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Architects: ALA Architetcs
Location: Kristiansand, Norway
Project team: Juho Grönholm, Antti Nousjoki, Janne Teräsvirta, Samuli Woolston and Birger Grönholm with Niklas Mahlberg, Pekka Sivula, Pauliina Rossi, Pauliina Skyttä, Sami Mikonheimo, Jani Koivula,Auvo Lindroos, Aleksi Niemeläinen, Erling Sommerfeldt, Ingrid Kokkonen, Tomi Henttinen, Harri Ahokas, Anniina Koskela Klaus Stolt
Collaborators: SMS Arkitekter AS: Erik Sandsmark, Wenche Aabel, Lasse Stamrud, Hanne Alnes (local partner) WSP Multiconsult AS (structural engineering) Arup Acoustics (hall acoustics) Brekke Strand Acoustics (room acoustics) Sweco Grøner (mechanical engineering) Cowi (electrical engineering) TPC (theater technical engineering)
Client: Teater og Konserthus for Sørlandet IKS
Project area: 24,000 sqm
Project year: In construction
Photographs: Courtesy of ALA Architects

© ALA Architects

Kilden will gather together all the city’s institutions of performing arts. Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra will have at its disposal a concert hall designed to accommodate 1200 attendees. Agder Theater, a regional group, will have a theater with a capacity of 700, excellent acoustics and advanced equipment with a stage tower.

The theater can be transformed to accommodate opera performances and will also house the ensemble Opera South. In addition, there will be a small stage for experimental theater and a multi-purpose hall with a level floor.

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Kilden produces experiences. The core of its architecture is the way the concert, theater and multi-purpose halls are coordinated with the service areas. The halls are arranged in a row according to their functions, and the organization of the service areas allows common production equipment to serve all halls efficiently and without interference. The service areas are located on one side of the halls and the foyer on the other. The varying forms of the auditoria will be covered by a curved wooden wall. The monumental abstract form of the wall, made of local oak, separates reality from fantasy.

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Passing through, the audience will move from natural landscape to the realm of performing arts. The wall allures the audience and expresses the diversity of artistic performances housed by the building as well as the power induced by their combination. The wall made of spiral overlapping boards is not only a disguised theatrical effect but a concrete tactile artifact, which also improves the acoustics of the foyer. The infinite blackness of the other facades emphasizes the spectacle of the curved wall in the foyer. The building is like an exclusive case for the instruments it encloses.

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The international design group has been working on the plans for four years. The architects, engineers, sound specialists, equipment specialists and representatives of each performing arts group meet once a week at the project office on site. The design has reached its final form, and construction is well under way. Details and materials will continue to be developed until 2011 when the building is due to be finished. ALA has produced all architectural design documentation for the project.