Archinect - News

BIG designs ‘folding’ neuroscience center to mimic the cerebral cortex

2022-03-16T10:58:00-04:00

Bjarke Ingels Group has unveiled its design for a neuroscience center in Aarhus, Denmark. Described by the studio as “the first of its kind in the world,” the 19,000-square-meter (200,000-square-foot) facility will be used by Aarhus University Hospital to study and treat physical and mental brain diseases.

Image courtesy of BIG

Spread across six levels, the center’s floor plan “folds” around a collection of atria echoing the folds of the cerebral cortex, creating a series of small clusters and courtyards. The ground floor sees patients and guests enter through a large open atrium at the core of the building, which also contains an interactive public exhibition area, café, and public courtyard.

Image courtesy of BIG

While the building will host several distinct departments including neurology, nuclear medicine, and psychiatry, each with their own unique requirements, the floorplan has been arranged to allow common functions to act as “crossbreeding” elements. In addition to encouragin...

ADEPT completes the new Aarhus School of Architecture

2021-10-13T08:00:00-04:00

Buzz is spreading around Denmark this week following the completion of the design capital’s first-ever purpose-built architectural school in Aarhus, its second-largest city.

Image © ADEPT

The Danish firm ADEPT has converted a 12,500-square-meter (135,000-square-feet) former railyard site at the Aarhus School of Architecture to deliver an innovative approach to learning to one of Europe’s most respected architecture schools.

Image © Rasmus Hjortshoj

The new building offers students the chance to experiment in their own education, collaborating with each other in a cross-disciplinary space that is itself the byproduct of intensive user input and a process that circumvented internal hierarchies of building design and project organization.

Image © Rasmus Hjortshoj

“It is a building that was designed to never be enough in itself,” ADEPT partner Martin Krough said in a statement. “Only through its occupants is it complete."

Image © Rasmus Hjortshoj

The terraced structure carries an industria...

James Turrell and Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects design new galleries for the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum

2017-10-10T13:10:00-04:00

ARoS Aarhus Art Museum’s new additions will be typical of James Turrell’s approach, relying on light to guide visitors around the galleries and exhibition spaces. The rooms lie almost 120 metres beneath the surface, and are invisible from above ground.

Artist James Turrell with model of the dome. Courtesy ARoS Aarhus Art Museum and Schmidt Hammer Lassen

Artist James Turrell partnered with Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects on an extension project for the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Copenhagen. The new galleries and installations will include several additional rooms and a 40m wide dome.

Courtesy ARoS Aarhus Art Museum and Schmidt Hammer Lassen

Perforated "Sailing Tower" spotlights Denmark's commercial Aarhus harbor

2016-03-03T18:29:00-05:00

With bold geometric references to cargo sailing masts and portholes, the primary function of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter's Sailing Tower is to reference the considerable maritime history of the Danish harbor, which was founded in the 8th century and remains an active commercial port today. The tower, which was inaugurated in August 2015, incorporates two official viewing platforms, the upper one of which offers a 360 degree view of Aarhus. Sited on the docks, the tower is categorized as an urban sculpture, not only for its direct relationship with the harbor, but its visual orientation toward the city.

The staircase offers perforated panoramic views as visitors climb up (although a lift has been installed for those unable to climb stairs), while the steel-plate construction also recalls the feeling of being at sea. At night, the mast-like geometry of the Tower's exterior is illuminated by LEDs.

BIG, SANAA, Lacaton & Vassal pre-qualified to compete in designing new Aarhus School of Architecture

2015-11-17T14:06:00-05:00

The Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark is set on revamping itself with the construction of a brand new school building, and the search to find the architect to design it is underway. According to the School, a total of 42 teams worldwide responded to the first phase of the competition. Along with the Danish Building & Property Agency — the contractor of the project, the School selected three pre-qualified teams from a strong field of candidates. They are:

BIG (Denmark) along with Transform + Rambøll + SLA
SANAA (Japan) along with B+G Ingenieure + Sasaki and Partners
LACATON & VASSAL (France) along with Powerhouse + Kristine Jensens Tegnestue

However, there are still three spots left. When the next phase starts in December, the Danish Building & Property Agency will launch an open international design competition welcoming all architects and architecture students, from which the last three candidates will be chosen.

All six pre-qualified candidates will then advance to the restric...

Building a collaborative jig-saw pavilion at the Media and Architecture Biennale in Aarhus

2014-12-09T20:51:00-05:00

"Programming Natural Affect" was one of the collaborative workshops during the Media and Architecture Bienniale 2014 last month in Aarhus, Denmark. Organized by Anna Ulak and Philipp Rahlenbeck of openconstructs, the workshop focused on fusing the organic properties of nature and the built urban environment through new media and architecture.

Participants learned about combining analog and digital production methods as they worked with each other and the organizers in building a small prefabricated pavilion. At the end of the workshop, the pavilion was displayed in the Main Exhibition during the Bienniale.

Ulak shared further project details below:

"Rather than trying to fully control/manage the relationship between the natural and built environment with computation (and its metaphors), this proposal sets out to augment the natural world. Thus creating artificial environments that evokes the organic. An architecture that artificially amplifies the experiences of nature that is diminish...

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter to design new tower landmark at Aarhus Harbor in Denmark

2013-11-13T18:27:00-05:00

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter won the competition to design the new tower landmark for Aarhus Harbor in Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark. The firm's origami-like structure beat out proposals from some of Denmark's biggest architects like BIG, schmidt hammer lassen, and Cebra.

ADEPT and LUPLAU & POULSEN win 12,000 m2 sustainable housing project in Denmark

2011-11-11T18:32:00-05:00

Winners have recently been revealed in Aarhus, Denmark, for the new Brabrand Housing Association residential complex competition. The winning team consists of Danish architects ADEPT and LUPLAU & POULSEN, turn-key contractor Dansk Boligbyg and NIRAS Consulting Engineers. The team has designed a project [...] that consists of 238 public dwellings distributed between 83 apartments for families and +55 aged seniors, and 155 student-housing units.

The Glue Society's "I Wish You Hadn't Asked"

2011-06-09T12:59:11-04:00

For this new project, The Glue Society has constructed a fully functional house in Aarhus, and for the month of June is making it rain continuously indoors, with the resulting decomposition of the building being observable both inside and out.

Archinect - News

BIG designs ‘folding’ neuroscience center to mimic the cerebral cortex

ADEPT completes the new Aarhus School of Architecture

James Turrell and Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects​ design new galleries for the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum​

Perforated "Sailing Tower" spotlights Denmark's commercial Aarhus harbor

BIG, SANAA, Lacaton & Vassal pre-qualified to compete in designing new Aarhus School of Architecture

Building a collaborative jig-saw pavilion at the Media and Architecture Biennale in Aarhus

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter to design new tower landmark at Aarhus Harbor in Denmark

ADEPT and LUPLAU & POULSEN win 12,000 m2 sustainable housing project in Denmark

The Glue Society's "I Wish You Hadn't Asked"

James Turrell and Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects design new galleries for the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum