Learning

House of Art inaugurated/
The House of Arts has opened to the public in Roskilde, Denmark. In 2016 Svendborg Architects together with landscape architects BOGL and engineering firms Regnestuen and Spangenberg & Madsen, won an invitational competition for the new masterplan of Kildegaarden, and thereby The House of the Arts.

Design Engine originally won the commission to design the new state-of-the-art science and mathematics facilities after an invited competition in 2009, beating a strong field including Hopkins, Belsize Architects, Panter Hudspith and Pringle Richards Sharratt. Founded in 1611, Charterhouse is one of the great historic public schools of England. With four centuries of history behind it, the School is committed to being at the forefront of educational progress in the twenty‑first century. The School’s aim was to revolutionize the way Science and Mathematics subjects are taught at Charterhouse by fostering inter- and intra-departmental collaboration, providing a world-class learning environment for current and future generations of pupils.

The new building for Life Science and Bioengineering is the largest project since the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) was inaugurated in the 1960s. In a respectful yet innovative transformation of the original architecture, the façade of gold-anodized and black-lacquered aluminum is broken into sections with niches and balconies that create a vibrant sense of scale. The building rises from the ground opening up into a warm wooden interior where the atmospheric atrium, the Biosphere, unites researchers from the National Institute of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua), the National Food Institute (DTU Food) and the National Veterinary Institute (DTU Vet). Here daylight flows from large skylights above oak-clad meeting boxes that almost float in mid-air. The oak cladding translates the façade’s golden hue to an interior texture, while the meeting boxes create a wealth of dynamic spaces where the researchers can meet. The building also houses laboratories with a wide range of functions and research facilities, including gigantic saltwater tanks, fish pens and a state-of-the-art ventilation system.

The project of Olivier Debré Contemporary Art Center originates in an international competition that called for proposal to transform the former “Ecole des beaux-arts” in Tours in a space for the exhibition and creation of contemporary Arts, alongside with the conservation of the collection of the abstract painter Olivier Debré.
The ambition of the program was to respect and dialogue with the dense historical city center, to conserve the character of the existing building, but at the same time to provide huge scale voids for the new exhibition function as well as an open relationship with the city. The project originated in the existing conditions: a valuable architectural heritage, a particular urban context, a lucid ambition expressed by the competition brief. Accompanying them is the unique illuminating vision of reality in the work of Olivier Debré.