HENNING LARSEN WINS THE TECHNICAL COLLEGE SILKEBORG COMPETITION

Henning Larsen Architects has been selected as one of two winners in the competition for a 22,500 m2 new Technical College in Silkeborg, Denmark.

Construction of the new Technical College Silkeborg is expected to finish in 2016. The project is based on the vision of encouraging social interaction and knowledge-sharing across study programmes.

The college is designed to become a gathering point, promoting educational expertise while at the same time fostering a strong sense of community across study programmes.

A large central atrium forms the heart of the building and will become the place where students meet and the various study fields merge.

The new building will provide the setting for the school’s courses in Art and Creativity, Health and Gastronomy, IT and Technology, Media and Communication as well as Design and Crafts.

In addition, the new college will offer 200 student residences. Henning Larsen Architects’ concept design has been developed in collaboration with Moe Consulting Engineers and LIW Planning.

The team was up against four teams led by some of Denmark’s leading architectural companies. Aarstiderne Architects is the second of the two winners, and the two winning teams will now further develop their designs so that one final winner can be announced in the beginning of 2014. 

LEÜTHENHAVEN BY HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS

The New Leüthenhaven will be a new gathering point in the city, providing the setting for community and informal meetings.

The design of the new office facilities for Trondheim City in Leüthenhaven beautifully connects the building to the new cinema, front square and existing theatre as well as the many other educational and cultural institutions in the area.

The building is designed with a sheathing of Siberian Larch, a natural and completely non-toxic product. The trees sourced for the facade are grown in professionally managed forests, which maintain a careful balance between harvesting and replanting. The robust wood does not need any impregnation, making it an environmentally responsible material choice.

Besides its environmental advantages, Siberian Larch has a high aesthetic value, achieving a delicate silky grey patina as it is exposed to wind and rain; it is able to stand up to the rough and changeable Norwegian climate without the need for continued maintenance.

The facade of the new Leüthenhaven follows a long and characteristic tradition of building wooden houses in Trondheim—a city with the longest continuous line of wooded houses in the Nordic Countries. Since the early 1700s wood houses have dominated the Trondheim cityscape, and in 1841 it was decided that Trondheim should remain a ‘city of wood’.

The new Leüthenhaven is designed in alignment with this vision. The down-sized scale of the office building – as regards height and geometry – relates to the surrounding city. With its human scale, the building meets the city at eye level, and the displaced floors and projections contribute to opening up the building to its context.

Location: Trondheim, Norway 
Architect: Henning LarsenArchitects 
Gross floor area: 39,000 m2 
Year of construction: 2015 
Type of assignment: First prize in competition 
Client: Trondheim Kommune

HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS WINS KIRUNA CITY HALL COMPETITION

Henning Larsen Architects in collaboration with Tema Landscape Architects Sweden, WSP Engineers Sweden and UiWE Cultural Designers have won the competition for a new city hall in Kiruna in Northern Sweden. The city hall will mark the beginning of the development of an entirely new city centre in Kiruna.

The city hall consists of two building volumes. The inner building is shaped like a crystal inspired by the great deposits of iron ore in the area's underground. The outer building floats like a ring around the crystal, protecting it against the rough weather conditions of the region. “It has been important for us to get the best out of the rough weather and wind conditions and allow as much daylight into the building as possible”, says Peer Teglgaard Jeppesen, Director and Partner at Henning Larsen Architects.

“Kiruna's new city hall is a democratic building, open to everybody. Inside the building, the democratic process is supported by the interplay between offices at the periphery and public functions at the heart of the building.” The round shape of the new city hall creates a better microclimate both inside and outside. The shape allows 17 % more daylight to pour into the volume. The city hall has already been named The Crystal. It is inspired by the city's special character, culture and history.

Kiruna's existing city hall is a unique piece of architecture from 1958, which was designed by Artur von Schmalensee. The new city hall refers to the old one in several ways. The bell tower from the listed city hall will be re-used in the square, just as materials and building parts will be re-used to the extent possible. “The Crystal is a city hall that we can be proud of, and we are delighted to present this particular proposal as winner today. In the assessment, we have sought help from several experts and various reports.

We have also had many comments from the public, and naturally, we have considered these in the jury work, too”, says Lisbeth Nilsson, Chairman of the Jury. Kiruna Municipality is moving the existing city hall and surrounding buildings, because of the effect of the excavations on the city's underground. A total of 2,500 flats and 200,000 m2 of commercial, office, school and healthcare buildings will have to be moved by 2035.

The city hall is the first large building to be affected by the excavations. Thus, the new city hall becomes the starting signal for the new city centre in Kiruna. According to plans, it is to be inaugurated in 2016. Henning Larsen Architects has designed a number of distinctive, prize-winning buildings in Sweden, including Malmö City Library, Uppsala Concert and Congress Hall and Umeå Art Museum and School of Architecture. 

Location: Kiruna, Sweden

Architect: Henning Larsen Architects

Landscape architect: Tema Group Sweden

Consulting engineers: WSP Sweden

Culture design: UiWE

Gross area: 12,000 m2

Construction period: 2013-2016

Client: Kiruna Municipality and LKAB

HOTEL FOR SØNDERBORG HARBOUR FRONT BY HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS

Henning Larsen Architects has designed the region’s biggest hotel for Sønderborg harbour front. The hotel comprises 210 rooms, and a water park, with a panoramic view over Alssund. The project forms part of Frank Gehry’s masterplan which will transform the area from industrial harbour into a new city district featuring a multi-cultural centre, a performing arts centre, a hotel, residences and offices.

”The hotel will rise as a new landmark for Sønderborg, creating a new gathering point in the city. We have been very inspired by Sønderborg’s history as commercial city with its dynamic harbour, warehouses and close relationship with the sea. Thus, our concept offers a beautiful panoramic view of the harbour from the hotel rooms and water park. It has been important for us to integrate the history and qualities of Sønderborg in our design”, says Director and Partner, Louis Becker, from Henning Larsen Architects.

Towards the harbour, a publicly accessible urban space will run alongside the entire building volume. South of the urban space, an Urban Plaza with terraces towards the water will allow for recreation and activity with a view. The urban space unites the harbour front and creates connection to Sønderborg Castle to the south.

The Urban Plaza will become a vibrant space, characterised by the activities in the area. The lower facade of the approx. 85 metre high tower is made up of bricks, while the upper part is mainly clad in copper to give the building a historic reference.

The tower is made up of 18 displaced floors of hotel rooms, serviced apartments and offices, offering a spectacular panoramic view of Sønderborg. The hotel will become an icon, whose height will allow guests to see all the way to the cities of Aabenraa and Flensburg. The tower has a more slender shape than set out in the original plan to optimise the view of Sct. Marie Church from the north.

”The top level of the hotel will be open to everyone. From here, visitors will get a full view of Sønderborg’s skyline, consisting of both historic and modern elements”, Louis Becker explains. ”Frank Gehry’s masterplan grasps the soul of the city. In the hotel tower, we have further developed the displaced geometries to make the building engage in direct dialogue with the city.”

The water park is designed to give guests an extraordinary view of Alssund Sound. The water park’s close proximity to the harbour space will give it a unique, dynamic atmosphere, which will be an attraction in itself. 

According to Michael Saxtorph, Managing Director of Sønderborg Harbour Development Company, who is responsible for the project, the development company expects to have all agreements relating to building and operation settled by the end of this year, with the aim that the hotel can be inaugurated in 2018.

HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS WINS CITIZEN AND MEDIA CENTRE COMPETITION

HenningLarsen Architects has won the competition for a new Citizen and Media Centre in Stuttgart. The new building is prominently located in Stuttgart’s Castle Park and will form a distinctive entrance to the listed parliament building in Baden-Württemberg. The parliament attracts 65,000 visitors each year, and the new building will provide access to exhibitions and press conferences.

The Centre’s entrance is shaped like a large amphitheater, and is recessed in the ground. The round shape creates an agora in the centre, ideal for political meetings and public cultural events alike. The shape stands as an emblem of the democratic process: in ancient Greece the agora formed the centre of political and public life, as a scene for debates, meetings and temporary theatre.

“The project exemplifies how architecture can create settings for democratic processes. Visitors will have improved access to the parliament building and at the same time, the new structure will host public meetings and cultural events” says Werner Frosch, manager of the Munich office of Henning Larsen Architects.

The new centre consists of a foyer, conference spaces and a exhibition area, all visually connected to the outside agora. For security purposes, these areas can be closed off from the parliament building itself. This separation also makes it possible to host larger events at late hours, without compromising the parliament building.

The new Citizen and Media Centre is located in Stuttgart Castle Park and creates a new public space within the urban park. The surrounding landscape and ample daylight have provided inspiration for the design of the new building. Special cylindrical windows create a bright and friendly atmosphere, and filter the daylight, giving visitors the impression of walking under a big tree.

VINGE CITY BY HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS AND EFFEKT

Vinge is a new city to be developed within Frederikssund Municipality north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Covering 350 hectares, it will be the largest urban development project in Denmark.

The masterplan for Vinge revolves around the core tenets of diversity and sustainability and connects to its surroundings via a new S-train station situated between Frederikssund and Ølstykke.

The new city forms part of an urban development plan for greater Copenhagen, which emphasises the integration of green spaces within defined urban areas. Vinge is situated in an open, rural landscape, and a primary design goal has been to bring the surrounding scenery into the new city.

Green areas within the urban context create breathing spaces, add a recreational dimension to the city — such as playing fields, urban parks and wetlands — and ensure nature’s enduring presence in the city.

The buildings in the inner city are organised as small neighbourhoods and relate to the planned green spaces and surrounding landscape. The architecture is diverse, offering a variety of different residential typologies to meet different needs.

Vinge will be a city for families, the young and the elderly, companies and visitors. Vinge Station is planned as a transit hub, forming part of a vibrant city centre which is reinforced by a tall and dense built environment.

The easy accessibility to Vinge through public transport will increase its overall attractiveness, motivating businesses to establish in either the city centre or in the business area just north of the centre.

From the high-density environment of the city centre, the architecture gradually transitions to lower, more open building typologies, scaling down the building stock towards the surrounding open landscape.

 

 

Location: Frederikssund, Denmark

Architects: Henning Larsen Architects and Effekt

Engineers: Moe & Brødsgaard

Landscape: Marianne Levinsen

Visuals: Henning Larsen Architects and Effekt

Gross floor area: 3,500,000 m2

Year of construction: 2013 - 2033

Type of assignment: Winner of international competition

Client: City of Frederikssund