg Medal 1999. Client/ Nordic Council of Ministers, Greenland’s Home Rule and Nuuk Municipality. Engineer/ Rambøll, NIRAS Acoustic advisor/ Anders Gade Competition Year/ 1992 – 1st prize Area/ 4,800 m2 Year of completion: 1997 Construction/ Vertical exterior walls, circle and square as bearing elements. Tilted screen: Combined steel and wood structure. The screen is supported by angled in situ cast concrete columns. Screen floats above glass façade. Foundation of in situ cast concrete laid on underlying fell. Materials/ In situ cast concrete, steel, glass, tilted screen in oiled larch wood, vertical exterior walls – in situ cast concrete with external insulation and treated black larch wood, marble floor, light maple wood.

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Architecture imitating nature

The Katuaq Cultural Centre in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is a striking example of Arctic architecture. It is inspired by Greenland’s dramatic scenery: icebergs, snowfields, mountains, the clear air and the Northern Lights. The main element of the building is rectangular, sheathed by a ‘floating’, undulating screen of golden larch wood. This graceful second ‘skin’ lends the scheme an elegant airiness, creating a contrast with the solid form of the core building. While the screen can be seen as an architectural metaphor for the Northern Lights, the dark and massive form of the main part of the building is reminiscent of the icy mountains of Greenland.

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Three functions in one/ The large foyer of the Cultural Centre serves as an indoor public square for the city. The scale of the foyer cannot be taken in at a glance, instead inviting the visitor to explore. This space is divided into separate areas by three large geometric shapes – freestanding structures housing the main facilities of the Cultural Centre: a circular form containing the multi-purpose auditorium, a square box housing the television studio, and a triangular structure for the café. These constituent parts of the complex are linked both by the extensive foyer’s impressive expanse of natural stone flooring, and by the large windows extending at ground floor level below the external larch screen, connecting the foyer with the plaza outside. The Cultural Centre includes an art college, meeting areas, a café and restaurant, a television studio with space for an audience of 200 people, and a multi-purpose theatre auditorium with seating for an audience of 550. This auditorium can also be used as a cinema, or for concerts or conferences.

An interior bathed in natural light/ The building deftly plays on the contrasts between the light façade and the solid interior. The low angle of sunlight, reflected off the ice and snow, further emphasises the contrasting areas of light and shadow throughout the building’s interior. Daylight streams into the foyer through narrow oblong glass slits in the screen, and through the windows in the roof, flooding the interior with natural light creates patterns of light and shadows on the white walls of the large internal geometric shapes. The golden wooden panels on the undulating inside wall add a warm glow to the light bathing the internal surfaces of the extensive foyer. The changing patterns of light make the building seem alive even when it is empty. However, it is seldom empty – Nuuk Cultural Centre is a meeting place for Inuits from all over the northern hemisphere and is almost perpetually full of life and activity. This building is in continual dialogue with its users, welcoming and inviting interaction. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. Katuaq Cultural Centre 2. Parking 3. Home rule government of Greenland 4. Nuuk City Hall 5. Supermarket 6. “Hans Egede” hotel 7. Tele Greenland

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A.

B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Foyer 2. Main entrance 3. Information & ticket sales 4. Great hall 5. Stage, Great hall 6. Backstage, booths & workshops 7. Minor hall 8. Stage, minor hall 9. Buffet 10. Kitchen/storage 11. Meeting room 12. Workshop/atelier 13. Cloakroom for personnel 14. Rehearsal room 15. Audience toilets 16. Cloakroom 17. Executive office

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B.

C. Elevation east 1:750/ 1. Skylight band 2. Entrance, secondary

D. Elevation west 1:750/ 1. Foyer 2. Main entrance

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C.

D.

E. Level 01 1:750/ 1. Open to ground level/foyer 2. Open to Great hall 3. Balcony, staff 4. Theory room 5. Executive office 6. Atelier/lounge, students 7. Security/ stage manager 8. Ventilation 9. Disposable room 10. Storage/Archive 11. Executive office 12. Meeting room 13. Advisor office 14. Secretary 15. Footbridge 16. Meeting room

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E.

F.

F. Section aa 1:750 1. Artist foyer 2. Stage, Great Hall 3. Meeting room 4. Theory room 5. Workshop/atelier 6. Atelier/lounge, students 7. Security/stage manager 8. Rehearsal room 9. Snow chamber 10. Booth 11. Disposable storage 12. Cloakroom for personnel

G. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Foyer 2. Great hall

H. Section cc 1:750/ 1. Foyer 2. Main entrance 3. Information & ticket sales 4. Great hall 5. Stage 6. Bandstand 7. Balcony 8. Operator room 9. Technical/ ventilation 10. Orchestra pit 11. Rehearsal room

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G.

H.

I. 3D wireframe of building

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The Royal Danish Library/ Copenhagen, Denmark

The Royal Danish Library/addition/life/ knowledge/open/ movement/rethink/ reflection/edge/ literature Awards/ The Architecture Prize of the Municipality of Copenhagen 2000, Nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2000, The Nykredit Architecture Prize 2001, Du Pont Benedictus Award 2003. Client/ Ministry of Culture Engineer/ Moe & Brødsgaard A/S Acoustic advisor/ Anders Gade Competition Year/ 1993 – 1st Prize Area/ New construction 21,000 m2, conversion 7,000 m2. Year of completion/ 1999 Construction/ In situ cast concrete columns and walls, steel structure façade. Large steel joist, which in itself weighs one ton per metre, carries the prestressed and transparent façade. Push rods and traction cables. Materials/ High polished “Absolute Black” granite façade from Zimbabwe, natural sandstone, glass, maple wood floors, black painted maple panels in concert hall.

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The Black Diamond

The Royal Danish Library is one of the most significant architectural landmarks on the Copenhagen waterfront. Clad in black granite, the building is known as the ‘Black Diamond’ – with its clean-cut lines and glittering polished surfaces, the library is now recognised as one of Copenhagens’ architectural gems. The new building marks a radical shift from the traditional library structure and accommodates a range of cultural facilities. The Royal Danish Library is situated in the historic heart of Copenhagen, and has proved to be a catalyst for the subsequent construction boom along the Copenhagen waterfront in recent years. The new library’s immediate context is a backdrop of important historical buildings such as the Danish Parliament, Christiansborg Palace, The Danish State Archives,Thorvaldsen’s Museum, the Danish Jewish Museum and King Christian IV’s elegant Stock Exchange building, the latter dating to the early 17th century. With its compact form and strikingly spare exterior, the new building perfectly expresses its cultural significance, while at the same time being open and approachable.

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The Royal Danish Library is much more than a library. It is a cultural institution that unites the function of a library with a whole range of different cultural facilities: a café, bookshop, exhibition room, restaurant, scientific and literary institutions, roof terrace and a 600-seat hall for concerts, theatrical performances and conferences. The new building has doubled the Library’s overall size – the open shelves can accommodate more than 200,000 books compared to the previous capacity of 45,000. And where there used to be only one single reading room, there are now six with a total of 486 seats. The new building is skilfully linked to the old library building, which dates back to 1906. The physical contrasts between old and new buildings highlight the importance of Denmark’s cultural heritage and the country’s aspiration to be a leading player in 21st century Europe. The movement and asymmetry of schmidt hammer lassen’s design provides a dramatic counterpoise to the earlier library, the two elements linked by a clear axis running from the former vestibule of the old building, now enhanced with a striking artwork by Per Kirkeby, through the vast atrium of the new building and out onto the water’s edge.

The building has seven storeys plus a basement. The solid black cube is divided in two by a central glazed section, the atrium form, housing the majority of public functions. The atrium and the public area is naturally ventilated. Interrupting the imposing mass of the façade, this glazed section reveals the dynamic interior filled with movement and life. With its interweaving staircases and walkways, as well as a succession of curved walls, the vast open atrium space forms the natural centrepiece of the building. At the same time it also serves as a significant source of daylight which is gathered and dispersed throughout the building. The mass of the new building appears to float above the water on a ribbon of glass, raised above the ground. This ground level strip of clear glazing brings daylight deep into the entrance level of the main foyer while also affording panoramic views of the entire waterfront from within. Adding to the building’s geometric drama, the scheme incorporates a major road – the Christians Brygge – which runs parallel with the waterfront. This busy thoroughfare is treated as a glazed canyon slicing through the base of the building. schmidt hammer lassen’s new development has created a facility appropriate for 21st century use as well as creating one of the city’s most important civic amenities. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. The Royal Library 2. Harbour 3. Søren Kierkegaards plaza 4. Christian IV’s brew house 5. The Royal Danish arsenal museum 6. The Danish national archives 7. Proviant house 8. Library gardens 9. Christiansborg palace 10. Christiansborg chapel 11. Thorvaldsen’s museum 12. Ministerial buildings 13. The stock exchange 14. Frederiksholm’s canal 15. “Langebro”

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A.

B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Entrance 2. Foyer 3. Royal corner, Café 4. Escalators 5. Ticket sales 6. Library shop 7. Audience toilets 8. Restaurant 9. Multi-function hall 10. Kitchen 11. Secondary entrance 12. Passage 13. Service booth 14. Course hall 15. Reception 16. Office 17. Catalogue room 18. Audio room 19. Editing sound/video 20. External stairs 21. Harbour

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B.

22. The Hansen building, existing library building 23. The Holm building, existing library building 24. “Christians Brygge”

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C. Level 02 1:750/ 1. Information hall 2. Open booths 3. Booth 4. Buffer zone 5. Head of department 6. Loans 7. Loan bridge 8. Research zones 9. Open to below 10. Balcony 11. Footbridge 12. Study hall 13. Reference reading 14. Roof terrace 15. External stairs

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D.

D. Elevation south 1:750/ 1. ”The Diamond” 2. Exit, foyer 3. Exit, cafe & restaurant 4. Patio 5. Passage between ”The Diamond” and ”The Fish” 6. ”The Fish” 7. Recess

E. Elevation west 1:750/ 1. ”The Diamond” 2. Entrance 3. Service bridge 4. Loan bridge 5. Christians Brygge 6. ”Hansen” 7. ”Holm”

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E.

F. Level 06 1:750/ 1. Plant room 2. Workshop 3. Leader, retro 4. Buffer zone 5. Remote storage 6. Magazine booth 7. Archivist 8. Caseworkers 9. Print shop 10. Executive office 11. Footbridge 12. Library consultant 13. Offices 14. Management 15. Reception 16. Meeting room 17. Roof gardens

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F.

G.

G. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Foyer 2. Main entrance 3. Library shop 4. National gallery 5. Study hall 6. Seminar room 7. Reference reading 8. Hall 9. Music department 10. Service 11. Photo museum 12. Office 13. Roof garden 14. Multi-function hall 15. Roof terrace 16. Passage between ”The Diamond” & ”The Fish” 17. Photo archive 18. Booth 19. Special booth 20. Patio 21. Info centre

H. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Foyer 2. Entrance 3. Service bridge 4. Loan bridge 5. Christians Brygge 6. Footbridge 7. Escalator 8. Hall 9. Exhibition hall 10. Workshop & store 11. Photo museum 12. Plant room 13. Office 14. Passage 15. Open to below 16. Research room 17. Workshop 18. Storage

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The Frigate Jutland, Visitor Centre/ Ebeltoft, Denmark

The Frigate Jutland/ historic/shipyard/ construction/craft/ meeting-place/knot/ maritime/ocean/ wood/connections

Awards/ Nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2005 Client/ The independent institution Fregatten Jylland Engineer/ Rambøll A/S Competition Year/ 1995 – 1st Prize Area/ 4,850 m2 Year of completion/ Stage 1: 2002 Stage 2: 2005 Construction/ Takes its point of origin from old timber constructions. Materials/ Dark impregnated pinewood, Siberian larch wood, granite.

Maritime history in a new setting

The Frigate Jutland is a maritime visitor centre, named after the ship that now forms its center piece. The Frigate Jutland was launched from Holmen in the Port of Copenhagen in 1860. It was originally built as a warship, although for a while it also served as a royal yacht. In 1960 the frigate arrived at the small Danish port of Ebeltoft, where it deteriorated for some years before being restored, and it is now on display as a museum. It is the world’s longest existing wooden vessel, a national treasure and an international visitor attraction. schmidt hammer lassen was commissioned to design a maritime visitor centre on the Danish port of Ebeltoft, using the historical Danish naval ship as the nucleus of the display. The result is a world class visitor centre featuring dockyard facilities and a museum building with exhibition galleries, auditorium, shop, café and administration offices. The visitor centre takes the form of a long series of buildings aligned parallel to the coastline.

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Blackened fir and granite/ It has been crucial to create an environment and an atmosphere with clear maritime references. At the same time the ship had to be maintained as a visual landmark, viewed both from the town and from the sea. The visitor centre is a modern interpretation of a maritime, workshop-based environment. This is expressed by using a palette of traditional materials harking back to early maritime origins: blackened fir, larch and granite Old crossbeam constructions from the gunboat sheds on Holmen have been reused in parts of the dockyard buildings and form the basis of crossbeam sections in the rest of the dockyard buildings as well as the museum and café building. These wooden structures are crafted from Pomeranian fir and, like the ship, date back to the 19th century.

The museum building forms the visitor reception area. The high end of the building faces the coast with a glass front that affords a panoramic view of the port and the ship. The low end of the building sits on a raised, angled, stone base, reminiscent of a typical fortified stone coastal settlement. At the same time the stone bastion creates a framework for the installation, so that it is perceived as a whole from both land and sea. A maritime treasure/ The Frigate Jutland Visitor Centre has created an integrated maritime environment in the heart of Ebeltoft. The historical naval vessel is presented as a highly prized example of naval heritage, located in a carefully considered setting where history and modern architecture can be explored side by side. _

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ARoS, Museum of Art/ Aarhus, Denmark

ARoS Museum of Art/contrast/ massive/cube/link/ street/sincerity/ simple/public/ invitation/explore Awards/ Aarhus Municipality’s Architecture Prize 2004 FX Awards/ Best Museum 2004 InSitu Prize 2004 Client/ Aarhus Municipality Engineer/ NIRAS A/S Acoustics/ JORDAN Acoustics Competition year/ 1997 – 1st prize Area/ 17,800m2 Year of completion/ 2004 Construction/ In situ cast concrete - column bar system, two bearing cores, projecting façade to the east. A 20-meter high concrete slab spans between the two end walls. The slab is tension stressed with steel cables like a bridge construction. Floating staircase, the deck between the incision’s two levels is suspended. Materials/ In situ cast concrete, red Flensburg brick (with every other course recessed), glass and aluminium façade, polished concrete floors.

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An essentially democratic museum

ARoS is a modern art museum – a the cultural centrepiece of Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city. With its monumental scale, the new museum forms part of a family of distinctive cultural buildings in the area, in particular Johan Richter’s Music Hall and Arne Jacobsen’s City Hall. The new building is tightly integrated into its urban context by virtue of its prominent location and its basic form, straddling a public throughfare that transforms the museum into a ‘bridge’ linking two of the city’s cultural centres. With its long ramp on one side of the building and direct connection to the city’s cultural centre on the other, the museum is designed specifically to entice the visitor inside. The public route passing through the museum was conceived as a vital artery, providing direct connection with the network of streets beyond and encouraging dynamic interplay between the museum and everyday life.

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Red and white/ The building is a sharp-hewn, red cube clad with distinctive Flensburg bricks. The building, set into the sloping site, has a footprint of 52 x 52 metres and stands almost 50 metres high. In contrast to the apparent severity of the exterior, the dazzling white interior presents a sequence of highly organic sweeping curves that define the different levels of the building. The museum’s curving walkway divides the museum logically and legibly into two distinct wings: the exhibition wing with its range of gallery spaces and the service wing housing a restaurant, administration offices, conservation area, workshops, storerooms and library. The walkway also serves as an ‘active zone’ separating the transitory public footfall from the focus and tranquillity of the exhibition spaces. An extended foyer spans both sides of the museum ‘street’, accommodating diverse functions physically expressed as freestanding forms. On one side is the circular museum shop and café zone, while on the other the information point and ticket area are located.

A spectacular spiral staircase rises up from the centre of the museum walkway, a highly sculptural form that also wraps around two lightweight and transparent lift shafts. The stairway and lifts provide visually dramatic connections to the many exhibition galleries, as well as other facilities. The staircase also leads visitors down to key exhibition spaces housing large-scale art installations at basement level. Highlevel bridges traverse the ‘canyon’ of the atrium space, creating dynamic connections between the two core areas of the museum. This central space is flooded with natural daylight which enters the building from the glazed roof and the generous glass walls flanking both entrances. Embracing the city/ The museum is designed to operate to a flexible rhythm with the café, special exhibitions and auditoria remaining open to the public even when the rest of the museum is closed. The aspiration was a cultural building that could be used for as many different purposes as possible – allowing visitors to experience the art on show in different ways – either through intense study or as a more casual, fleeting experience. ARoS is the antithesis of a formal institution – it is instead an essentially welcoming building. It is open and yet also nurtures a variety of cultural dialogues, as well as being a safe haven from the bustle of everyday city life. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. Aros 2. Scandinavian Congress Centre 3. Aarhus Concert Hall 4. Aarhus City Hall 5. “Ridehuset” 6. “Officerspladsen”, plaza 7. “Officersbygningen” 8. Center for contemporary art 9. Industry & Trade Archives 10. “Aarhus Å”, canal 11. Aarhus Public Library, park

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A.

B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Entrance 2. Interior street 3. Foyer 4. Bookshop 5. Cafe 6. Ticket sales 7. Cloakroom 8. Main stairway 9. Staff canteen 10. Fire stairs

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B.

C. Elevation east 1:750/ 1. Entrance 2. Lift tower 3. Cafe

D. Elevation north 1:750/ 1. Entrance

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C.

D.

E. Level 03 1:750/ 1. Open 2. Footbridge 3. Gallery corridor 4. Exhibition 5. Library 6. Offices 7. Meeting room 8. Stairway to level 1 9. Study room 10. Fire stairs

F. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Interior Street 2. Exhibition hall 3. Exhibition 4. Changing exhibition 5. Galleries/ The 9 rooms 6. Auditorium 7. Paint Store 8. Gallery corridor 9. Plant Room

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E.

F.

G. Level -01 1:750/ 1. Open 2. Footbridge 3. Gallery corridor 4. Auditorium 5. Children’s space 6. Workshop 7. Exhibition 8. Classroom 9. Conservation Studio 10. Fire stairs

H. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Entrance 2. Interior street 3. Stairs/Elevator tower 4. Gallery corridor 5. Exhibition 6. Galleries/The 9 rooms

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H.

I. Sectional detail of façade 1:20/ 1. In situ cast concrete wall 2. Armoured brick slat (in stone) 3. Space between slats 4. Horizontal façade bricks 5. Closed brick facing (red Flensburg brick) 6. Vertical RHS-frames 7. Alu/glass façade section 8. Mineral wool insulation 9. Cross runner/fixtures for façade section 10. Light steel/plaster wall 11. Services tunnel

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J. Sectional in façade 1:100/ 1. Exhibition 2. Suspended deck, foyer 3. Exhibition

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J.

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Art, architecture and archetypes/ By Jay Merrick

Abstract art, said Alvar Aalto, is the result of a process of crystallisation. In that sense, two crystals are in the process of coming together at Aarhus. Jay Merrick talks to the ‘crystallographers’ concerned, schmidt hammer lassen’s Morten Schmidt, and the artist, Olafur Eliasson.

Olafur Eliasson, Artist/ Eliasson studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1995 he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research. He has become known for his installations and sculptures photographic series and architectural projects.

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Art, architecture, and archetypes/ By Jay Merrick

The relationship between art and architecture in the 21st century is protean, and unstable. Definitions of that relationship tend to dissolve as soon as they are framed, not least because the retina, as Kenneth Frampton puts it, has become the point-of-sale.1 But there will be no point-of-sale in Olafur Eliasson’s circular installation on top of the Aarhus Museum of Art (ARoS). Instead, there will be a point of view, a relationship with both the architecture of schmidt hammer lassen, and the townscape of Aarhus. “Art,” as Paul Klee said, “does not produce what is visible, but makes things visible.”2 The creation of public art in relation to architecture, and place, carries both risk and fertility, because it appropriates public space, often in unexpected ways. Its presence is fundamentally provocative, and it is the intention and quality of the provocation that determines whether a significant artistic intervention induces ennui, or a richly complex sense of engagement with people, and place. The practice is increasing its involvement with artists, feeding their input into relevant architectural projects – not because art is fashionable, but because it can make design more resonant: the architectural process is seen as plural in terms of influence, and art is one facet of a burgeoning creative crossover of contributors, a unifying hallmark of schmidt hammer lassen. The decision to commission a highly visible art intervention as part of a building, or public space, offers the artist and architect a stark choice. The intervention can rationalise or brandmark buildings, as if their contents – including form, space, reaction, memory, emotion – were frozen in time; or, to paraphrase the English visionary artist and poet William Blake, the intervention can act as a door to more resonant perception and communication.3 William Pye, the British artist famed for artworks involving flowing water, suggests that “all things which can give ordinary life a turn for the better are useless, but they are not valueless, and not ineffectual, either... the design of each single thing, however small it may be, is really important. It may redeem a great deal if it’s good.”

This challenge recalls the legendary complaint of James Wines, founder of the SITE architectural collective, when he was confronted with a Henry Moore sculpture in a Miesian public square in the 1970s: “I don’t mind if they keep building those boring glass boxes, but why do they always deposit that little turd in the plaza when they leave? ”Public art is about life, community, and it’s reinvention. It’s about possibilities rather than its obvious certainties. Creativity should trigger yet more creativity. Public art should remind us that we are, ultimately, individuals among other individuals. If it doesn’t, the art becomes urban window-dressing, yet another barnacle on the creaking hull of the art and architecture container ship, Urban Renaissance. In this mode, art can become an almost toxic presence, an urban lesion that ultimately turns art – and our reactions to it – into something ironic or vainglorious. Wines suggests that public art has to “assert itself as a situational, not objectified, presence.”4 The relationship between the architecture of ARoS and Eliasson’s proposed intervention is subject to situational tensions, possibilities, and redemptions. The artist, commissioned by the ARoS Trust, is designing a polychromatic, processional ‘ring’ that will sit on top of the building (hiding the service modules) and provide panoptic views over Aarhus, filtered through a spectrum of rainbow colours in a state of constant change. The relationship between Eliasson and the museum’s lead architect, schmidt hammer lassen partner Morten Schmidt, reveals the tensions of a shared quest: how to create an association of architecture and art that enriches human and urban situations, rather than delivering two estranged objects. For Schmidt and Eliasson, that quest is rooted in a desire to invoke humane conditions and reactions. Their different perspectives and approaches to this ideal are democratic inflections of creativity, an Esperanto that converts their different languages and critiques into an essentially convivial communication. “The tension can be on many levels,” says Schmidt. “The art piece can be the focal-point, with the building as a backdrop. Or it could be the opposite: the scale or the geometry of the art playing directly with the architecture, and strengthening it. The artist does all he can do with a site, exposed to the public. It’s very risky. The art piece has to talk to all levels

References/ 1. Kenneth Frampton, The Work of Architecture in the Age of Commodification, Harvard Design Magazine. 2. Paul Klee, Creative Confession; from Klee, by Susanna Partsch, Taschen. 3. William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. 4. SITE: Identity

in Density, Images Publishing. 5. Aalto, Art & Technology, Alvar Aalto, Academy of Finland Archives; from Alvar Aalto Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban, Black Dog/Barbican.

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(of perception and understanding). Art and architecture is very closely related. Architecture used to be called the restricted art-form. But the essence is that all these things must be put together in an artistic way through the archetypes of geometry, colour and texture. You try to dig down to the natural law of the architecture.” Eliasson’s treatment of light and colour at ARoS is less to do with natural or archetypal laws than with a search for content. He’s treating the commission in much the same way as when he developed his stunningly lucent meditation-cumhallucination, the Weather Project installation at London’s Tate Modern in 2003. “The content is quite similar,” he says. “I arrived at a solution to them in a quite similar way. I did not necessarily look at the forms of the buildings, or the form of what I should do. I looked at the logistics of the people within the system of the museum. How did the floors communicate? What was Schmidt’s idea of display, his philosophy? I was critical. I was investigating these things. And the element I thought I could concentrate was temporality; something that would take time to do. So the ring was obvious. In it, every step taken will imply the consequence of a step. It’s a phenomenological step, which links back to the programme of the museum, and the spiral staircase. These things are there. It’s a question of re-shaping the experience of the body, time and colour so that the qualities of the building are amplified.” Part of that amplification, according to Morten Schmidt, is to do with the power of archetypes. Eliasson’s pursuit of “real” colour (the kinetic colour of Kandinsky, rather than the Impressionists) will take place within a platonic form that rises above another platonic form – a translucent circle hovering above the cube of the museum. But the reactions produced by those walking round it will not be archetypal. “Colour is created by the eyes, not by waves of coloured light,” Eliasson explains. “This gives the perception of colour a whole new utilitarian, intersubjective sense of truth – a relative reality. One has to make a stand, even full of doubt, to say we produce reality.” Exit Plato and platonic solids, enter personal perception and experience.

From the top of ARoS, that experience, filtered through Eliasson’s colourations, will be about looking down on courtyards, plazas, streets and relatively isolated buildings. Schmidt speaks of the museum as an “urban street”, a building whose form was designed to absorb and encourage public movement through it – “a dynamic cut, and angles that are not just an incident. At one end, the cut points to Arne Jacobsen’s Town Hall, and at the other end, to the library and park.” Eliasson concurs: “There’s a potential in thinking of art as a part of society – a dialogue with society. Art is not avantgarde: it is participatory. It’s a co-producer of reality. So there’s a whole responsibility to art.” And he suggests that this responsibility – a facet of the humanising intention – is under attack by market forces which are eroding discussion about the role of public art and interventions. He sees the development of his project at ARoS as a critique of the “spectacle economy” and an attempt to “develop a trajectory of ethics and answers” with a strong sense of content. The practice believes these market forces are a dynamic, rather than deadening, challenge in the relationship of art to architecture. That content can, says Eliasson, be enriched by the relationship between art and architecture, in a “unique dialogue which adds elements that are otherwise simply not there, a spatial language or sociopolitical language that architecture could benefit from – the idea that it has a responsibility to space. To bring theory into life requires a language. This is where art can communicate.”

In the 21st century, it does so against the historical perception of art as décor, a skin or representational flesh laid over something mutely substantial. Released from the need to represent something obvious, “art can make a whole new use of phenomenological language. Art can be the primary form and the secondary layer, so it has stepped into the structural part of the argument. So art is a language apart (from architecture). We can claim criticality.” Eliasson also refers to art as “spatial theories made real.” Which, of course, echoes Mies’ original, revolutionary description of Modernist architecture as art that reflected the “spatially apprehended will of the epoch.” Nevertheless, Eliasson sees “productive results coming out of the relationship between art and architecture. I do increasingly understand that only part of architecture is about spatial research, which overlaps with art. Architecture is also about branding and marketing. But there’s a coming together, a dissolving of the question: is it art, or is it architecture? It has consequences, either way. Suddenly, it doesn’t matter if the installation is art or architecture. It’s not seeing the museum and the art as the pearl and necklace of a city. It’s part of the city.” And, ideally, part of the soul. “My belief,” says Morten Schmidt, “is that when you are not abstractly thinking of art, but perceiving it, or doing it, it is a reflection of your soul. I strongly believe that we are not just physical bodies of blood and flesh. Our beings have soul. When we create, it has to do these abstract things that we perceive at other levels. It has to do with this other life. How can we allow such a bold statement on top of the building? I like the idea of a very bold piece of art. It’s back to the archetypes, supplementing each other. This isn’t going to be a signboard!” In 2009, “this other life” of souls and archetypes will be judged not by an architect and an artist, but by the people of Aarhus, and by those who come to the city to visit ARoS. Some may recall a remark by Alvar Aalto. “The equilibrium of our surroundings,” he wrote in 1955, “our towns, villages, traffic arteries, nature, and all the other elements that make up the setting in which we live, is a real sign of culture. At its heart is true art and the refined forms of technology that serve a truly useful purpose.”5 _

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Art and Architecture/ The evolution of a museum “ARoS on Fire” by Thyra Hilden and Pio Diaz

One of the main purposes of the ARoS Museum is to make art a real option for people. With the public road that passes straight through the museum, the building ceases to be a formal cultural institution, but acts as a mediator between the public and art. ARoS is also intended as something of a ‘blank canvas’, in effect a space that can be physically affected by artists. It is conceived therefore as a work of art in itself, a dynamic civic monument that is continuously evolving and resistant to any kind of static condition. This sense of engaged and engaging evolution is vividly illustrated by two projects: “ARoS on Fire” by Thyra Hilden and Pio Diaz, and by ‘Your Rainbow Panorama’ by Olafur Eliasson.

When ARoS caught fire/ On 17 January 2007, flames could be seen rising up inside the ARoS Museum of Art. Around 5 p.m. that evening, the museum apparently caught fire. Fortunately, this was not a real fire but a spectacular art installation created by the Danish-Argentinean artistic partnership of Thyra Hilden and Pio Diaz, who used the museum building with its large expanse of glass façade as a projection screen for video projectors with vivid images of flames which appeared to be devouring the entire building. This art installation lit up the sky for 15 days, and with this symbolic burning of the ARoS museum, Thyra Hilden and Pio Diaz intended to make the public reflect on the damage and destruction caused by fire.

At the same time, this symbolic fire was intended to make people consider their own instinctive reactions, which may have wavered between fear and fascination. With ‘ARoS on Fire’, the museum broke out from its own four walls and took art into the heart of the public arena with a confrontational artwork that would force people to rethink their personal relationship with, and fear of, fire. This dramatic installation was part of the artists’ international art show entitled ‘City on Fire - Burning the Roots of Western Culture’, which has been shown in major cities throughout Europe and soon in South Asia and USA. _

Facts/ Artists: Thyra Hilden and Pio Diaz – Visual Artists Website: www.cityonfire.org Temporary installation: January 2007 Photographer: Thyra Hilden 2007/+ City on Fire documentation, Total Museum, Korea 2007/ Burning, Pinchuk Art Center, Ukraine 2007/ Ansigt, Esbjerg Artmuseum, Denmark 2007/ Copenhagen Cathedral on Fire, Copenhagen, Denmark 2007/ ARoS on Fire, ARoS, Århus, Denmark 2005/ City on Fire, Danish Institute in Rome, Italy

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A glimpse inside the rainbow/ “Your rainbow panorama” by Olafur Eliasson

Your rainbow panorama is to be completed in the course of 2009. It is the creation of the Danish Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and consists of three elements: a multifunctional space, an elevated 360° walkway and The ARoS prism. Visitors first enter the multi-functional space, from which they may continue up onto the panorama walkway. This 150 metre long rainbow-coloured space offers spectacular views over Aarhus, the sky and the horizon. At any singular moment the panorama will appear almost monochromatic through the coloured glass panes, but the appearance of the surroundings will change according to the movement of the visitors. Thus, movement becomes the vehicle of the visitors’ colour perception, and their engagement in and use of the space becomes instrumental to their experience of the surroundings in relation to the museum. Approximately halfway around the walkway an opening invites the visitors to enter a spherical observatory called The ARoS prism. On sunny days visitors will experience a cascade of prismatic light projected onto the wall, as the sunlight is separated by a number of prisms. The use of natural daylight in the sphere creates an engaging, ever-changing expression of the relation between colour, light, and space. A roundtrip in the panorama walkway ensures a journey through all the colours of the colour spectrum. The duo of spatial structures constitute Eliasson’s vision for the ARoS roof space as a combined beacon, viewing platform, and activity space. Deploying different techniques, they all seek to provoke consideration of the nature of light and colour and to suggest new ways of engaging with the urban landscape as well as the museum architecture and collections. _

Facts/ Artist: Olafur Eliasson Website: www.olafureliasson.net Competition year: 2007 – 1st prize Construction period: August 2008 – Juni 2009. Other projects/ 2005/ Round Rainbow, The light setup, Lund Kunsthall 2005/ Your black horizon, Always a little further, Venice Biennale 2004/ Your activity horizon, Frost Activity, Reykjavik Art Museum 2004/ Minding the world, ARoS, Museum of Modern Art, Aarhus 2003/ Sonne statt Regen, Lennbachhaus, Munich 2003/ The weather project, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern London

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Växjö Library/ Växjö, Sweden

Växjö Library/ reflection/balance/ patina/combine/ absorption/open/ engaging/addition/ simple/geometry

Awards/ Kronoberg Län’s Architecture Prize 2005, The Architecture Prize of the Municipality of Växjö 2004, Nominated for the Kaspar Salin Award 2004. Client/ Växjö Municipality Engineer/ Moe & Brødsgaard A/S Competition Year/ 2000 – 1st prize Build area/ New construction 3,850 m2, conversion 3,100 m2. Construction period/ 2001-2003 Construction/ In situ cast concrete columns and circular exterior walls. Materials/ In situ cast concrete, white Swedish marble façade, glass, curved float glass, aluminium ceiling, wood.

A modern counterpart to a Scandinavian classic

The commission to design an extension to the City Library in Växjö in southern Sweden required a great deal of careful thought. Erik Uluot’s 1965 library was widely acclaimed as a fine example of Scandinavian modernism but was in need of development to equip it for 21st century use. The extension of the library has been designed so that it neither overshadows nor is subordinate to the original building. The project involves a careful renovation of the existing 3,100 m2 and the addition of a separate, circular building of an additional 3,850 m2 designed to blend sensitively with the original, restrained architectural style of the original library. The new building is of the same height and width as the existing library and is positioned in such a way that the circle is in line with the square. The two buildings are joined via a delicate three-storey glazed connecting building, corresponding to the original library’s basement, ground floor and 1st floor. The connecting building is designed to be as light and transparent as possible, which is why the façades are made exclusively of glass.

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Glass and stone/ As in the old library building, the extension creates an effortless fusion of glass and natural stone. However, while the original building was constructed with glass at the base and natural stone on top, the new building reverses this with a broad band of glass atop a base of light natural stone. The Swedish marble that has been used for the new building was extracted from the same quarry that supplied the stone for the original façade – with only a fortyyear-old patina to distinguish them. The natural stone base gives the new library building depth and dignity, while the glass band adds openness and a sense of accessibility. At all times of the day and night the design creates a continual visual contact between the events taking place within the library and the town beyond. In the evening the rotunda becomes a lighthouse emitting a warm, welcoming light over the centre of Växjö.

A delicate container/ The interior of the new library building is characterised by daylight, openness and simplicity. The building is simply finished, with ash floors, light walls and transparent glass sections combined with fragile steel constructions – a simple, versatile backdrop acting as a delicate container for the colourful diversity of the people and books within. A circular atrium brings the building together and creates a spacious connecting node between the three floors. A large, circular glass ceiling captures the daylight and draws it deep into each level of the building. Växjö City Library sits is at the heart of the city’s culture – the culmination of a cultural axis that runs from the Theatre Park, the theatre and the concert hall, across Vestra Esplanaden to the library itself. The new extension allows the library to make its mark within its urban landscape as a versatile cultural landmark that will serve its community for decades to come. _

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Nykredit Headquarters/ Copenhagen, Denmark

Nykredit Headquarters/ inspiration/gate/ efficiency/ delicate/ solid/finish/port/ transparency/art/ accommodating/ Awards/ FX International Interior Design Award in the category Best Office Building 2002, The Architecture Prize of the Municipality of Copenhagen 2001. Client/ Nykredit Consulting engineers/ Steensen & Varming Landscape architects/ GHB Landscape Architects Competition year/ 1998 – 1st prize Area/ 24,000 m2 Year of completion/ 2001 Construction/ In situ cast concrete base; four stabilizing concrete cores extend to each of the four corners of the roof. Light balcony decks, ‘meeting boxes’ attached to the colonnade and suspended from the roof/gangways above, suspended stairs/gangways, steel structure between office wings (Vierendell beams span over the atrium). Pillar supported double glass façade. Materials/ Glass and granite façade – horizontal ribs in black Chinese granite, concrete, stainless steel, wood, travertine ceiling and plinth, dark wengé veneer.

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Glass gateway to the city

The design for the Headquarters of Nykredit, one of Denmark’s leading mortgage banks, is conceived as a transparent cube, a gateway providing clear visual connections with the city and Copenhagen harbour. The 10-storey glass structure is one of the largest buildings in Copenhagen and has become a familiar and prominent feature of the city skyline. Its interior is no less dramatic, with a vast, soaring atrium flooded with natural light providing links to all levels. The ground floor at entrance level covers the building’s entire footprint, accommodating the reception desk, art installations and an auditorium. A broad main staircase leads up to the atrium, expressed as the heart of the building. Here suspended meeting rooms, glass elevators, staircases, balconies and walkways bridging the atrium create a stimulating and inspiring working environment. The coup de théatre is provided by three cantilevered glazed meeting rooms suspended within this central space from the 3rd and 6th floors.

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A subtle fusion of art and functionality/ When designing this building, it was considered important to use water as an aesthetic feature. With Copenhagen’s harbour immediately outside the windows, it seemed only natural to reflect this in the design of the interior of the building. The artist Anita Jørgensen has created a water sculpture extending one and a half storeys up from the ground floor level. A number of internationally recognised artists have contributed to the decoration of the building. Olav Christopher Jenssen has created a 30 metre-long mural, the image built up using extraordinarily fine brushwork. The result is an artwork that is both subtle and mesmerising. In addition, a giant bronze sculpture by the sculptor Per Kirkeby stands ‘centre stage’ within the atrium space. Per Kirkeby has also designed the external plaza adjacent to the building, enlivened by 20 bronze sculptures of approximately one metre in height. These forms are mounted on an architectonic granite structure running like an ornamental ribbon along the harbour edge, accentuating the shift in dynamic between the quayside and the water beyond.

The subtle interplay between art and architecture expresses the philosophy behind the design of the entire scheme. The brief called for a highly functional and flexible working environment – schmidt hammer lassen have created a space that can also serve as a ‘canvas’ for a range of striking artwork that complements and enhances the occupiers’ experience of the building. A green lung/ Despite the building’s vast glass façades, thermal load is reduced by using the water from the nearby harbour to cool the building. In addition, the double layer façade is designed with sections that can be opened for natural ventilation. The roof also features opening panels providing further natural ventilation. A transparent cube/ The building operates like a completely transparent container, a receptacle for intense work, informal meeting places and social interaction, using contrasting scale to create a strong sense of visual drama. This is a highly functional space but it is also continually dynamic, offering an impressive breadth of activity and atmosphere – it has proved to be, above all, an excellent working environment. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. Nykredit Glasscube 2. Nykredit Crystal and Cloud 3. HK-Building 4. “Langebro” 5. Nykredit “Kridthuset” 6. Otto Mønsteds plaza 7. Nykredit elephant house 8. Harbour

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A.

B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Foyer 2. Main stairway to level 01 3. Stairs 4. Lifts 5. Auditorium 6. Water art 7. External stairway 8. Main entrance 9. Harbour

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C. Elevation south 1:750/ 1. Atrium

D. Elevation west 1:750/ 1. Entrance

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E. Level 04 1:750/ 1. Open 2. Atrium staircase 3. Stairs 4. Lifts 5. Printing/copy 6. Meeting box 7. Open plan office 8. Private office 9. Tea/coffee kitchen 10. Dealers department 11. Balcony 12. Workplaces

F. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Waiting lounge 2. Foyer 3. Reception 4. Lifts 5. Auditorium 6. Planting 7. Rest area 8. Meeting box 9. Gallery passage 10. Executive offices

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H. Section bb 1:750/ 1. External stairway 2. Main entrance 3. Foyer 4. Lifts 5. Auditorium 6. Planting bed 7. Lounge 8. Meeting box 9. Lounge, executive 10. Board room 11. Canteen area 12. Office section 13. Dealers department

G. Level 09 1:750/ 1. Atrium 2. Management staff lounge 3. Stairs 4. Lifts 5. Offices 6. Access to roof terrace 7. Boardroom 8. Gallery passage 9. Executive offices 10. Secretary’s office

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I. Sectional details of meeting box 1:50/ 1. Outline of planting bed 2. Parapet, laminate-covered (PANE) 3. Butt-weld 4. Carving in BF-panels for illumination sockets 5. BF-panel on the underside (PANE) 6. Parapet 7. Parapet, safety glass 8. Glazing 9. Skirting 10. Glass enclosure, safety glass.

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J. Sectional details of exterior façade 1:50/ 1. Floor construction, Parquet, Anhydrite layer, Box girder 2. Convector grid 3. Elephant gratings 4. Steel edge beam 5. Neoprene block 6. Adjustable spacing 7. Horizontal grate 8. Curtain box with integrated engine, Hanged in R.F. Steel cable (only south façade) 9. Aluminium filling 10. Outline of concrete column 11. Horizontal mullions, RHS profiles 12. Fire proof

insulation 13. Glass type 3 14. Glass type 1 15. Composite aluminium panels 16. U-profile 17. Slide 18. Finishing with mechanical polished aluminium rail 19. Grating consisting of natural anodised aluminium fins 20. Aluminium profile, matching the façade profiles 21. U-profile mounted onto column 22. Suspended ceiling 23. Insulation held with galvanized wire 24. Insulation held mechanically

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Culture Island Middelfart/ Middelfart, Denmark

Culture Island Middelfart/tension/ sail/people/icon/life/ cultural/interaction/ facilitating/unite/ bridges

Client/ Middelfart Municipality, Coop Kvickly Middelfart, The Savings bank Middelfart, Telka Invest ApS. Engineer/ Hundsbæk & Henriksen A/S Cooperating architect/ Karl C. Rosenberg Rasmussen A/S Harbour builder/ Morten Rosbæk ApS Competition Year/ 2002 – 1st Prize Area/ 4,500 m2 Year of completion/ 2005 Construction/ Concrete structural frame, steel structure. Materials/ Patinated Rhein zinc on façade and roof, glass, concrete, wood.

Culture Island

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The highly sculptural quality of the new ‘Culture Island’ energises the newly created peninsula extending from Middelfart’s waterfront. For many years, the Danish port of Middelfart turned its back on the sea, but the town now offers a striking mix of contemporary architecture, culture and the marina beyond. The Culture Island is a multi-purpose building which houses a number of the town’s cultural facilities under one roof: a large new library, a cinema, a panorama restaurant, a café, the tourist information office and the town’s large new assembly hall. The Culture Island is situated on an artificial peninsula in the narrow channel between Jutland and the island of Funen called the ‘Little Belt’. It is surrounded by an exclusive marina, floating above the water on piles deep in the sea bed. Standing on the harbour seafront of Middelfart it is easy to understand how the town is known as ’the Town of Bridges’. From the Culture Island there is an impressive view of the two bridges that link Jutland with the island of Funen. The view to the west is of a fine bridge built in 1935 that brings railway traffic over the Little Belt, and to the north can be seen an elegant suspension bridge from 1970 over which motorway traffic crosses between the island and the mainland. Looking out on the world/ Four large glass panels afford views from the cultural centre over the water, and also admit generous levels of daylight into the interior. These glass panels act as large ‘eyes’ that look out to all four corners of the world. In the evening, these windows glow – fields of light reflected in the water.

The rest of the façade consists of large surfaces covered with zinc, interrupted by small, vertical slits that project beams of light into the building. The zinc casing gives the building a ‘lightweight’ look and creates an elegant interplay between the sky and the water. The main entrance is a clearly visible glass panel that opens up the building to the town. In front of the entrance is a large new public space which helps to visually and physically link the town and the harbour, also acting as the location for many of the centre’s activities such as theatre performances, concerts and other events. From industrial port to cultural waterfront/ The Culture Island of Middelfart is created from its surroundings. It is a spectacular architectural sculpture inspired by the sea and by the two distinctive bridges that span the ‘Little Belt’ on each side of the Culture Island. The trapeze-shaped glass panels and curved surfaces suggest associations with ships and sails. With its dynamic sweeping façades, the Culture Island of Middelfart is a finely honed exercise in dramatic architectural form, further enhanced by the continuously changing light characteristic of this area. _

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Sheikh Zayed Knowledge Centre/ Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Sheik Zayed Knowledge Centre/ oasis/storytelling/ galaxy/learning/ virtual/spiral/effect/ science/dynamic/ horizon

Client/ Bertelsmann AG for Sheikh Zayed Advising engineer/ Buro Happold Interactive media/ Bertelsmann Interactive Media Competition Year/ 2000 – 2001 – ongoing Area/ 80,000 m2 Construction/ Spiralling double curved concrete frame, fair faced concrete exposed soffits, exposed concrete columns and cores. Materials/ Opaque glass with silk print on concrete façade, concrete.

A galaxy of knowledge

The Sheikh Zayed Knowledge Centre takes the form of a sleek ellipse, floating above the waters of the Persian Gulf on a spiral-shaped artificial peninsula extending from Abu Dhabi’s seaside promenade. This complex is a low-lying “sandscraper”, in sharp contrast to much of Abu Dhabi’s relentlessly vertical skyline. Seen from the air, this building will appear as a white spiral on a dark blue background – rather like a snow-white galaxy juxtaposed against the jet-black background of the cosmos. This centre will be an ultra-modern multi-media library, its design based on the idea that all knowledge originates from the beginning of the universe. The pure form of the spiral is intended to be a metaphor for knowledge, the momentum of the design – a form without a finishing point – symbolising man’s ever-growing quest for knowledge and constantly increasing understanding.

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Emerging from its shell/ The basic structure of the building consists of two curves: two giant rounded shells joined together in a structure which is open, surrounding a central piazza. The outer shell formed from an enormous glass façade – a curving window looking out towards the Persian Gulf and the horizon. The inner shell reaches towards the land with a rounded ‘arm’ which links the complex to the promenade and invites people to continue their walk along the promenade and enter this new complex. The two shells encircle the conch-shaped main building. The complex is therefore mainly a large scale sculptural extension of the landscape of sand and the coast – a landscape which continues up to the roof as part of a public park. A world of knowledge/ At ground floor level visitors will find a reception area, a play area for children and a restaurant. A staircase leads up to the first storey of the complex – an extensive piazza with a large circular cinema. The first and second storeys also have a total of 16 ‘knowledge worlds’

which offer both entertaining and intellectual forms of learning. On the second storey, there is also an oasis laid out on the roof of the cinema – with its shady trees and water tanks, the oasis offers the possibility of tranquil relaxation and reflection. The third storey of the complex has a number of workshop studios, which provide a quieter ambience than the ‘knowledge worlds’. Conference facilities, administrative offices and various VIP rooms are located on the fourth floor, some of which are reserved for the royal family. The fifth storey is the top level of the complex and accommodates the royal suite. The heart and lungs of the complex/ The complex employs various renewable sources of energy. The main piazza is the heart and lungs of the complex, where natural vegetation and water assist in improving the indoor climate. This area serves as an atrium and has natural ventilation, with cool sea air being introduced at the lower levels and released at roof level. The complex also makes use of solar power. The Sheikh Zayed Knowledge Centre with its openness and welcoming ambience contrasts with the nearby towers of glass and concrete which are largely closed to the public. This low-rise complex does not block the impressive views of the Gulf from the promenade, but responds elegantly to its maritime surroundings. _

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Slowness, and Mao’s blank sheet of paper/ By Jay Merrick

“Can a particular architectural ethos or critique be transplanted into very different culture? schmidt hammer lassen’s Morten Holm, currently designing a scheme in China, talks to MAD, a young Beijing practice. Jay Merrick considers the anormalies and challenges of international architecture.”

MAD Architects/ MAD Architects is a Beijing-based architectural design studio dedicated to creating innovative projects. MAD Office was established in 2002 by Ma Yansong and has today three partners: Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano and Qun Dang. MAD examines and develops a unique concept of futurism through current theoretical practices in architecture design, landscape design, and urban planning. MAD has won numerous international design competitions, including the Absolute Tower in Toronto, Canada, and Solar Plaza in Guangzhou, China.

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Slowness, and Mao’s blank sheet of paper/ By Jay Merrick

Can a particular architectural ethos or critique be transplanted into a very different culture? schmidt hammer lassen’s Morten Holm, currently designing a scheme in China, talks to MAD, a Beijing practice whose increasing success followed a tower competition win in Toronto. Jay Merrick considers the anomalies and challenges of international architecture.

And for new architecture, too. In China, the catchphrase for the 1990s was wang qian kan – “look towards the future” – which, in Mandarin, puns the word “future” with the word for “money”. In one of Zhu Wen’s stories, a young man describes himself as “a cheap person, in an age that burned to sell cheap, my natural habitat the clearance warehouse, pushed carelessly to one end of the shelf...”2

Ma Yansong, one of the two young principals of the Beijing architectural practice, MAD, says he likes staying in Copenhagen’s SAS Royal Hotel because he finds Arne Jacobsen’s architecture “slow”. Slow, because he is aware of details that took a great deal of time to design, and make. In today’s internationalised corporate climate – a climate that ambitious practices like schmidt hammer lassen and MAD are addressing – Jacobsen’s obsessively crafted perfectionism seems utopian in a world where 350 multinational companies control one-third of all world trade.

In countries like China, India and Russia, the future is becoming more important than the past, and so the pursuit of democratic architecture raises challenging questions about the role of history, time, culture and aspiration in design. Consider Beijing’s Avenue of Everlasting Peace: it has become a thoroughfare of everlasting construction in which the shadows of rising skyscrapers join the shadows of fifty more, already built. The city has become the biggest building site in the world, and China the most extraordinary magnet for architects, locked like iron filings in a forcefield of change in a country that, by 2020, will become the most vibrant industrial and consumer powerhouse since the United States exploded into consumer hyperdrive in the mid-20th century.

To sit in on a conversation between Ma, his co-principal Qun Dang, and partner in schmidt hammer lassen Morten Holm, is to experience two world views; two essentially humane but subtly different visions of so-called international architecture. When he’s in Beijing, Holm carries the practice’s democratic ideals into discussions with Chinese clients. Ma and Dang (the former has worked with Zaha Hadid) have an equally humane, but more ambivalent, attitude to the presentation of architecture as an expression of democracy; indeed, their ‘critical’ architecture sometimes satirizes their design situations in cities such as Beijing and Toronto. One of their deliberately surreal Chinese building competition entries was an organically formed water tank designed to study the behaviour of goldfish. It won the competition. MAD’s approach recognises the facts of architectural life in China, which were originally generated by Deng Xiou Ping’s socio-political transformations. “Translated into the cultural sphere,” writes Julia Lovell in the preface of I Love Dollars, Zhu Wen’s brilliant and ruthless short stories set in contemporary China, “Deng’s exhortations to profit made commercial, popular success, rather than ideological diktat, the new bottom line for literary production.”1

In such conditions, how does one define architectural context? No wonder Ma Yansong finds low-rise Copenhagen, and Jacobsen’s architecture, so therapeutic. “In the hotel, everything feels quite old,” says Ma. “You feel the care of its design. In China, we live very fast. We’re seeing [architecture as] images.” But even an educated ability to understand these architectural images and forms critically “can’t tell you how to feel.” Despite that, adds Qun Dang, architecture must attempt to embody social responsibility. Morten Holm insists that, for architects working internationally, cultural contexts are more important than physical contexts. But his own experience of the architectural scene in Beijing confirms a design and construction mode whose key characteristic is velocity. “It’s a fast-forwarding through modern European architectural history,” he explains. “There’s a higher level of complexity which is hard to define... freedom is a threat, and an opportunity. Maybe after another ten or twenty years, they will realise that some people thought slowly about design.” In the meantime, as Ma points out, “architects in China are in a very interesting condition. The government changes every four years. Decisions are fast. Architecture is a monument, or a disaster. You can either

References/ 1. I Love Dollars, Zhu Wen, Columbia University Press, 2007, preface pIX 2. Ibid, page XI. 3. Log 7, Spring 2006, p143 4. Aaron Betsky, Icons: Magnets of Meaning, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1997, p23; from Brandscapes, Anna Klingmann, MIT Press, p51. 5. Critical Modernism,

Charles Jencks, Wiley-Academy, p109. 6. Alvar Aalto, speech on Art & Technology, Academy of Finland archives, 1955; from Alvar Aalto Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban, Black Dog/Barbican 2007, p254.

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provide quick architecture, or you can get involved. So architects have power.” But it is a strange, and sometimes acutely ironic power. The acceptance of postmodern western architecture as an international default setting means that China sucks in dozens of western practices simply to get designs done quickly, in internationally familiar styles. This has had an effect on talented Chinese practices such as MAD, whose recent increase in Chinese commissions only began after they won a major tower competition in Toronto. In other words, they had to export their skills to the west before they could successfully re-import their westernised credentials to Beijing. There is an extra irony. Ma reports that in Toronto, “these important people were asking us, what [architecture] can we do here?” It seems that clients in both the east and the west share a fundamental uncertainty about architecture’s ability to deliver meaningful fusions of the civil and the commercial. Hence the scramble for iconic architecture, which Peter Eisenman describes as “the symbols of a generation that today can no longer see.”3 Aaron Betsky speaks of icons as fetish-objects that condense “the invisible or unnamable forces that control our world.”4 Ma counters these views briskly. If an iconic building does good, he says, then the fact it is perceived as an icon is irrelevant. Holm regards the export of western architecture as a test of the architect’s ability to contribute meaning in previously unknown milieus – their headlines, texts and subtexts, so to speak. “Your perception of space would depend on your cultural background,” he says. “But we all eat, sleep, fly.” And it is fundamental, shared human actions and attributes that drive schmidt hammer lassen’s design, whether in Aarhus or Beijing. For Holm, the core design questions don’t change: “Is the building really open? Is it inviting? Can you walk through it? Does it work with your perception?” Ma identifies aspiration, in countries such as China and India, as a key issue: “It’s an explosive process – the possibilities! The doors are wide open to potential futures. It’s borderless. It gives you the potential to do something different, to accumulate the know-how – not copy-catting, not of copycatting, but redefining architecture.” In this sense, the scene in Beijing supports two kinds of architectural practice: large commercial operations, whose fast-track designs produce

buildings as brandmarks, regardless of their context; and other practices, including schmidt hammer lassen and MAD, who are interested in getting back to the roots of space and form in an attempt to address particular urban contexts more dynamically. Both practices seek an architectural expression that is essentially democratic, but the polarities of slow and fast are never far away. The quest for democratic design in Beijing is problematic because the authorities are biased towards rapid design and construction. In the short or medium term, Ma and Dang crave more intelligent control over what does, and doesn’t, get built. Holm recognises this, describing Beijing as a power city, and Copenhagen (along with many other western capitals) as a network city. In power cities, growth is the dictatorial force; in network cities, a more socio-historic consideration of causes and effects influences the outcomes of development, and architecture. That democratic consideration, says Holm, has to be “shaped” to suit the context in which it is being offered, architecturally. “In China, a ‘democratic masterplan’ would not work. You have to find another way to describe it. You can talk about how it could be open and accessible, how it could be lively, how circulation could be improved.” Thus, schmidt hammer lassen has taken a softly-softly approach to that market, having begun to meet potential clients five years ago, and at a time when major US and Hong Kong practices had dominated the field for almost two decades. “But Chinese clients are extremely keen on [architectural] novelty and new ideas. They have a real openness to them, as long as it’s interesting.” Holm’s Chinese clients are particularly interested in schmidt hammer lassen’s combination of direct, open functionality, and their architecture’s bold sculptural effects. Environmental design, which was barely discussed in China three or four years ago, is also a hot issue. “They have an ability to change dynamically to meet new needs,” he says. “Everything grows fast, except culture,” says Ma. To which Holm adds: “It’s important to bring new architectural ideas – as long as they can contribute to the contemporary world.”

Ma quotes Mao: “Only on a clean sheet of paper can the newest and most beautiful picture be drawn.” In the 21st century, that dictum seems absurd. Architects can no longer perceive their cities, or other parts of the world, as suitable cases for controlled architectural experiment. In cities like Beijing, the reverse is true: architecture is being applied to urban fabric or empty space as a kind of skin graft that will transform the face of cities, erasing the wrinkles of cultural difference. schmidt hammer lassen and MAD are uninterested in supplying Botox architecture, despite the fact that – as Rem Koolhaas and others have demonstrated – there is a strong lure to create highly experimental urban architecture in rapidly developing countries. Yet neither the architects, nor the authorities in these situations, are capable of judging the quality or sustainability of radical proposals. “In the world village,” writes Charles Jencks, “there is no identifiable front line to advance, no group or movement that cuts across all the arts, no coherent bourgeoisie to fight, no establishment salon to enter. Rather, there are countless individuals in Tokyo, New York, Berlin, Cologne, London, Milan and other world cities all communicating and competing with each other, just as they are in the banking world.”5 There is a balance to be struck. “If you ask too many questions, you’re too afraid to move forward,” says Ma. “That’s the problem in Beijing. People don’t think this city has anything to do with their lives.” This means that architects working in unfamiliar international contexts have three options: deliberately extreme design, commercial design, or design that attempts to maximise humane or community effects. One imagines that schmidt hammer lassen and MAD agree with Alvar Aalto who, in 1955, noticed “the same products, the same brands, the same forms spreading all over the world, from Helsinki to Detroit to Moscow to Istanbul. At first it may seem hard, even impossible, to resist the infiltration of international standards... It must be said, however, that though its products may result from precise research findings, an internationalism that has no roots and merely floats in the air may not, after all, provide the right design for a seemingly technical product wherever man and art – the element that protects man – takes centre stage.”6 _

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NRGI Domicile/ Aarhus, Denmark

NRGI Domicile/ reflection/energy/ tool/metallic/power/ bend/change/ stretch/sloping/ interaction

Client/ NRGi a.m.b.a. Engineer/ LB Consult A/S Competition year/ 2005 – 1st prize Area/ 5,065m2 Year of completion/ 2007 Construction/ Three open and diagonal split-levels, bearing cores. Materials/ Light, metallic façade, Foiltech skylight as solar screening.

A building full of energy

The new domicile for NRGi, one of Denmark’s biggest electricity suppliers, presented the practice with a specific challenge. Since the company actively advises its customers on ways in which to conserve energy, it was particularly important to deliver an exemplar piece of architecture that would also be highly energy efficient. Located in Dusager, on the northern outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city, this luminous new building makes a striking addition to its urban landscape and also boasts a host of energy-saving solutions. Creating an interplay of light and motion/ With its dramatically sloping façades and futuristic design, this building appears to be in constant motion, the two upper storeys flying out at a tangent from the anchor of the ground level. The practice has designed a distinctive façade treatment, creating a dazzling interplay of silver aluminium panels and glass, in stark contrast with the gentle contours of the surrounding landscape. The geometric patterning of the façade reflects the varying colours of the sky, creating the illusion of a building with a constantly changing appearance.

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The interior design is equally dynamic, the three open storeys positioned at different angles to each other. Small meeting areas and places to take coffee breaks create space where staff can engage in informal exchanges. The central atrium provides a stunning visual and physical connection, the transparent roof bringing natural light deep into the heart of the scheme. This arrangement directly facilitates internal communications – the antithesis of the traditional, hierarchical working arrangements of a conventional office space. This design gives transparency to all activities throughout the open-plan building, encouraging contact and dialogue between staff.

An energy-efficient headquarters/ The NRGi heaquarters has been designed to include all the latest energy-saving solutions and technological advances. The central atrium of the building, connecting all three storeys, has a transparent roof made from Foiltech, a material originally developed for sailmaking. This material can be inflated when the sun is strong and high in the sky, and with its integrated silk print acts as a sunscreen. The screening effect can be adjusted by blowing air between the thin layers of foil. The building is also positioned at an angle which allows it to provide shade from the sun. The façade is angled so that it protects the interior of the building from the sun as well as reducing heat radiation into the building. The building also features a number of energy-saving systems which conserve electricity and heat, and reduce the amount of ventilation required. NRGi’s new headquarters are symbolic of energy of every kind – the energy pulsing through the pipes of heating systems and electric cables and also the energy generated between people working in a well-designed environment. _

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Halmstad Library/ Halmstad, Sweden

Halmstad Library/ shimmering/light/ knowledge/active/ river/reflection/ movement/trees/ embracing/floating/ compelling Awards/ Nominated for the Kasper Salin award 2006, The Architecture Prize of the Municipality of Halmstad 2006, Awarded the Helgjutet-prize from Swedish concrete industry 2007. Client/ The Municipality of Halmstad Engineer/ Rambøll, Sweden Competition Year/ 2002 – 1st Prize Area/ 8,000 m2 Year of completion/ 2006 Construction/ Two in situ cast cantilevered concrete plates with an interposed balcony deck between the two floors, slim supporting concrete columns with an uninterrupted construction through the decks. Partial basement – in situ cast concrete, building founded on pillars. Lightweight steel profiles reinforce the glass façade. Materials/ Concrete, horizontal façade of slim, vertical glass panes, steel, larch wood.

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The library of light

At Halmstad Library, light plays a major role. During the day, light streams into the library, is reflected in the river, refracted through the branches of the surrounding trees and floods the building through the generous expanse of windows. The building is a large sculpted glass pavilion. Continuous double-height glazing along the length of the concave façade lends the building a distinctive presence, creating a welcoming ambience. Transparency is the keynote – emphasised by the concept of the building as one fluid, open space. Beside the river/ The library benefits from an idyllic location on the banks of the River Nissan, surrounded by a park with mature trees right in the heart of Halmstad, located on the west coast of Sweden. Allowing nature to inform the design was an instinctive response to the library’s setting.

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The library has two stories at the main entrance, stepping up to three-stories on the river frontage. It extends out over the wide expanse of the river and was conceived as a bridge linking the town that had been divided by the river for hundreds of years. The library links the parkland setting with the river and the city beyond. A square in front of the library creates a new urban ‘room’ which can host a range of civic activities. In this way the Library establishes a north-south axis north/ south, making a strong, legible connection between the historical part of town and the new urban development area. As a sign of respect for the living world of nature you often see the courtyard enriched with an old tree in the countryside in Sweden. The library has a reference to this tradition being formed around a large chestnut tree which stands in the middle of the circular atrium, at the centre of the building The base of the building is raised slightly above street level on a forest of columns which echo the tree trunks that encircle the building. The design creates a sense of weightlessness, with the flowing walls suggesting an organic interplay with the natural environment.

The library has a grassed roof which further reinforces the way in which the new building echoes and enhances the site’s leafy setting. Furthermore the grass is also a sustainable element, reducing UV penetration and the need for drainage, as well as providing additional insulation. Immersion with a view/ The building is designed to be welcoming – the atrium houses an information area, a reception space, search terminals, exhibition displays, a café and stairs to the first floor and the storerooms in the basement. The visitor moves from this active zone to the various sections of the library housing fiction, non-fiction, children’s books etc. There is space and serenity in every direction, with views out over the water, the treetops and the sky beyond. The palette of materials is deliberately simple: concrete, glass and floors of Nordic larch. The library has a consistent colour scheme of white concrete and light wood. The design pays ‘homage’ to the organic forms that characterise Scandinavian architectural tradition. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. Halmstad Library 2. Nissan (river) 3. Music school 4. “Kapsyl” park 5. “Gamle Tull” 6. New build 7. “Storgaten”

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B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Main entrance 2. Entrance 3. News room 4. Cafe 5. Atrium 6. Children’s department 7. Children & youth department 8. Foyer 9. Gallery 10. Reception 11. Sorting, Office & Media 12. Garage/storage

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C. Elevation south 1:750/ 1. Entrance

D. Elevation west 1:750/ 1. Nissan (river)

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E. Level 01 1:750/ 1. Local history 2. Main Stairway 3. Non-fiction 4. Music section 5. Atrium 6. Personnel department 7. Lunch room

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F. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Entrance 2. Lecture room 3. Non-fiction 4. Children’s & youth department 5. Atrium

G. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Lunch room 2. Personnel department 3. Office 4. Children’s department 5. Atrium 6. Music section

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H. Sectional detail of façade 1:50/ 1. Green-roof 2. In situ cast concrete 3. Cantilevered concrete beam 4. Drip mould 5. Insulated filling 6. Expanded metal for screen enclosure of ventilation 7. Vertical aluminium profile 8. Insulating glass 9. Reel blind 10. Mineral absorbent 11. Suspended interval lamella ceiling 12. Horizontal profile 13. Socket 14. Outward opening door

15. Heated air between glass façade and sunscreen, ventilated above ceiling 16. Pipe with bracing 17. Concrete column 18. Aluminium covering 19. Railing, galvanized flat steel 20. Concrete beam 21. Concrete, Cantilevered plates with slope 22. Plywood, Insulation, Façade plaster 23. Water drip, Stainless plate, Thermal bridge insulation 24. Convector grid, Heating pipe

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The Northern Lights Cathedral/ Alta, Norway

The Northern Lights Cathedral/view/ rotation/sky/height/ reflection/variety/ sculpture/peaceful/ contemplative/

Client/ The Municipality of Alta Collaborating Architect/ Link Signatur Architects A/S, Norway Competition Year/ 2001 – 1st Prize Area/ 2,100m2 Estimated year of completion/ 2009 Construction/ Bearing and stabilizing in situ cast concrete and steel structure spiral screen, concrete structural base. Materials/ In situ cast concrete, stainless steel sheets, glass.

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Announcing the mystery of the Northern Lights

The new Cathedral of the Northern Lights is located in Alta, a small town north of the Arctic Circle, in the northernmost part of Norway. The town council wanted to have a new cathedral which would be an iconic building – both an architectural landmark and a fitting environment from which to observe the Northern Lights.

The aim of highlighting the location of the cathedral is also expressed in the choice of materials used: birchwood and the local Alta slate are the main materials. The roof has a slate covering, and the floor in the cathedral sanctuary is also laid with polished slate. The interior of the cathedral is lit by the warm glow of light-coloured birchwood cladding the interior.

The dynamic contours of the new church soar upward in a spiral shape, culminating with the tip of the clock tower, 30 metres above the ground. This double spiral design defines the cathedral’s exterior and is intended to symbolise the meeting place of man and God.

The new Cathedral of the Northern Lights is essentially a product of its environment and its local culture – the building is far more than merely a tourist attraction, but rather a ‘marker’ symbolising the extraordinary natural phenomenon that defines its location. _

Laminated titanium as a sculptural form/ The central space within the spiral houses the cathedral sanctuary, a peaceful and contemplative space in contrast with the dynamic form of the rest of the building and the daily life outside. The central point of the spiral – where the motion stops and the light streams in – is marked by the location of the baptismal font. The church also accommodates an administrative section, lecture rooms and a congregational hall.

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The lower level of the church building is flooded with light from large glass façades. A secondary layering of oblique screens constructed of laminated titanium envelops the entire building, including the windows and the clock tower. This device enhances the sculptural quality of the design as well as reflecting the Northern Lights when they illuminate the long periods of darkness during the Arctic winter. The laminated structure reflects the mysterious light shifts, accentuating the different effects this produces during the changing seasons and at different times of the day. Symbolically, the apertures within the titanium screens increase in size towards the upper part of the spiralling church tower. A symbol of the Northern Lights/ The symbolic importance of the Northern Lights is subtly reflected in the design of the cathedral – the building is intended to signify Alta’s role as a place from which to observe the phenomenon of the Northern Lights. An area has therefore been specifically created inside the building where visitors and churchgoers can watch the Northern Lights.

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. The Northern Lights Cathedral 2. Swimming pool 3. Hotel 4. New build

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B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Main entrance 2. Church Garden 3. Congregation hall 4. Chapel 5. Ceremonial hall 6. Administration 7. Baptism/meeting room 8. Verger 9. Northern lights room 10. Kitchen 11. Church Plaza

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C. Elevation east 1:750/ 1. Main entrance

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D. Elevation north 1:750/ 1. Main entrance

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E. Level -01 1:750/ 1. Entrance, activity room 2. Church Garden 3. Café/activity room 4. Office 5. Reception & waiting area 6. Mixed use area 7. Kitchen and lounge 8. Minister 9. Plant room 10. Kitchen 11. Entrance 12. Activity room 13. Lecture room 14. Cloakroom

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F. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Belfry 2. Administration 3. Congregation hall 4. Mixed use area 5. Ceremonial hall

G. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Belfry 2. Church Garden 3. Cafe/activity room 4. Mixed use area 5. Ceremonial hall

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Spiladós, National Concert- and Congress Centre/ Reykjavik, Iceland

Spiladós/National Concert- and Congress Centre/ music/rhythm/ dynamic/poetry/ nature/instrument/ delicate/cave/ impact/glowing Awards/ Commended in the category Big Urban Projects at the international architectural fair AR MIPIM Future Project Awards 2006 Client/ The Municipality of Reykjavik Investor/ Eignarhaldsfélagid Fasteign hf/Klasi hf Advising engineer/ Linuhönnun Landscape architects/ SLA landscape Co-operating architect/ THG, Iceland Competition Year/ 2005 – 2nd Prize in the final stage Area/ 60,000 m2 (20,000 m2 for the concert centre) Construction/ In-situ cast concrete, steel structure. Materials/ Glass, stainless steel mesh, concrete, natural stone.

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Spiladós/ exploring musical form

The organic external envelope of this proposed National Concert- and Congress Centre cloaks a sequence of complex and curvilinear interior volumes, in part inspired by the shape of the very same symphonic instruments to find their home in this venue. The concept behind the scheme is a large, luminous sculpture located at the edge of the quayside, at the point where the land ends and the sea begins. The building is designed to be in full view of the city, with spectacular views over the harbour and the mountains beyond. Spiladós (Icelandic for ‘music box’) is the name of the building. It houses three halls of varying sizes, located in three corners of the building. The largest is the main concert hall, the secondary space being the conference hall, while the rehearsal room is the smallest. The main staircase occupies the fourth corner of the building, leading up to the concert hall balconies and continuing to the top of the building where a public terrace offers visitors a 360-degree panorama over the magnificent surroundings: the city, the harbour, the Atlantic Ocean and Mount Esja.

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The main foyer is on the ground floor as a natural extension of the public routing, and from here concert-goers can look out through the large curving glass façade over the quayside and harbour to the north and east. A luminous sculpture/ The glass façade is constructed with a mesh of stainless steel, which reflects the continuously changing daylight. During the dark days of the Icelandic winter, integral lighting dramatically enhances the opulent and dynamic interior, which can be seen as a glowing, organic whole by visitors approaching the building. Curtains of curved glass, similar in design to the external façade, have been used to create internal divisions. These undulating glass walls are conceived to delineate a series of luminous and sinuous spaces which are used as the inside partitions.

A catalyst for change/ The underlying logic of this striking design is to create clear connections between the building and Reykjavik’s city centre and harbour area. Spiladós is part of a master plan linking Reykjavik’s old quarter of Kvosin with the harbour area. The intention is that the whole area should be developed with a mix of cultural centres, commercial buildings, residential areas and offices, with the new concert hall and conference centre acting as a powerful catalyst for, and symbol of, this development. This building reflects and embodies the drama of Iceland’s varied landscapes. It is a luminous sculpture with bold, sweeping contours that reflects and evokes the sea, the sky and the city. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. Concert & Conference Hall 2. Cultural plaza 3. Green hill 4. Art University 5. Hotel 6. Future development, Housing & office 7. Retail/Office/ Housing 8. Redevelopment 9. Art museum 10. City library 11. Future development, housing & office 12. Harbour

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B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Main stairway/Lifts 2. Foyer 3. Concert hall 4. Stairs 5. Amphitheatre/ stairs 6. Rehearsal hall 7. Performance area 8. Arrival hall 9. Conference hall 10. Main entrance 11. Receiving area 12. Future development, housing & office 13. Harbour

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C. Level 02 1:750/ 1. Main stairway/Lifts 2. Lobby 3. Concert hall 4. Stairs 5. Amphitheatre, stairs 6. Rehearsal hall 7. Restaurant/Lounge 8. Garden lounge 9. Performers area

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D. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Foyer 2. Lobby 3. Concert hall 4. Sound control 5. Lower lobby 6. Administration 7. Performers area 8. Staff parking 9. Atlantic Ocean

E. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Plenum 2. Acoustic chamber 3. Concert hall 4. Gallery 5. Lounge 6. Amphitheatre, stairs 7. Arrival hall 8. Technical facilities 9. Atlantic Ocean

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F. Section cc 1:200/ 1. Attic rigging zone 2. Lobby 3. Concert hall 4. Sound control 5. Spot room 6. Gallery 7. Projection booth 8. Plenum 9. Technical 10. Technical facilities 11. Foyer 12. Public loggia/Outdoor café

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Amazon Court/ Karlin, Prague, Czech Republic

Amazon Court/ relation/link/public/ layers/garden/ growth/ornaments/ crash/diagonal

Awards/ MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Award 2008 Client/ Europolis Invest Engineer/ Battle McCarthy/ZEF, UK and RFR, France Cooperating architect/ ATREA, Czech Republic Visual artist/ Anne Marie Plough, Denmark Competition Year/ 2004 – 1st Prize Area/ 42,000m2 (24,000m2 above terrain) Estimated year of completion/ 2009 Construction/ Concrete frame, fair faced concrete exposed soffits, concrete columns and cores. Raised technical floor includes air systems, roof structure from beam and tension rod diagonally running across atrium. Materials/ 30-50 % glass façade, flamed/polished bright natural stone façade on prefab concrete panels. Internal façade – mobile textile sun screen protection with artist print, clear 3-layered Foiltech roof.

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An office complex with a green heart

Amazon Court is a mixed-use but predominantly office development in the Karlín quarter, just east of Prague’s historic centre. The scheme is one of three large buildings in the River City Prague complex, consisting of offices, shops, housing, hotels and restaurants, and is situated along the banks of the Vltava River. The flexible office building has a central atrium which also acts as an internal public square; open 24 hours a day. This public space provides a connection through to the Karlinska Nam Park and the leafy river promenade beyond. Typical Prague paving stones are laid throughout the plaza area to reinforce this feeling of connection with the city. A flexible design/ Amazon Court is designed to house small companies in a green environment. This dynamic complex is tailored to the needs of its future occupants: companies with potential for growth. The building’s capacity to adapt to a range of user requirements makes its sustainable – commercial premises can be easily extended or partitioned according to demand.

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The building’s heart is a vast atrium – a high-tech and innovative public space which also operates as a covered public square complete with hanging terraces, water features, trees and flowers: an inviting place which both creates and reflects the civic life of the community. The plaza is covered by Foiltech, a transparent lightweight roof material which dispenses with the need for heavy beams and is instead supported by slender rafters on the underside of mullion-free sheeting to give the illusion of being outdoors. While allowing daylight to pass through it, this material insulates the atrium from the noise of the city beyond. Glass bridges which also double as office space traverse the atrium at the upper levels, creating an additional animation within this vast public space where working areas and circulation routes are skilfully configured and integrated.

Innovative and humane/ The exterior of the building features an elegant, rhythmical façade. It consists of a carefully orchestrated interplay of glazed sections and white granite blocks with alternating flamed or polished finishes. The robust geometric patterning of the façade echoes earlier Central European architectural traditions which utilise decorative effects of sgraffito and trompe l’oeil. The Danish artist Anne Marie Plough has collaborated with schmidt hammer lassen to design the atrium’s internal screen decoration which takes the form of suspended foliage, inspired by the feel of the Amazonian jungle. Amazon Court is an office building that operates in harmony with its surrounding context, responding sensitively both to the character of the River City Prague complex as a whole and to the human scale of the city of Prague. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. Amazon Court 2. Nile house 3. Danube house 4. Future buildings 5. Future bridge 6. “Vitava”, (river)

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B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Main entrance 2. Office 3. Atrium 4. Info 5. Café 6. Stairs/Lifts 7. Canteen 8. Lifts 9. Toilets

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C. Elevation south 1:750/ 1. Entrance 2. Offices 3. Atrium 4. Terrace

D. Elevation west 1:750/ 1. Main entrance 2. Offices 3. Ventilation shaft/passage 4. Terrace

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E. Level 05 1:750/ 1. Internal bridge 2. Offices 3. Atrium, Open to below 4. Tea/Coffee Kitchen 5. Cleaning 6. Stairs/Lifts 7. Plant room 8. Toilets

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F. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Main entrance 2. Internal bridge/offices 3. Atrium 4. Terrace 5. Info

G. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Entrance 2. Offices 3. Atrium 4. Internal bridge 5. Core 6. Stairs/lifts 7. Canteen

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H. Section details of façade south 1:100/ 1. Transversal edge beam 2. Fixed glass 3. Beam 4. Steel plate and concrete on top of beams, Double height beam 5. H beam 6. Waterproofing PVC sheet, nonwoven fleece, Expanded polystyrene, Vapour proofing 7. H beam 8. EPDM and aluminium sheet 9. Vertical H beam, H K structure 10. Insulated aluminium, window system, double

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glass, side/bottom – hung sash window 11. Finger ceiling, painted 12. H beam, fire insulated 13. Textile ceiling/water resistant board, Insulation, Suspension system 14. Raised floor with ventilation and electric holes, Trapez-sheet and concrete on top of beams 15. Stainless steel T-profile, Wire 16. Fibre concrete slabs blocked up, Nonwoven fleece, Waterproofing PVC Sheet, Nonwoven fleece, Expanded polystyrene,

Vapour proofing 17. Aluminium sheet on board, Hard insulation 18. Motor

I. Sectional details of exterior façade 1:50/ 1. Filling & painting 2. Concrete slabs 3. Raised floor with ventilation 4. Finger ceiling 5. Anchor fitting, Aluminium sheet on board 6. Elastic joints, Aluminium flashing sheet, Weather resistant plasterboard, Membrane in between, diffusion tight 7. Continuous T-profile 8. Sliding curtain 9. Column 10. EPDM & aluminium sheet, Waterproofing PVC

sheet 11. Insulated box construction, thin sheet profiles & weather resistant plywood 12. Preparation for maintenance/service

J. Exterior façade, general 1:50/ 1. Flamed natural stone façade 2. Polished natural stone façade

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How can architecture support ecology?/ By Jay Merrick

“The terms “environmental design” and “sustainable architecture” have been firmly embedded in architectural and legislative minds in developed countries for perhaps two decades. Jay Merrick considers the ambitions of schmidt hammer lassen’s Stephen D. Willacy, and the architect Ken Yeang.”

Ken Yeang – Architect/ Director of Llewelyn Davies Yeang (London). Malaysian-born architect and writer best known for developing environmental design and planning deep green solutions. Doctorate in ecological design and planning from Cambridge University (UK). Author of several books on ecodesign, including: “Ecodesign – a Manual for Ecological Design” (John Wiley & Sons), “Bioclimatic Skyscrapers”, (John Wiley & Sons).

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How can architecture support ecology?/ By Jay Merrick

There is a potential conflict between purely architectural design, and environmental performance requirements, that can create an either-or divide between radical and nonradical approaches. Jay Merrick considers the ambitions of schmidt hammer lassen’s Stephen D. Willacy, and the ecoarchitect Ken Yeang, principal of Llewelyn Davies Yeang. The terms “environmental design” and “sustainable architecture” have been firmly embedded in architectural and legislative minds in developed countries for perhaps two decades. The reaction, in terms of design and regulation, has been varied, and tends to focus on energy-saving measures that are relatively cost-effective and simple to apply. The fuller environmental effects of buildings on their immediate environments or locales is rarely addressed in a detailed ecological way; neither is the literal fertility of buildings. Architects tend to think of minimizing environmental impacts – most notably carbon emissions, now traded by corporations as if they were stock options – rather than using architecture to actively induce greater biodiversity. That ideal is, of course, very challenging. That blunt and ubiquitous fact means that architects who want to design environmentally useful features into their architecture must be creative with a relatively restricted palette of structures, materials and implanted systems. Debate about the best ways forward in so-called eco-architecture is therefore polarized between those who want to maximize environmental gains within the scope of a particular design ethos, and those who believe architectural form should strictly serve ecological diversity. The vast majority of environmental architecture is found in the first category, which makes effective innovations within this sector important: anything that edges the general standards of environmental design forward must be a good thing. Radical environmental architects, committed to holistic responses to local or regional ecologies, do not yet influence the design of the majority of building types. Yet it is likely that radical holistic methodologies will ultimately be absorbed by ambitious architects operating in the mainstream. In the case of schmidt hammer lassen, the pursuit of democratic architecture generates a sustainability agenda whose baseline social and contextual connection, and sustainability.

That form of sustainability must then overlap with environmental, or eco-sensitive requirements. A clear example of this can be seen in the practice’s current design development of the City of Westminster College. A strong emphasis on accessibility, visibility and a “socializing” treatment of the external ground plane has emphasized public qualities. The architecture contains environmental systems but they are not obvious. The practice has also pursued radical environmental design solutions, most notably the NRGI headquarters at Aarhus and an office building in Prague. In both cases the challenge has been to deliver the best environmental performance within buildings, without affecting their architectural intent. Dichotomies duly rise to the surface. Poise, or passivity? Design integrity, or a reverential return to naturally biodiverse conditions? Energy saving technical systems, or regional vernacular structures that mediate microclimatic conditions? An architect’s respect for nature in urban and rural settings, and peoples’ places in them, can show itself in many ways. In Australia, Glenn Murcutt’s lightweight vernacular modernism is rooted in the writings of the 19th -century American naturalist Henry David Thoreau, Mies’ Farnsworth House, and the typology of woolsheds in the harsh physical conditions of the Outback. His fascination with the Aboriginal idea of touching the earth lightly, “he was an echo of his own ideal, to achieve a temporary relationship between architecture and landscape founded on respect and tact.”1. This is directly comparable to the longstanding Scandinavian tradition of simplicity and discretion in the design of rural architecture. There is a similar discretion, and considerable beauty, in the timber architecture of Fay Jones. The Arkansas architect studied under Frank Lloyd Wright who, in turn, designed houses that expressed nature materially and metaphorically, but without sacrificing formal brilliance.

References/ 1. Francois Fromonot, Glenn Murcutt Buildings + Projects 1962-2003, Thames & Hudson, p39-40. 2. Ken Yeang, CNN interview, July 20, 2007.

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Listening to schmidt hammer lassen partner Stephen D. Willacy discuss environmentally sensitive architecture with Ken Yeang, a doyen in the field, is to experience the complex relationship between architecture (with a capital A) and its potential for a back-to-the-future contribution to natural evolutions of bio-diversity. Ken Yeang is interested in something more fundamental: the idea that architecture, whether in urban or country settings, should not only demonstrate simplicity in its core environmental systems, but also help to restore the original ecological diversity of a particular architectural site. “We are not,” he once told the New York Times, “looking at the building as an art object. Eco-design is designing in such a way that the human built environment or our design system integrates benignly and seamlessly with the natural environment. We have to look at it not just as designing a building as an independent object in the city or in the site where it’s located. We have to look at it in the context of the characteristics of the site in which it’s located, the ecological features and we have to integrate with it physically, systemically and temporally.”2 Stephen D. Willacy says that schmidt hammer lassen’s approach to environmental design is founded, firstly, on greater than usual public concern about energy use in Denmark: higher levels of insulation, airtightness, windmill renewable energy combined with the use of efficient district heating systems – all of which have been standard practice for half a century. But architectural design remains a guiding issue within the practice. “In our buildings, environmental design is not so explicit. We’ve seen it as a challenge not to make it overt. We are very conscious of the social sustainability of buildings – the functional and spatial overlaps. We want to design architecture that is socially and contextually inclusive.”

Yeang sees it slightly differently. “I think that green architecture has its own aesthetics. I don’t know what it is yet! But I think we should pursue it as a goal. Green architecture is not about stuffing a building with systems. It has to start with ecology. The ecologist sees the world as a collection of organic and inorganic elements. We should try to imitate the ecological systems of nature, otherwise we’re covering the world with more and more inorganic objects. Ecological systems have diversity. I think of this as eco-mimesis. That’s the ideal – but it’s an abstract concept. The challenge is to make it work.” But Yeang also recognises the fundamental value of common sense in reducing the environmental impacts of architecture: better use of space and insulation, getting more daylight into buildings, reducing the energy used by heating or cooling systems, and more natural ventilation. This realm of application is well-known to schmidt hammer lassen, and is explicit in the design of both the 25,000m2 Paddington Campus of Westminster College, London, and the 24,000m2 Amazon Court mixed-use scheme in Prague. Willacy says the practice’s environmental design is embedded in a Scandinavian architectural tradition that has always had to deal with extreme winter conditions. “But we don’t want to design environmental architecture with add-ons. We’re trying to find new ways to embody passive systems.” In the modernist context, these passive systems have often been based on archaic practice: Louis Kahn’s ventilation plenums at the National Assembly in Dakka, Bangladesh, were re-workings, in 1974, of a cooling system that had been in traditional use locally. Charles Correa’s modernist architecture in India also draws on vernacular environmental design. Meanwhile, in western design, there is no agreed state-ofthe-art in environmental architecture. Yeang suggests that, in this field, architects approach design in one of four modes: passive, as in using established vernaculars; mixed, in which traditional methods are supported with some basic modern environmental systems; full, in which modern passive systems are used; and productive, where applied systems are used to generate power. “In the UK,” he says, “the imperative for environmental design comes from the government. But it is architects who have to confront this issue. But it’s hard to justify green buildings commercially. It becomes very difficult.”

As an onlooker, Yeang regards schmidt hammer lassen as having “the beginnings of a definite (architectural) style. There’s a Scandinavian heritage that’s worth pursuing, to find these links between the past and now.” There are, he added, several ways to approach regionalism: by replication; by reinterpreting the architecture of the past through innovation; by abstraction; by addressing the genius loci. “Or,” he adds, “by neutrality, so that people make culture, and by trying to find this ecological nexus. What you’re doing is great work, but to define an integration of green architecture is the challenge for all of us. Whether you start from the green point of view, or the architectural point of view, the two will have to confront each other. Whether you keep (environmental design) inside or outside, there are no hard and fast rules.” In an age dominated by production and the spread of cities, the ability, to touch the earth lightly will increasingly become an indicator of architectural quality. In schmidt hammer lassen’s case, that quality increasingly reflects a desire to produce sustainable architecture and environments that support diverse and humane activities. This is being achieved through new unifications of form, space and environmental strategies that invoke what Bjarne Hammer has described as the “holistic phenomenon, a frame that is open, but that takes responsibility.” _

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Performers House/ Silkeborg, Denmark

Performers House/ youth/rough/rusty/ twist/frankness/ playful/energy/clash/ flexibility/creativity/

Awards/ Highly commended in MIPIM AR future project award in the mixed use category Client/ Performers House Engineer/ DAI Gruppen A/S, Denmark Contractor/ SKANSKA Denmark A/S Competition Year/ 2005 – 1st prize Area/ 3,700m2 (transformation 1,500m2/ new built 2,200m2) Year of completion/ 2006 Construction/ Concrete structural frame Materials/ Perforated corten steel, glass – clear and frosted.

A building of contrasts/ Folk High School, Silkeborg

Performers House is an international dance, music and theatre folk high school located in Silkeborg, a regional centre of Danish provincial life on the banks of Denmark’s longest river, the Gudenå River. Non-traditional materials have been used in the design of the new building and have made it a modern counterpoise to the nineteenth-century paper mill. The aim was to provide the best possible physical environment in order to encourage fellowship and co-operation in a folk high school, where educational and the social aspirations form an integral part of the curriculum. At the same time, the building has been designed to connect the folk high school to the town by offering a vibrant environment for the local community, including cafés, a music theatre, cinemas and a media centre.

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‘Three-in-one’ design/ The project is in effect a ‘three-in-one’ design. Firstly, the original boiler house of the paper factory has been modernised and now accommodates two rehearsal rooms, a common room and a stage. Secondly, a new building has been constructed to house the main entrance, offices, a canteen/restaurant, the student café, a dance stage, kitchen and student accommodation. Thirdly, an outside area has been created between the new building and the existing buildings in the area, creating a square where many folk high school activities take place, reinforcing connections with the local community. The building celebrates its constituent parts – internally, ducting and ventilation systems are honestly expressed. Externally, the new building is clad with boldly perforated rust-red steel panels. After dark the internal lights shine through the circular apertures incised into the façade, turning the building into an animated beacon shining its light over the surrounding area. In this way the building appears to be perpetually in motion, becoming itself a ‘performer’. Creating a link with the wider community/ The ground floor of the new building has a glass façade that can be partially moved to one side, thus transforming the external balcony into a performance arena. The folk high school’s international talent (half of the student population comes from abroad) and Silkeborg’s vibrant local culture come together here to create music, dance and theatre performances on this urban stage.

The square is the natural centre for all activities – a foyer, a stage, an interval space and a rehearsal room, divisible into smaller, more intimate sections. It is built on an existing town square and now links the folk high school and the town’s key public space. Performers House embodies a sequence of inherent contrasts – between the interior and the exterior, between the folk high school and the town, between old and new, between rehearsal and performance, between local and global. _ Facts about the Danish folk high school/ 1/ The first folk high school was founded by the priest and philosopher N.F.S. Grundtvig in 1844. 2/ Grundtvig viewed lifelong education for all citizens as a basis for being able to participate actively in a democratic society. 3/ At the folk high school, students live, eat and learn together. 4/ Folk high schools combine highly-qualified education with a homely environment, learning and sense of community.

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Skyttehusbugten Housing project/ Vejle, Denmark

Skyttehusbugten Housing project/ panorama/curve/ terraces/home/ valley/beech wood/ view/relationship

Awards/ Winner of MIPIM AR future project award, Residential 2007 Client/ Bouwfonds Engineer/ Bascon, Denmark Competition Year/ 2005/ competition proposal Area/ 14,000 m2 Construction/ Concrete structural frame. Materials/ In situ cast concrete, glass façade (painted, frosted, transparent and silk screen printed).

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Rooms with a view

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Why should a view of the sea be reserved for just the few who live right on the water’s edge? The apartments at Skyttehusbugten in the Danish harbour town of Vejle, offer a sea view not only to the residents but also to their neighbours behind this new building. The location is one of the most beautiful in Denmark: with Vejle town as a backdrop, the residential scheme was designed to enjoy an unrestricted view over the harbour and the inlet beyond

A democratic statement/ Skyttehusbugten is a building that opens itself up to its surroundings. The lower floor of the building is intended to be used as a café, showroom, kayak and rowing club and similar active facilities that will open up the building to the waterfront and bring life to the walkway fronting the building. The idea is that this will be a light steel construction with wood decking that will retain the maritime character of the location.

Vejle has a pleasant location on a flat river estuary cradled by a natural amphitheatre of green hills. Indeed, the town’s valley location was the key to the building’s distinctive profile. With its bowl-shaped design, Skyttehusbugten relates clearly to the contours of Vejle’s topography. At the same time, the bowl design ensures that the town behind would retain its magnificent views of the sea. Equally, the design certainly guarantees that residents would benefit from the panoramic views both over the inlet and towards the roofs and spires of Vejle.

The large curve of the building, the lowest point of which is just one and a half metres above the ground, invites people to walk through the scheme. A public open space is formed here that functions as a pedestrian route for local people to use as they move between the sea and the town. The courtyards open to the sky act as welcoming, intimate meeting places and create a special sense of community.

Linking the town and the sea/ The roof terraces and internal garden courtyards cut into the building along its entire bowlshaped structure, form a green connection with the spectacular setting. The interplay between the vertical and inclined panes of glass of the project’s façades evokes and echoes the tree trunks of the surrounding beech woods. The apartments’ direct access to roof terraces and open lightwells lends an airy, open feel to the scheme – these are benefits usually reserved for high-rise blocks or terraced housing. The lightwells offer panoramic views over the surrounding area, but also provide views through from one half of the complex to the other, which highlights the project’s aspiration to create a well-linked community.

Skyttehusbugten perfectly relates to its singular location: a distinctive building with a sculptural form that responds to Vejle’s remarkable topography. This is in every sense a ‘landmark’ project, particularly its ability to make strong physical and visual connections between the town and the seafront. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. Skyttehusbugten 2. Marina 3. Recreational area 4. Saltwater pools 5. Vejle bay

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B. Level 01 1:750/ 1. Open green garden 2. Access to housing unit 3. Connection (staircase & plaza), Across building 4. Balcony 5. Housing example 6. Plant basin 7. Saltwater pools 8. Vejle Bay

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C. Elevation east 1:750/ 1. Open green garden 2. Access to housing unit 3. Connection across building (staircase & plaza) 4. Balcony

D. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Open green garden 2. Access to housing unit 3. Connection across building (staircase & plaza) 4. Rooftop terrace 5. Parking 6. Housing

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A. Level 03 1:750/ 1. Open green garden 2. Access to housing unit 3. Connection (staircase & plaza), Across building 4. Balcony 5. Housing example 6. Plant basin

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B. Level 06 1:750/ 1. Open green garden 2. Access to housing unit 3. Connection (staircase & plaza), Across building 4. Balcony 5. Housing example 6. Plant basin

C. Level 09 1:750/ 1. Open green garden 2. Access to housing unit 3. Connection (staircase & plaza), Across building 4. Balcony 5. Housing example

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The Crystal and Cloud/ Copenhagen, Denmark

The Crystal and Cloud/floating/gust/ sky/functional/light/ sculpture/harbour/ visibility/plaza

Client/ Nykredit Estates A/S Engineer/ Carl Bro A/S, Buro Happold Landscape Architects/ SLA Landscape, Denmark Client Request/ 2006 Area/ 6,800 m2 Estimated year of completion/ 2008-2009 Construction/ Structural concrete cores, steel lattice, megastructure in façade, basement concrete frame. Materials/ Silk print on double glazed façade, anodized aluminium sheets on external ceiling, aluminium roof covered with solar cells, steel, wood, wall panels in stretch metal.

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A new jewel next to Copenhagen’s waterfront

Gracing the Copenhagen waterfront is an enormous crystalline structure which appears to float above the ground. This is the practice’s striking design for the new extension to the headquarters of Nykredit, one of Denmark’s leading mortgage banks. The new building sits directly to the north-west of the existing headquarters of Nykredit located at Kalvebod Brygge on Copenhagen’s waterfront (also designed by the schmidt hammer lassen, see page 91-105) and is the workplace of some 400 people. This remarkable ‘envelope’ is more than a dramatic visual statement; it also provides a pleasant working environment, placing equal emphasis on sustainability and functionality.

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The new building’s sensitive urban context has been carefully considered. In order to preserve views through to the harbour and the water beyond, the structure is designed to rest on only three slender support points. This arrangement creates significant space for a public walkway below the new building and also continuous views over the adjacent plaza, The plaza is an intergral part of the overall project and is designed by landscape architects SLA in close corporation with schmidt hammer lassen. An ecologically sustainable design/ The building’s multifaceted glass façade reflects both daylight and the immediate surroundings but the double-glazed façade also features an integrated sun screen that allows the building to adapt to changing light conditions. In addition, the outer glazing system includes a subtle silk print design that both mitigates solar ingress and will also enliven the ambience of the harbour area. The building also has a sound environmental strategy – the outer layer of glass admits fresh air, creating a naturally ventilated façade which helps to regulate the temperature inside the building. Solar panels are fitted at roof level and rainwater is also collected and re-cycled. The building uses night-time cooling and cool water from the harbour also helps to lower the ambient temperature within the building. A highly flexible ‘container’/ The interior layout is designed to ensure maximum functionality, flexibility and efficiency. The typical floor plan is shaped like a ‘Z’ around two atria, so that, together with the generously glazed façade, all the offices receive plenty of natural light and enjoy impressive external views. Floorplates are designed to easily accommodate a mix of open plan, cellular offices and a range of meeting rooms.

The Crystal and Cloud/ The plaza features a large water pool which reflects the sun and the clouds moving across the sky. During the day, the plaza is divided into distinct areas by ‘walls’ of water jets whose formation continuously changes throughout the day. At night the pool is illuminated by a soft turquoise-green light, which together with the patterns of warm light from the lighting masts brings a unique ambience to the new plaza. The Crystal and the Cloud are designed to interact with their surroundings, offering a subtle connection between the classical architecture around the Glyptotek Museum of Art, and the new waterfront area which forms the setting for the new building. The original concept addressed the new building and its urban context as a unified whole – it is a testament to the integrity and close collaboration of the design team and the client that this vision has now become a reality. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. The Crystal 2. Nykredit Glasscube 3. HK-Building 4. “Langebro” 5. Nykredit “Kridthuset” 6. Otto Mønsteds plaza 7. Nykredit elephant house 8. Harbour

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B. Ground Floor 1:750/ 1. Main entrance 2. Panorama Lifts 3. Stairs 4. Ramp to basement parking 5. Harbour

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C. Elevation east 1:750/ 1. Passage under building

D. Elevation south west 1:750/ 1. Passage under building

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E. Level 01 1:750/ 1. Main stairway 2. Panorama lifts 3. Atrium 4. Kitchen area 5. Stairs 6. Toilets 7. Bar

F. Level 02 1:750/ 1. Offices 2. Panorama lifts 3. Atrium 4. Meeting room 5. Stairs 6. Toilets 7. Meeting room 8. Bar

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G. Level 06 1:750/ 1. Offices 2. Panorama lifts 3. Atrium 4. Solar cells, changer 5. Stairs

H. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Main entrance 2. Panorama lifts 3. Atrium 4. Main stairway 5. Draft lobby 6. Meeting room 7. Stock delivery 8. Server room 9. Plant room 10. Ramp to basement parking

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I. Sectional details of façade 1:50/ 1. Roof construction/gutter 2. Glass roof, 13%%D slope 3. Top edge façade, silicone joint/Façade structure, following the façade slope 4. Steel bracket 5. Insulated façade panel 6. Insulated façade panel/Inner façade insulated panel at brackets 7. Horizontal profile 8. Blinds 9. Steel profile

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10. Fixed glare control 11. Air-intake opening 12. Steel substructure of roof 13. Inner bracket 14. Steel panel 15. Horizontal steel profile 16. Insulation: Carrying profile, Support, Maintenance grill, Inner bracket, Canted metal sheet with integrated rail for glare control lamellas 17. Blinds wheel: façade illumination, Bracket 18. Insulated façade

panel 19. Steel substructure 20. Angular steel profile 21. Integrated gutter 22. Substructure for underside cladding 23. Cladding

J. Details of façade 1:50/

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The process behind the creation of the Crystal and Cloud

The design of The Crystal and Cloud, currently under construction in Copenhagen, evolved from a “dynamic parametric design process” – Nykredit as client owned a piece of land adjacent to their head office, a glass cube designed by the practice and occupying a prominent position on the Copenhagen harbour front. The mortgage bank asked schmidt hammer lassen to analyse the options and decide what would be suitable for the area enveloped by the old historic buildings on three sides and the new structures facing the waterfront on the fourth side. Free rein/ Nykredit gave the architects free rein to create whatever they wanted – a dream situation for most architects. This can be a positive opportunity but is also potentially dangerous: if there are no basic rules or parameters the architects can end up with a rather loose framework of ideas and possibilities and it becomes extremely difficult to hone these into a workable concept. The most important parameter the architects set for themselves was to limit their activities to a maximum of four models. The team started out with a few simple diagrams that were slowly expanded and eventually converted to spatial models. Square and building – one sculptural concept/ Very early in the process the team had meetings with the landscape architect Stig Lennart Andersen (SLA) who had been commissioned to design the square as a setting for the new building. They agreed that the building should not be in the square or on the square or next to the square but in fact on top of or above the square. This was a hitherto unexplored approach: “We were inspired by a vision Nykredit had about creating a city square with a large sculpture on it. But in the workshops we had with SLA, we decided that instead of making a square or a space dedicated to art, the building and square should together coalesce as a unified form: No building without the square – no square without the building. This has seldom been explored and it became a key parameter in our parametric design process,” explains partner in schmidt hammer lassen Kim Holst Jensen.

Spatial work/ The focus on model work demands plenty of physical space. The schmidt hammer lassen office in Aarhus has a workshop where groups of architects can work on three or four different models at a time. They can inspire each other, play, interact, argue, and compete. They don’t have to clear the tables at the end of the day, either. Parallel to this essentially spatial approach, virtual 3D models were used and ‘connected’ to the models. Once the architects had a sense of how the volumes interacted they began to explore these using 3D to try and define and finesse their ideas. The team took their decision to place the building above the square very seriously: What would this entail? Should the building for instance be placed in the middle of the square and enable passage through and under the building?

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“Instead of diagrammatizing we went to great lengths to work in and identify spatial models” explains Kim Holst Jensen. “What kind of shape do we have here? What’s the advantage of this model compared to the others? As a team we worked competitively on each model, constructively criticizing each other. Finally we ended up with three shapes; the triangle, the crystal and the drop. Each had its own qualities and they also shared some.”

The emerging crystal/ The building was now beginning to take shape. With the traditional city block in mind the group formulated the next set of parameters; unlike a typical block, the building should not absorb the whole site, and the public should be able to pass underneath the block and also walk right into the heart of the scheme. So the architects started tugging at the corners of the models – upward. The sculptural appearance took form and the corner-tugging began to make the building ‘hover’ above the ground. It soon became evident that the crystalline form had fascinating spatial and geometric perspectives and responded flexibly to additional parameters and systems. Suddenly, the architects had a matrix that could be manipulated in the direction they wanted it. The Crystal was to become a sculpture from every angle: the building had no rear façade as such and the angled shape at the bottom was mirrored at the top. Early involvement of all key players/ The dynamic parametric workshop approach also facilitated the intense collaboration with the engineers. When the architects presented the model to Buro Happold they were able to explain in minute detail the rationale underlying the apparently complex design.

“We presented a process rather than a product” says Kim Holst Jensen. The engineers asked searching questions about the parameters and process we had used and were able to suggest other solutions. The main idea doesn’t get lost. Involving all parties in the design process as early as possible is key in this process. The dynamic process enables the architects to generate ideas and simultaneously take on board input from other team members. The positive outcome is that key decisions were taken at the right time, allowing the building to assume the refined and carefully honed form of the final design. _

Contextual approach/ development of overall concept

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Working with three models/ Design/workshop/construction/ dialogue

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Workshop/ design/construction/dialogue

Buro Happold/Carl Bro/schmidt hammer lassen

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“summary” of sketch models/ designing the building

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Danfoss Headquarters/ Als, Denmark

Danfoss Headquarters/detail/ shiny/daring/craft/ reflection/gravity/ technology/glass/ power/challenge/ switchback

Client/ Danfoss A/S Engineer/ Consulting Engineers Sloth Møller A/S and Esbensen A/S Competition Year/ 1998 – 1st Prize Area/ 1,900 m2 Year of completion/ 2005 Construction/ Freestanding trestle, cross shaped glass columns. Materials/ Granite cladding façade and internal walls, floor to ceiling high rectangular and circular transparent glass walls, floating roof in plast composite.

A light, floating ellipse

For this project – redesigning the headquarters building for Danfoss, globally one of the largest companies specializing in mechanical and electronic components – the design team placed particular emphasis on exploring a strong sculptural form. The scheme includes a distinctive new reception building, renovation of the façades and rebuilding of the management and administration facilities. The most striking element of the reworked façade is a vast circular canopy which now announces the main entrance to the building. This slim, elegant, light-weight addition takes the form of a floating ellipse constructed of a special composite plastic material. At night this structure is lit from below so that the ellipse appears suspended like a floating white disc in the dark. The 500m2 large reception building is designed as a freestanding granite-clad structure housing the main entrance, foyer and cinema. The shining surface of an outdoor pool is reflected in the generous glass façade.

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Switchback counter/ The foyer features the building’s most sculptural element: a futuristic piece of furniture that starts as a reception counter and transforms into a work of art in its own right. The counter winds like a ribbon around the interior in a long arc, diverging and then reforming, without sacrificing the seamless quality of its highly polished surface. The inspiration for this sinuous form comes from the ‘metal parings’ which are a constant by-product of the manufacturing process at Danfoss.

Like the entrance canopy, this sculptural form is also constructed from a composite plastic material that makes it possible to achieve the ambitious geometry. As with the canopy, the counter’s free organic forms create a dynamic foil to the restrained vertical and horizontal framework of the core building. The interior design features transparent glass walls enlivened by an elegant wooden shelving system used to display a selection of the company’s products. Elsewhere, colourful murals and floor designs by Danish artist Malene Landgreen create a striking counterpoise. And as the climax to the project, a spiral staircase in the administration building leads up to a glass-covered viewing platform. From here visitors can enjoy an uninterrupted panorama over the typically Danish landscape of fields, farms and trees. _

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University of Aberdeen New Library/ Aberdeen, Scotland

Aberdeen New Library/literature/ light/sharp/learning/ research/bold/ dignified/historic/ glowing/technology/ green

Client/ University of Aberdeen Engineer/ Ove Arup & Partners Ltd., UK Other Advisors/ Quantity Surveyors Davis Langdon LLp Competition Year/ 2005 – 1st Prize Area/ 15,500 m2 Estimated year of completion/ 2010 Construction/ Basement concrete frame, seven diagonally displaced concrete slabs, fire protected steel beams and columns, fair faced exposed concrete cores. Materials/ Silkscreen/fritted glazing with approx. 50% insulated panels. Glazed roof light. Local stone around base and at ground floor level.

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An outstanding contribution to learning and research

When visitors enter University of Aberdeen New Library, there will be no doubt that this new building is dedicated to the life and intellectual development of the student community. This imposing new library building with a floor area of 15,500 square metres replaces the old Queen Mother Library, which was built when the University only had 5,000 students on campus – today there are 14,000. The University of Aberdeen is considered one of the best universities in Britain, and is also the fifth oldest Englishlanguage university in the world. The University Library houses one of the world’s greatest collections of books, some of which date back to the thirteenth century. It has over a quarter of a million books and manuscripts in its historical collection, which has been built up ever since the University was established in 1495.

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Responding to an historic context/ The new library for Aberdeen sits within a new ‘Public Square’ which links the city and the university, the new building forming one end of an axis running from east to west across the university campus. The new library sits on a solid base of Scottish stone and is designed to respond sensitively to this historic setting. The new library is designed to be a welcoming public space for the people of Aberdeen. The well-lit and inviting ground floor will feature a lounge and café area, and will host regular exhibitions, seminars and poetry readings. The atrium rises from the ground floor in the form of a large spiralling volume leading up through the eight storeys of the building. With its sweeping contours and organic form, this space contrasts with the clean cut outline of the building’s exterior. The atrium is the natural centre of the building and creates a visual and physical link between all levels of the library. The new library will accommodate reading spaces for 1,200 students, the university’s Special Archives and historical collections, as well as a reading room where rare books may be studied. These historical archives positioned in the lower floor anchor the building to its historical context. A building for all/ The façade of the new library consists of an irregular pattern of insulated panels and high performance glazing. The appearance of the façade changes subtly according to the weather and time of day. In daylight, the light tones appear to shimmer, while in darkness, the façade will glow softly, creating a new and luminous landmark for Aberdeen.

The new Aberdeen University Library will be both a meeting place and a cultural centre for the University, the citizens of Aberdeen and the surrounding community. A sustainable library/ The library’s environmental strategy is being carefully considered. The high performance glazing and façade system will minimize the amount of solar gain and heat loss. A displacement ventilation system will be specified and photo voltaic cells on the roof will generate and supplement the building’s electricity needs. In addition, the library will use a water recycling system. The design of the building will also optimize the use of natural light in all working areas. In general, the building is being designed to minimise long term running costs and energy use. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. New library 2. Secret garden 3. Amphitheatre / Library garden 4. Public square 5. Fraser Noble building 6. Meston building 7. Central refectory, “Hub” 8. Town House 9. New Kings 10. Chapel 11. Kings College, sports ground 12. University office

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B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Entrance 2. Foyer 3. Café 4. Exhibition area 5. Print shop 6. Control Point 7. Lifts 8. Stairs 9. Toilets

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C. Elevation west 1:750/ 1. Library 2. Secret garden 3. Library garden

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D. Elevation south 1:750/ 1. Academic Plaza 2. Amphitheatre/Library garden 3. Main entrance

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E. Level 02 1:750/ 1. Study space 2. Seminar room 3. Work room 4. Group study space 5. Office 6. Atrium 7. Lifts 8. Stairs 9. Toilets 10. Information

F. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Library 2. Library garden 3. Amphitheatre 4. Exhibition area 5. Archive 6. Atrium 7. Lifts 8. Secret garden 9. Conservation suite 10. Reading room

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G. Level 06 1:750/ 1. General library 2.Quiet area 3. Work room 4. Group study space 5. Office 6. Atrium 7. Lifts 8. Stairs 9. Toilets

H. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Library 2. Public area 3. Main entrance 4. Exhibition area 5. Reading room 6. Atrium

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X-ing Towers/ Copenhagen, Denmark

X-ing Towers/city/ identity/public/soft/ vision/sculptural/ alluring/extroverted/ crossing/organism

Client/ Centerplan A/S Advising engineer/ Buro Happold Competition year/ 2007 – ongoing Area/ 75,500m2 (52,600m2 above terrain) Building height/ 97 and 147 meters Construction/ Bearing and stabilising steel structure, columns, beams and slanted struts. Two bearing cores, in situ cast concrete box girder elements. Materials/ Glass, steel and wood façade, in situ cast concrete.

X-ing Towers

schmidt hammer lassen’s iconic design explores the possibility of creating a dynamic new metropolis zone in a historic part of Copenhagen – a vibrant counterpoise to the historic centre and the Tivoli Gardens beyond. The X-ing Towers were conceived as a dramatic urban intervention – two intersecting towers forming a distinctive X-shape against the Copenhagen skyline. The two towers are 97 and 147 metres high, rising up from a single base structure. The western tower responds to the height of the nearby SAS hotel (by Arne Jacobsen) while the eastern tower is significantly taller. To place the development in context, the tower of Copenhagen’s city hall is 105.6 metres high. A catalyst for renewed urban identity/ The twin towers accommodate retail, restaurants, a new central library, exhibition areas, cafés, conference facilities and two five-star international hotels in a single dynamic complex.

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The scheme is phased in terms of public access, with the most intensely permeable areas (public library, retail) being at the lower levels. Conversely, higher levels are graded becoming less permeable towards the upper sections (hotel and conference facilities). The X-ing Towers are designed to transform the central area of Copenhagen around Town Hall Square and the central station, creating a destination in its own right rather than an area of transitory footfall.

A significant landmark/ The name ‘X-ing Towers’ is meant to suggest a meeting of sustainable elements, the scheme offering a diverse range of housing, culture and commercial space. The building is conceived as a dynamic and open form, its design intended to deliver an energy saving scheme with a robust environmental strategy. As an example, the location and design layout of both hotels are highly sustainable, allocating the maximum number of rooms around the central core. In addition, the complex is largely naturally ventilated, with mechanical ventilation kept to a minimum. The building is designed with a double façade and an adjustable sunscreening function. The outside layer is a single layer of glass and the inside layer uses thermal glazing. The X-ing Towers will be a landmark for this central sector of Copenhagen. Designed with soft, sculptural contours, in some ways reminiscent of classic Danish designs of the 1950s, this project will be an iconic addition to Copenhagen’s urban mix, radiating life and energy, and bringing a new identity to this part of the city. _

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City Of Westminster College/ London, UK

City of Westminster College/diversity/ sensitivity/colours/ green/knowledge/ landmark/identity/ unifying/community/ connections

Client/ City of Westminster College Engineer/ Buro Happold Competition year/ 2006 – 1st prize Area/ 23,230 m2 Estimated year of completion/ 2010 Construction/ concrete frame, fair faced concrete exposed soffits, exposed concrete columns and cores. Materials/ 50% glass façade, unitised aluminium/ wood façade cladding system, insulated aluminium and glass panels, u-channel glass around workshops, polycarbonate louvers.

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A new college at the heart of urban life

City of Westminster College at Paddington Green replaces a failing 1960s block and will provide state of the art facilities for students as well as a superb amenity for the local community. The project was designed around themes of openness, connectivity, flexibility, diversity and inspiration – but also identity and sensitivity for the new building’s immediate context. The building is designed as a simple geometric form that rotates around a dynamic inner atrium, creating a flexible organization that facilitates future extension. A feeling of openness is created by the large terraced atrium which rises in a vertical spiral up through the middle of the building and forms a unifying axis. The atrium connects all the floors, providing visual contact throughout the whole building and inviting people to come together across professional and cultural divides. The college’s new progressive approach to learning is supported with study zones in the atrium where students can study in groups.

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While intended primarily for teaching purposes – both for continuing education and standard qualifications in technical, academic and art & design subjects – the building also accommodates public functions, with a theatre, café and meeting rooms located on the ground floor. The remaining six floors accommodate both academic and hands-on teaching facilities, rehearsal rooms and teaching rooms for drama students, IT teaching rooms and facilities, administrative offices, staff facilities and a gym.

A highly sustainable design/ The form of the building is a direct response to the site, an example being the building’s cantilevered decks to the south which create solar shading. The aspiration is that the green spaces and the roof terraces will form an integral part of the campus – the building actively engages with its surroundings: voids cut deep into its mass allow the parkland to reach deep into the building. City of Westminster College has put sustainability as a high priority for this development and the new building will be designed to be sustainable and energy efficient, focusing on life cycle costs and maintenance liabilities. The development will overall seek to reduce the building’s carbon footprint. The building will be light and airy with a central atrium that is naturally ventilated via ducts at basement level, bringing fresh air from St Mary’s Park, utilising the ‘stack effect’ at roof level. The building will have a high thermal mass to reduce internal temperatures in summer months and act as a ‘buffer’ throughout the year between internal and external temperatures. A building for students and the wider community/ Both the College and the borough of Westminster are home to a great diversity of people. With more than 47 different languages spoken at the college, together with its location in a district with a varied ethnic and social composition, diversity is an element that the new building is striving to transform into opportunities – professional, social and cultural. City of Westminster College will not only provide excellent facilities for the users of the college, it will also open up and invite people in, and in so doing be a facility for the surrounding area: the building is both a landmark and a sign of new life in this part of the city. Above all it is a place to visit, to meet others, to experience and to learn. City of Westminster College is designed not simply to meet the needs of a modern educational facility, but to act as a springboard that will energise and engage with the wider community. _

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A. Site plan 1:5000/ 1. City of Westminster College 2. Paddington Green 3. St. Mary’s Garden 4. St. Mary’s Church 5. Hall tower 6. Braithwate tower

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B. Ground floor 1:750/ 1. Main entrance 2. Foyer 3. Café & exhibition 4. Exhibition/ Information 5. Toilets 6. Stairs 7. Lifts 8. Info 9. Theatre 10. Changing rooms 11. Electrical workshop 12. Furniture & joinery workshop 13. Painting & decoration workshop 14. Main stairway 15. General engineering Workshop 16. Electrical installations

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17. Plumbing installations 18. Bricklaying workshop 19. Open learning 20. Motor vehicle workshop

C. Elevation south 1:750/ 1. Entrance

D. Elevation west 1:750/ 1. Entrance

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E. Level 02 1:750/ 1. Double height space, Learning centre below 2. Atrium 3. Open learning 4. Green roof 5. Toilets 6. Stairs 7. Lifts 8. Sound booth 9. Sound engineering 10. Storage 11. Classroom 12. Music technology 13. Staff room 14. IT. Suite 15. Sports hall 16. Fitness suite 17. Dance studio

F. Section aa 1:750/ 1. Gallery street 2. Atrium 3. Main stairway 4. Open learning

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G. Level 04 1:750/ 1. Double height, third floor below 2. Atrium 3. IT/ Open learning 4. Green roof 5. Toilets 6. Stairs 7. Lifts 8. Roof terrace 9. Seminar room 10. Storage

H. Section bb 1:750/ 1. Gallery street 2. Atrium 3. Plant room 4. Motor vehicle workshop 5. Foyer

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I. Sectional details of façade north 1:50/ 1. Raised floor 2. Concrete upstand 3. Thermally broken aluminium profile, Thermal separation (rigid PVC) 4. Green roof 5. Fixings for reconstituted stone panels 6. Concrete slab, smooth finish 7. Sound absorbing, fins insulation 8. Concrete column 9. Safety glass

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10. Reconstituted stone panels 11. Membrane 12. Insulation 13. Internal blinds 14. Drainage green roof, internally 15. ManSafe system for window cleaning

J. Sectional details of façade south 1:50/ 1. Raised floor 2. Concrete upstand 3. Thermally broken aluminium profile, Thermal separation (pigid PVC) 4. Concrete 5. Fixings for reconstituted stone panels 6. Concrete slab, smooth finish 7. Sound absorbing, fins insulation 8. Concrete column 9. Safety glass 10. Reconstituted

stone panels 11. Membrane 12. Insulation13. Internal blinds 14. External sunscreen, coloured

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A client’s view/ By Robin Shreeve

“The context is fundamental to our future. So when the College was looking for an architect to design a replacement for its life-expired buildings it was critical that we appointed a practice that would not only design a stunning yet functional building but one which would understand our inclusive style and the aspirational nature of the College’s vision.”

Robin Shreeve is Principal at City of Westminster College. He holds degrees from the Universities of York and Sheffield and has spoken and published widely on vocational education and training and marketing topics.

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A Client’s View/ By Robin Shreeve

A college such as City of Westminster College, in the heart of London – one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, is characterised not only by the comprehensive choice of courses but crucially also by the diverse cultural and educational background of its students. In the UK, further education colleges serve the needs of both young people leaving school at 16 and adults returning to education and training. They teach so-called ‘vocational’ courses as well as those deemed ‘academic’ in nature – and across a very wide range of levels from the most basic learning often right through to degree level. No other educational establishment appeals to quite such a wide spectrum of students and has to fulfil such a broad range of activities: the combination makes for a highly complex and varied learning community. The College has distinct specialisms in engineering, construction skills, the creative arts and new media technologies as well as science and the highly specialised field of medical technology to which first and second degree level courses students come from all over the South East of England. But the College also offers a wide range of general courses including basic programmes in English language for migrants and asylum seekers and a comprehensive range of pre-university programmes such as the ‘academic’ A-Levels and the ‘vocational’ Certificates and Diplomas. The College is equally proud of its programmes for those with learning disabilities and special educational needs.

We have a truly inclusive and democratic curriculum and inclusivity is also a feature of our student profile. Student ages range from small groups of 14 year olds from local schools joining us for day-release courses to 16 year old school leavers taking their next educational steps to working adults upskilling on part-time courses. Our community is also culturally rich, with well over 50 languages other than English spoken by students. Economic factors are key drivers. It is ironic that, though London is a booming World City, its population suffers more from ‘worklessness’ than many other parts of the United Kingdom. In particular for the College, despite the conventional image of Westminster as a centre of power and affluence, reinforced by well-known landmarks like the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square, some other areas of the borough feature some of the highest levels of social and economic deprivation in Europe. City of Westminster College therefore plays a critical role as a “skills bridge” between these disadvantaged groups and the booming London economy. This context is fundamental to our future. So when the College was looking for an architect to design a replacement for its life-expired buildings on Paddington Green, it was critical that we appointed a practice that would not only design a stunning yet functional building but one which would understand our inclusive style and the aspirational nature of the College’s vision. Location had a fundamental bearing on the architectural brief and our awareness of the importance of the project. Our Westminster ‘address’ meant that our new state-of-theart building would attract instant attention from politicians and key national decision-makers and be a very visible emblem, perhaps even as a flagship for the further education sector. It had to be exceptional.

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Secondly, students travel to City of Westminster College from across the capital and beyond and the Paddington Green site is an ideal location for ease of student access using excellent public transport routes. But Paddington Green has an additional and very special attribute for, with green spaces in central London a rare and valuable asset, we were exceptionally blessed. The College’s Paddington Green site is bordered on two sides by the trees and grassy, open spaces of Paddington Green itself and by St Mary’s Gardens. It makes for a unique and highly attractive site and a wonderful setting for teaching and learning. We were quite clear in our brief that our new building must exploit this environmental advantage to the full and schmidt hammer lassen have fully developed the opportunities in a building that relates beautifully to this rare, natural but busy central London setting.

A building with an impressive exterior alone, however, was not going to be sufficient to create the iconic new campus to which we aspire. For perhaps the greatest challenge within our architectural brief was the complexity of the college community and its demands on the internal structure and layout. It makes for a lengthy ‘wish list’. We are looking for a world-class learning space. As a provider of vocational programmes, we need a learning environment that mirrors the world of work. We need a theatre, a sports hall and trade workshops as well as laboratories, libraries and classrooms. We need to exploit the latest technologies to enhance our learning. We need a building that is inclusive and democratic yet caters to the needs of students who have a wide variety of backgrounds and ages. We need to provide a challenging range of different learning environments under one roof. We all acknowledged that it was a tough brief to design a stunning building on the outside with such complex internal attributes but it was one which schmidt hammer lassen instantly grasped. Indeed they were excited by the challenge. They understood the people-focus from the start and the need to design from ‘the inside out’, embracing the views of those who will use the new campus. As a result, schmidt hammer lassen have designed a building that we expect will thrill, engage, embrace and encourage achievement. A focus of regeneration. A model of exemplary applied architecture. Form will follow function but form will also follow the College’s overriding aspiration with a democratic sense of purpose to help our students and their communities achieve their potential. We cannot wait to move in. _

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The Crossroads, Hurum Secondary School/ Sætre, Norway

The Crossroads/ compass/dramatic/ movement/fells/ education/inviting/ pathway/future/ learning/

Client/ Buskerud Fylkes Municipality Engineer/ Multi Consult Landscape architects/ Kristine Jensens architectural office Competition Year/ 2007 – 1st prize Area/ 6,939m2 Construction/ Concrete structural frame Materials/ Dark stained wood façade, internal spaces with white pigmented wood.

Crossroads/ a story of connections

schmidt hammer lassen’s design for a secondary school in Hurum, south of Oslo near the Oslo Fjord, is an open, expressive and dynamic building which dynamically relates to its dramatic physical surroundings, offering magnificent views out over the forest and fjord beyond. The ambition behind the design concept is for Crossroads to become a focal point for the local community – a vital space where the lives of students, visitors, tourists and business executives can intersect harmoniously. A legible and dynamic design/ The design emphasises the building’s function as a hub for the entire district. The brief called for a compact design which would minimise impact on the immediate scenery and this prompted the design team to ‘stack’ the constituent parts of the school as a sequence of asymmetric cubes arranged at a variety of angles to one another, literally extending a welcome to visitors irrespective of the direction from which they approach.

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The scheme is spatially arranged so that publicly accessible areas are located at ground and first floor levels, with the school specifically occupying the upper levels. Light, airy and spacious/ Inside, the school opens up to reveal a spacious atrium which creates visual and physical connections between the building’s five storeys. The rectangular atrium rises up from the open foyer on the ground floor at the heart of the school, and connects the communal areas, as well as the Cultural Hall, the library, the café and the stage for dance and performances.

The project will bring together a strong ‘palette’ of natural local materials expressive of the Norwegian culture so vividly embodied in this bold, outward-looking design. It is also intended that the school building will have a robust environmental strategy, with all façades fitted with external louvers to mitigate solar ingress. Furthermore the use of geothermal heat will lower the energy consumption. The project is the result of close collaboration with the landscape architect Kristine Jensen. schmidt hammer lassen’s vision for Krysset has been strongly influenced by the extraordinary beauty of its setting. From every level generous glazed façades will enable visitors and students to look out through the surrounding woods of silver birch to the wider view over the fjord and beyond. _

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1986 - 1989

1990 - 1992

1993 - 1995

1996 - 1998

2000

2001

1986/ Morten Schmidt, Bjarne Hammer and John Lassen establish a joint architectural practice in a former restaurant in the centre of Aarhus

1990/ There are insufficient funds to pay the owners’ wages, and they survive by collecting the cash deposits on returnable bottles

1993/ 1st prize in the European architectural competition to expand The Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen, Denmark

1996/ Exhibition in the Scandinavian pavilion at the Architecture Biennial in Venice

2000/ Wins prize for the proposal for the Sheikh Zayed Knowledge Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2001/ Copenhagen office opens

1989/ Residents move into the practice’s first major housing development “Æblehaven”, Odense, Denmark

1992/ 1st prize in the Scandinavian architectural competition to build the Katuaq Culture Centre, Nuuk, Greenland

1995/ 1st prize in the architectural competition for The Frigate Jutland, Ebeltoft, Denmark

1997/ 1st prize in the architectural competition for ARoS, Museum of Art, Aarhus, Denmark

1st prize in the architectural competition for Växjö Library, Växjö, Sweden

1998/ Kim Holst Jensen is made partner 1st prize in the architectural competition for Nykredit Headquarters, Copenhagen, Denmark

Timeline/ schmidt hammer lassen

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1 employee

1st prize in the architectural competition for Danfoss Headquarters, Als, Denmark

2nd prize in the architectural competition for the Jacksonville Main Library, Jacksonville, USA 1st prize in the architectural competition for The Northern Lights Cathedral, Alta, Norway Wins prize for the proposal for the new Royal Danish Playhouse at The Royal Theatre, Copenhagen, Denmark

2002

2003 - 2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2002/ Takes part in a delegation trip to China

2003/ 1st prize in the architectural competition for Chongqing International New Town, China

2005/ 1st prize in the architectural competition for Tianjin Dwellings, China

2006/ Stephen D. Willacy is made partner

2007/ London office opens Oslo office opens

2008/ 1st prize in the masterplan competition, Wuxi, Kina

2004/ Morten Holm is made partner

1st prize in the architectural competition for NRGi Domicil, Aarhus, Denmark

Trine Berthold, Kristian Ahlmark and Kasper Frandsen are made associate partners

Establishes a business PhD on “sustainable housing projects in China”

1st prize in the masterplan competition for “Eco Bay”, Tallin, Estonia

Bente Damgaard becomes CEO

Exhibition at the Architecture Biennial in Sao Paulo

1st prize Symbiosis, Hotel and Conference centre, Lund, Sweden

Competition for X-ing towers, Copenhagen, Denmark

Library Learning Centre, Sheffield, UK

Shared 1st prize in the architectural competition for Crossroads Hurum Secondary school, Sätre, Norway

1st prize in architectural competition for office building, Warsaw, Poland,

1st prize Meeting Point Malmö, Malmö, Sweden

Scandinavian House Dubai, UAE

2nd prize in the architectural competition for King Fahad National Library, Arriyadh, Saudi Arabia Wins prize for the proposal for the ASO Symphony Center, Atlanta, USA Completes the competition proposal for TEDA – Exhibition Center, Tianjin, China 1st prize in the architectural competition for Halmstad Library, Halmstad, Sweden 1st prize in the architectural competition for Culture Island, Middelfart, Denmark

Exhibition at the Architecture Biennial in Venice 1st prize in the architectural competition for Residential Anningzhon, Beijing, China 1st prize in the architectural competition for Amazon Court, Karlin, Prague, Czech Republic

2nd prize in the architectural competition for Spiladós, National Concert – and Congress Centre, Reykjavik, Iceland 1st prize in the architectural competition for the Performers House, Silkeborg, Denmark Competition proposal Skyttehusbugten Housing project, Vejle, Denmark 1st prize in the architectural competition for the University of Aberdeen New Library, Aberdeen, Scotland

1st prize Thor Heyerdahl College, Larvik, Norway 1st prize in the architectural competition for the City of Westminster College, London, UK The Crystal and Cloud in Copenhagen, Denmark Celebrates the company’s 20th anniversary at the Architecture Biennial in Venice – 150 employees take part

1st prize Ankerskrogen Public Swimming pool, Hamar, Norway

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Built projects/ 1st place projects/ projects under construction Unbuilt projects/ competitions

1. 2. 3a. 3b. 3c. 3d. 4a. 4b. 4c. 4d.

Atlanta, USA/ Atlanta Symphony Centre Jacksonville, Florida, USA/ Library in Jacksonville Nuuk, Greenland/ Katuaq Culture Centre Nuuk, Greenland/ Housing Jagtvej Nuuk, Greenland/ School of Nursery and Health Care Practice Nuuk, Greenland/ Tele Greenland Reykjavik, Iceland/ Spiladós, National Concert- and Congress Centre Reykjavik, Iceland/ Skuggahverfi housing Reykjavik, Iceland/ Myragata masterplan Reykjavik, Iceland/ Seltjarnes masterplan

5. 6. 7. 8a. 8b. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Aberdeen, Scotland/ University of Aberdeen New Library Sheffield, UK/ Chaucer Buchanan Library and Learning Centre London, UK/ City of Westminster College Hamburg, Germany/ Domplatz Hamburg Hamburg, Germany/ Hamburg Trade Fair and Congress Centre Berlin, Germany/ State Library Unter den Linden Paris, France/ Musée du Quai Branly Strassbourg, France/ Grande Biblioteque de Strassbourg Chambéry, France/ Exhibition Centre at Chambéry Brussels, Belgium/ Nato Headquarters

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schmidt hammer lassen world map/ selected projects 3 4

1 2

14a. Silkeborg, Jutland, Denmark/ Performers House 14b. Vejle, Jutland, Denmark/ Skyttehusbugten Housing project 14c. Middelfart, Fyn, Denmark/ Culture Island Middelfart 14d. Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark/ ARoS Museum of Art/NRGI Domicile 14e. Ebeltoft, Jutland, Denmark/ The Frigate Jutland 14f. Nordborg, Als, Denmark/ Danfoss Headquarters 15a. Copenhagen, Denmark/ The Royal Danish Library 15b. Copenhagen, Denmark/ Nykredit Headquarters 15c. Copenhagen, Denmark/ The Crystal and Cloud 15d. Copenhagen, Denmark/ X-ing Towers

16. Hamar, Norway/ Ankerskrogen Public Swimming Pool 17a. Sätre, Norway/ The Crossroads - Hurum Secondary School 17b. Oslo, Norway/ Hotel Tjuvholmen 17c. Oslo, Norway/ Tjuvholmen Masterplan 17d. Oslo, Norway/ Fornebu Housing 17e. Oslo, Norway/ Rolfsbukta Masterplan 18. Larvik, Norway/ Thor Heyerdahl College 19. Halmstad, Sweden/ Halmstad Library 20. Växjö, Sweden/ Växjö Public Library 20. Lund, Sweden/ Symbiosis, Hotel and Conference Centre 20. Malmö, Sweden/ Flundran 20b. Malmö, Sweden/ Meeting Point Malmö 21. Alta, Norway/ The Northen Lights Cathedral 22. Prague, Czech Republic/ Amazon Court 23. Talinn, Estonia/ Ecobay Masterplan 24. St. Petersburg, Russia/ Residential Area

25. Warsaw, Poland/ Warsaw Office Building 26. Rumania, Bucharest/ Global Village 27. Riadh, Saudi Arabia/ King Fahad National Library 28. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates/ Sheikh Zayed Knowledge Centre 29a. Dubai, United Arab Emirates/ Exhibition Centre 29b. Dubai, United Arab Emirates/ Scandinavian House Dubai 30. Chongqing, China/ Chongqing Project 31. Changsha, China/ Changsha Riverfront Masterplan 32a. Beijing, China/ Beijing Hotel 32b. Beijing, China/ Jiarun Garden 32c. Beijing, China/ Anningzhou Masterplan 32d. Beijing, China/ National Library of China 33. Tianjin, China/ Tianjin Sunshine Housing 34. Shenyeang, China/ Shenyeang Masterplan 35. Wuxi, China/ Wuxi International City, Masterplan

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Partners in schmidt hammer lassen

Morten Schmidt/ Partner, founder/ Architect maa/ Born: 22.12.56 Education/ Academic architect. Graduated from Aarhus School of Architecture in 1982. Memberships/ The Architects’ Registration Board (ARB), Architects’ Association of Denmark (AA), Danish Association of Architectural Firms (Danske Ark), Current member of the national Board of Directors of AA and formerly Deputy Chairman of the same board, Member of the Danish Society of Artists under the Academy Council, Member of the Academy Council’s corps of external examiners, Specialist judge at public architectural competitions, The American Institute of Architects (AIA), The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Bjarne Hammer/ Partner, founder/ Architect maa/ Born: 22.09.55 Education/ Academic architect. Graduated from Aarhus School of Architecture in 1982. Memberships/ The Architects’ Registration Board (ARB), Architects’ Association of Denmark (AA), Danish Association of Architectural Firms (Danske Ark), Affiliated to Aarhus School of Architecture as external examiner, Affiliated to AA as specialist judge in architectural competitions, Member of the Danish Society of Artists under the Academy Council (Architectural section).

John F. Lassen/ Partner, founder/ Architect maa/ Born: 08.01.53 Education/ Academic architect. Graduated from Aarhus School of Architecture in 1983/ Construction Engineer – Technical Academy (1977). Memberships/ The Architects’ Registration Board (ARB), Architects’ Association of Denmark (AA), Danish Association of Architectural Firms (Danske Ark).

Kim Holst Jensen/ Partner/ Architect maa/ Born: 30.12.64 Education/ Academic architect. Graduated from Aarhus School of Architecture in 1991. Memberships/ The Architects’ Registration Board (ARB), Architects’ Association of Denmark (AA), Danish Association of Architectural Firms (Danske Ark), Member of Nykredit’s Architectural Prize Committee 2004-2006, Member of AA’s competition committee 2000-2002, Affiliated to the Aarhus School of Architecture as external examiner. Affiliated to AA as specialist judge in architectural competitions.

Morten Holm/ Partner/ Architect maa/ Born: 23.09.68 Education/ Polytechnic University, Valencia, Spain (1992), Graduated from Aarhus School of Architecture in 1994, Japanese Language School (1995-1996). Memberships/ The Architects’ Registration Board (ARB), Architects’ Association of Denmark (AA), Danish Association of Architectural Firms (Danske Ark), The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Stephen David Willacy/ Partner/ Architect maa/ RIBA ARB BA(Hons) Dipl Arch/ Born: 01.04.58 Education/ BA Architecture (Hons) Oxon 1979, Dipl. Arch. Polytechnic of Central London 1982, RIBA & ARB 1984, MAA 1985. Memberships/ The Architects’ Registration Board (ARB), Architects’ Association of Denmark (AA), The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

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Partners in schmidt hammer lassen 2008 from left/ 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6/

Morten Holm Kim Holst Jensen John F. Lassen Bjarne Hammer Stephen David Willacy Morten Schmidt

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The real picture/ Portrait of photographer Joachim Ladefoged

A schmidt hammer lassen building is created for people. It is designed to accommodate and express the life and activity contained within it and the practice takes great care to ensure that all schemes demonstrate a sensitive and wellconsidered response to their immediate context, both physical and social. It was critical to opt for photographic imagery that was fundamentally different from the normal diet of architectural photography. It was this aspiration for an altogether more radical feel that prompted the approach to the distinguished Danish documentary photographer Joachim Ladefoged whose gritty compositions brilliantly captured the essence of the people and places he depicts. Despite their apparent simplicity, Ladefoged’s images consistently convey the immediacy and truth of a fleeting moment of time. “It has been important to be true to the architects’ ideas and visions and convey a touch of human presence – without people the buildings will seem empty and cold. I try to show the buildings as they are, with the lives that are lived in them and around them, but at the same time with a strong focus on the architecture”, says Joachim Ladefoged. “In my pictures of architecture, as in all my other photography, I aim to try to find a different angle than that which has been seen so many times before.” Joachim Ladefoged’s extensive portfolio communicates a rare fascination with people, and an uncanny ability to hit on an unfamiliar but telling perspective. Ladefoged’s pictures are distinguished by their insight and an extraordinary empathy for his subject. His instinctive aesthetic sense, coupled with a clear appreciation of form and line, infuse his work with an unusual authority: “When I take a photograph, I look for shapes, lines and light – compositional elements that inspire architects, designers, artists and other creative professionals in their work. What has been essential in this task has been to combine photography and architecture, people and buildings – to portray life.” Ladefoged’s photographs vividly convey the interplay between light and shadow, creating a striking visual narrative. An intriguing characteristic evident in his work is the ability to conjure up

complex layerings of effect. Heine Pedersen, who was head of photography at the Danish newspaper Politiken when Ladefoged was employed at the newspaper, relates:” In the 1990s, Joachim Ladefoged was in the first wave of a new generation of photographers who were less concrete, but no less distinct in their photography. His pictures are complex and ambiguous, carved and composed in a new way where the main motif is not necessarily in the centre, where the eye is drawn to pictures inside pictures.” Over more than a decade Joachim Ladefoged has received numerous international awards for his photographic achievements. He has worked in more than 50 countries and won global recognition for his reports from conflict-filled areas such as Albania and about Iraqi refugees in Syria. His portfolio reflects a great curiosity. The evocative pictures of for example Danish and Swedish bodybuilders, American cheerleaders or the lives that are played out in modern metropolises such as Tokyo and Shanghai, bear witness to a special eye and great talent for depicting subcultures, conflicts and simply normal people going about their everyday lives. Joachim Ladefoged is a regular contributor to publications such as Newsweek, TIME, Der Spiegel, New York Times Magazine and National Geographic. He has published two books and is a member of the international photo collective ’VII’, recognised by American Photo as one of the most significant photography fusions in a global perspective. _

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Credits

Barry Bergdoll/ Curator/ Barry Bergdoll is the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art and professor of modern architectural history at Columbia University. He is author or editor of numerous publications including, Mies in Berlin (2001); Karl Friedrich Schinkel: An Architecture for Prussia (1994), winner of the AIA Book Award in 1995; and Lẻon Veudoyer: Historicism in the Age of Industry (1994); and European Architecture 1750-1890, in the Oxford History of Art series (2001). An edited volume, Fragments: Architecture and the Unfinished, was recently published by Thames and Hudson (London, 2006). He served as President of the Society of Architectural Historians from 2006 to 2008. Among the exhibitions he has organized are “Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling” at MoMA (2008); “Mies in Berlin” at MoMA (2001), with Terence Riley; “Les Vaudoyer: Une Dynastie d’Architectes” at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris (1991); and “Ste. Geneviève/Panthéon; Symbol of Revolutions,” at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal (1989). www.moma.org

Olafur Eliasson/ Artist/ Eliasson studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1995, he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research. He has become known for his installations and sculptures photographic series and architectural projects. Eliasson represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 and later that year installed. The weather project in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern. In September 2007 a large survey of Eliasson’s work opened at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which will travel to The Museum of Modern Art in New York and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in April 2008. www.olafureliasson.net

e-Types/ Strategic design agency/ e-Types works with major Danish and international clients on graphic design, corporate identity, corporate branding, image campaigns for fashion and luxury brands, and ”new design” projects using the methods and approach of the designer to generate new ideas and innovative processes. e-Types consist of 30 people spanning from graphic designers to people with an education in business, architecture, fashion or communication. e-Types was founded in 1997 and has since established itself as one of the leading agencies in the Scandinavian market working for clients such as Georg Jensen, Aquascutum London, The Royal Danish Theatre and The Danish National Police. www.e-types.com

Thyra Hilden & Pio Diaz/ Artists/ In 2005, Hilden and Diaz together carried out the first symbolic burning under the headline City on Fire - burning the roots of western culture at the Danish Institute in Rome also performed at the ARoS Museum in Aarhus, Denmark. In 2008, Hilden and Diaz will exhibit in New York, USA; Seoul, Korea; London, Great Britain; Milano, Italy, and Tokyo, Japan. They have recently exhibited in the Ukraine at Viktor Pinchuk Foundation with Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Andreas Gursky, Marc Quinn, Sam Taylor-Wood, Gabriel Orosco and the others, and in LUMINALE, Biennale LichtKultur in Frankfurt with eg. Bill Viola, James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson. www.cityonfire.org

Joachim Ladefoged/ Documentary photographer/ Joachim Ladefoged has won several international prices for covering war, conflict and everyday life around the world. He has worked in more than 50 different countries winning international recognition. He was the first Dane to win first place in a photo-story category at World Press, and he is credited with being one of the driving forces behind the new wave of Danish Photojournalism. Through the years DYDr, World Press and Life Magazine are among the organisations that have seen fit to award Ladefoged for his work. www.joachimladefoged.com

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MAD/ Architects/ MAD is a Beijing-based architectural design studio dedicated to creating innovative projects. MAD Office was established in 2002 by Ma Yansong and has today three partners: Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano and Qun Dang and 30 employees. In April 2007, MAD opened another office in Tokyo, Japan. MAD examines and develops a unique concept of futurism through current theoretical practices in architecture design, landscape design, and urban planning. MAD has won numerous international design competitions, including the Absolute Tower in Toronto, Canada, and Solar Plaza in Guangzhou, China. www.i-mad.com

Jay Merrick/ Commentator and novelist/ Jay Merrick is the architecture critic of The Independent, London. He has also written on architecture, art and design for publications including Blueprint, New Statesman, ArtReview, Art+Auction, The Observer, Monument, and the Cambridge Annual Register. His novel, Horse Latitudes, was published by Fourth Estate in 2000.

Robin Shreeve/ Principal and Chief Executive of the City of Westminster College/ City of Westminster College is a multi campus for Further Education located in central London. Robin Shreeve began his working life with the British Steel Corporation moving into Further Education at West Suffolk and Stevenage Colleges. From 1989 to 2005, Robin Shreeve worked for the Department of Education and Training in New South Wales Australia. He holds degrees from the Universities of York and Sheffield and has spoken and published widely on vocational education and training and marketing topics. www.cwc.ac.uk

Robert Torday/ Writer and strategic advisor/ Prior to joining ING MEDIA, Robert Torday headed up the communications department at Richard Rogers Partnership for more than six years. As a senior PR professional and spokesperson for one of the leading architectural practices worldwide, he accumulated a thorough knowledge of his industry sector, acquiring a detailed understanding of its key issues and processes and establishing strong links with many key movers in this market. ING MEDIA is a specialist public relations agency covering a number of sectors. The built environment division represents leading international practices as well as government departments and urban regeneration companies. Robert also writes for a number of magazines including ICON, RIBA Journal, Architects’ Journal and the Architects’ Newspaper and is an external adviser to the RIBA’s Communications Panel. (US). www.ing-media.com

Jeppe Villadsen/ journalist and sociologist/ Architecture and urban development is one of Jeppe Villadsen’s main fields. He has written the Danish Ministry of Culture’s Canon of Danish architecture. He has worked as editor on the Danish magazine ‘KBH’ focusing on architecture and urban development in Copenhagen. Jeppe Villadsen has a master in Sociology from University of Copenhagen (2004) and the journalistic master from Roskilde University (2002).

Ken Yeang/ Architect/ Yeang is an architect-planner and principal of Llewelyn Davies Yeang (UK) and its sister firm, Hamzah & Yeang (Malaysia). He is well known for designing signature green high-performance buildings and master plans, and for his pursuit of an ecological aesthetic in his designs. After having studied architecture at the Architectural Association in London, his work on the green agenda started in the 70s with his doctoral dissertation for the University of Cambridge on ecological design and planning. Yeang is the author of several books on ecological design, including: “Ecodesign – a Manual for Ecological Design” (John Wiley & Sons), “Bioclimatic Skyscrapers”, (John Wiley & Sons). He is the distinguished Plym Professor at the University of Illinois and Adjunct Professor at the University of Malaya and University of Hawaii. He is an Honorary FAIA and has served on the RIBA Council. www.idavies.com

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schmidt hammer lassen April 2008

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D/

H/

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Agnete Schmidt

David Fink

Hanne Møller Sørensen

Kai Kanafani

Alexandra Thygesen

Dorte Jørgensen

Hans Christian Christensen

Karin Templin

Anette Grønbæk

David Munis Zepernick

Henning Edvardsen

Karl K. Thorsen

Anne Guldhammer

Dorthe M. Gammelgaard

Henrik Kvist Frantsen

Karsten Landvad

Anne Høst

Dixon Junliang Lu

Henrik Lund

Kasper Assing Smith

Anne Helene Hornhaver

Dorthe Sandberg Madsen

Henrik Stukkenborg

Kasper Heiberg Frandsen

Anne-Marie Saul-Rotne

Katrín Sif Michaelsdóttir

Anne Skovrider

Kerstin Billenstein

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Kim H. Thorsell

Astrid Reikvam Ayo Dahunsi

Elif Tinaztepe

Inger M. Jensen

Kirsten Sennicksen

Annette Buck

Elisa Gudmundsdottir

Kirsten Wester

Anne Nicholson

Elsebeth Ottosen

Kirsten Skogstad

Artur Viverios

Esben Hofmeister

J/

Eske Vind Ramvad

Jakob Johnsen

Eva Hard

Jacob Haagerup

Emilie Couillault

B/

Kim Holst Jensen

Klaus Petersen Kristian Lars Ahlmark

Bodil M. Ranning

Jan Buthke

Behrooz Jalayer

Jan Mollerup

L/ Lars Beier

Bjarne Hammer

F/

Jan Nielsen Jannich Hage Hansen

Lars Bramsen

Bo Laier

Finn Jeppesen

Jens Nygaard

Lars A. Sørig

Bram Andersen

Francesco Matucci

Jens-Erik Thøgersen

Lars Dithmer

Franka Bungarten

Jeppe Stouby Mortensen

Lars Holt

Frederik Schou-Hansen

Jesper Danø

Lars Vejen

Jesper Kruckow

Leif Hovvej

Jessica Mentz

Lene Christensen Lena Baden

Bente Damgaard

C/ Carsten Hyldebrandt

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Jette Birkeskov Mogensen Jette Høj Hansen

Linda Bahnsen

Carsten Pedersen

Georgia Tzika

Jillian Jones

Line Marie Stærk

Cecilie Eggert Hammer

Gitte Højrup

Jim Dorsett

Line F. Kallehauge

Charlotte Schmidt

Gitte Fensman

Joanna E. Suder

Liselotte Strandberg

Charlotte Vinding

John Bell

Loa Sophie Middelberg

Christian Till-Sävecke

John F. Lassen

Lone Bjørnholdt

Christina S.A. Pedersen

Jonas Vadstrup Thomsen

Lone Borch

Caroline Zakrisson

Christine Gärtner

Louise Gellert Jensen

Christine S. Schmidt

Louise Clara Pedersen

Claus Bruun Kofoed

Louise Nebel Sørensen

Claus Dalsgaard Nielsen

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Mads Engel

Nana Ejlers Lindeberg

Sarah M. Thorup

Uli Queisser

Mads Kaltoft

Nikolaj S. Foldbjerg

Sebastian Schroers

Mai Boi Pedersen

Nina Juul

Sidsel Gelting Hodge

Malene K. Meredin

Sidsel Stine Kromann

Marianne Friis

Steen Jastrup

V/ Victoria Jessen-Pike

Stéphane Barbou des Places

Victoria Sjöstedt

Marlene M. Damgaard-Sørensen

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Steffen B. Pedersen

Martin Hale

Olav Dahl

Stephen David Willacy

Martin R. Hoffman

Ole Bjørn Petersen

Stuart Hill

Masahiro Katsume

Ole Killerich

Sven Oliver Greiser

May Johansen

Ole Sidelmann

Sylle Hyttel

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Søren Schmidt

Aase Nielsen

Mark Jeffs

Mette Dalsgaard Hansen Mette Louise Sørensen

Mette Søvndahl Harder

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Mette Wienberg

Patric Przeradski

T/

Mi Sundheim

Per Kinly Olsen

Thomas Bonde Pedersen

Michael Frandsen

Per Kruse

Thomas Loft

Michael Hjorth Ulstrup

Per Larsen

Thomas Walcher

Michael Skautrup

Per Paulsen

Tiago Pereira

Mogens Rich Markussen

Peter Holst

Tina Bergman

Morten Fougt

Peter Steen Lauersen

Tina Andersen

Morten Holm

Peter Thyregod Rasmussen

Tina Lind

Morten Wiew Rauff

Peter Ulriksen

Toke Skeldal

Morten Schmidt

Peter Voldstedlund

Torben Frank Nielsen

Mette Nedergaard Schropp

Torben Møller Torsten Sack-Nielsen

R/

Trine Berthold

Rasmus Kierkegaard

Troels Sønder Olsen

Rasmus Simonsen Rasmus Lassen Rebekka Nielsen René Nedergaard Rene Sørensen Rikke Andersson Runa Sabroe

Trine Johansen Koch

312

Photographs/ Notes

The photographs in this book were taken by Joachim Ladefoged during the period September 2007 to March 2008. Except page 79 – Thyra Hilden/ page 237-239, page 241 – schmidt hammer lassen. Renderings by schmidt hammer lassen, except page 81-83 - studio Olafur Eliasson and page 224-225 – SLA architects. Editing of photographs and renderings by Anders Victor, Victors Digital Imaging, www.digitalimaging.dk

Katuaq Culture Centre/ Nuuk, Greenland/ P. 20-21/ Northern Lights over Katuaq Culture Centre. P. 23/ The foyer/curved screen of golden larch. P. 24/ The curved screen behind the “cliffs.” P. 25/ Silhouette of cyclist in front of the Culture Centre. P. 26/ Kids playing on Skibshavnsvej at the centre of the Culture Centre. The Royal Danish Library/ Copenhagen, Denmark/ P. 36-37/ The library seen from the waterfront. P. 39/ The atrium provides views to the water’s edge. P. 40/ The new building is linked to the old library across Christians Brygge by the loans bridge/Artwork by Per Kirkeby. P. 41/ The reading rooms overlook the atrium with views out over the harbour. The furniture in the reading room has been specially designed by schmidt hammer lassen. P. 42/ The in the atrium’s south façade is suspended within a pre-stressed wire construction. The Frigate Jutland, Visitor Centre/ Ebeltoft, Denmark/ P. 53/ Old crossbeam construction re-used in new dockyard buildings. P. 54/ The visitor centre, constructed using blackened fir and granite. P. 55/ The Frigate Jutland at sunset. ARoS, Museum of Art/ Aarhus, Denmark/ P. 58-59/ Generous window apertures create views into the café. P. 61/ Public walkway passing through the museum at ground floor level.

P. 62/ People in movement at different levels in the atrium space. P. 63/ Spiral staircase. P. 64-65/ The building opens up towards exterior staircase. P. 66/ The cube as an integral part of the urban fabric. ARoS/ Art and Architecture/ The evolution of a museum/ P. 79/ Photograph by artist Thyra Hilden of the project “ARoS on Fire”. P. 81-83/ Renderings of the project “Your rainbow panorama” by studio Olafur Eliasson. Växjö Library/ Växjö, Sweden/ P. 87/ Main entrance. P. 88/ A square and a circle of glass and natural stone/ Old and new. P. 89/ The circular atrium represents the heart of the building. Nykredit Headquarters/ Copenhagen, Denmark/ P. 92-93/ Nykredit Headquaters seen from the opposite side of the harbour. P. 95/ Central atrium at ground floor level/Water sculpture by the artist Anita Jørgensen. P. 96/ Suspended meeting room within the central atrium. P. 97/ Glass elevators/ceiling with circular skylights. P. 98/ Nykredit Headquaters seen from the waterfront. Culture Island Middelfart/ Middelfart, Denmark/ P. 109/ Vertical connection between Library and ground floor level. P. 110-111/ Zinc façade punctuated by vertical apertures. P. 112/ The Culture Island seen from the marina. P. 113/ The main entrance creates a direct link with the town beyond. Sheikh Zayed Knowledge Centre/ Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates/ Renderings/ P. 117/ The spiral-shaped artificial peninsula seen from Abu Dhabi’s sea front. P. 118-119/ The building seen from the air takes on the appearance of white spiral. P. 119/ Central space formed by two rounded shells.

313

NRGI Domicile/ Aarhus, Denmark/ P. 127/ The sun is reflected in the angled façade of silver aluminium panels and glass. P. 128-129/ The building uses the NRGi company logo as a visual point of focus and engagement/ Employees at their workstations with the geometric patterned façade behind.

Performers House/ Silkeborg, Denmark/ P. 201/ Perforated rust-red steel panels/façade. P. 202/ Students rehearsing in the music theatre placed in the original boiler house. P. 203/ The new building stands as an animated beacon shining its light.

Halmstad Library/ Halmstad, Sweden/ P. 132-133/ The large sculpted glass pavilion sits lightly within its parkland setting. P. 135/ Columns in the library echo the woods beyond. P. 136-137/ People passing the continuous double height concave façade. P. 138/ The Library extends out over the River Nissan.

Skyttehusbugten Housing project/ Vejle, Denmark/ Renderings/ P. 206-207/ Skyttehusbugten at Vejle bay. P. 209/ The bowl-shaped building echoes the contours of Vejle’s topography. P. 210/ Seaside view from Vejle bay/ Skyttehusbugten links the town and the sea.

The Northern Lights Cathedral/ Alta, Norway/ Renderings/ P. 151/ Northern Lights above the church. P. 154/ The cathedral sanctuary in the centre of the church. P. 148-149/ Contours of the church soar upward in a spiral shape. P. 152-153/ Photographs of model.

The Crystal and Cloud/ Copenhagen, Denmark/ Renderings by schmidt hammer lassen and SLA Architects/ P. 220-221/ View from the adjacent plaza towards the Crystal. P. 223/ A public walkway is created below the new building. P. 224-225/ View of the atrium/rendering by SLA – the plaza with ‘walls’ of water jets/main entrance. P. 226/ Render/ crystalline structure floating above the ground.

Spiladós, National Concert- and Congress Centre/ Reykjavik, Iceland/ Renderings/ P. 164-165/ Spiladós enjoys a prominent quayside position. P. 167/ The main foyer is as a natural extension of the public realm. P. 168-169/ Integral lighting dramatically enhances the interior/ The building during the day/ The main staircase leading up to the concert hall balconies. P. 170/ Main foyer with views over the quayside, harbour and mountains. Amazon Court/ Karlin, Prague, Czech Republic/ P. 180-181/ Amazon Court under construction in the Karlin quarter. P. 183/ Rendering/main entrance. P. 184-185/ Silhouettes of people passing in front of the rhythmical façade. P. 186/ Rendering/ internal public square with glass bridges doubling as office space.

The process behind the creation of the Crystal and Cloud/ P. 237-241/ Photographs of process/ working with models – Photographs by schmidt hammer lassen/ page 237-239 and page 241 – Joachim Ladefoged. Danfoss Headquarters/ Als, Denmark/ P. 245/ Circular canopy announces the main entrance. P. 246/ Sculptural reception counter doubles as a work of art. P. 247/ View towards the cinema. P. 248/ New reception, canopy and outdoor pool. P. 249/ The glass columns are integral elements of the structure. University of Aberdeen New Library/ Aberdeen, Scotland/ P. 252-253/ The cultural context of the University of Aberdeen New Library.

P. 255/ Rendering/ the new building forms one end of an axis/ the irregular pattern of panels creates a striking façade. P. 256-257/ People on Church Walk/football players at King’s College, sports ground/silhouette of man in front of Chapel. P. 258/ Rendering/ The atrium rises from the ground floor in the form of a large spiraling volume. X-ing Towers/ Copenhagen, Denmark/ Renderings/ P. 269/ The two intersecting towers. P. 270-271/ The ground floor level opens up to the public/ the two towers create subtle, sculptural contours/ the two towers rising up from a single base structure. City of Westminster College/ London, UK/ P. 274-275/ The old student canteen looking out over St. Mary’s Gardens. P. 277/ Rendering/ Main entrance seen from Church Street. P. 278-279/ The cultural context of City of Westminster College. P. 280/ Rendering/ indoor open atrium at ground floor level. P. 281/ Rendering/ view from St. Mary’s Gardens. P. 282/ Rendering/ the indoor open atrium ensures visual connections through the building. The Crossroads, Hurum Secondary School/ Sætre, Norway/ Renderings/ P. 297/ Asymmetric cubes arranged at a variety of angles to one another. P. 298/ Main entrance. P. 299/ Atrium at the centre of the school. Timeline/ P. 300-301/ Photographs and renderings of schmidt hammer lassen key projects , 1986-2008. P. 305/schmidt hammer lassen partners. P. 307/ The real picture/ photograph chosen by Joachim Ladefoged illustrating the photographic process involved in creating the book.