Placing ahead of four other proposals, Christensen & Co + Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects were awarded first prize for their design of the Niels Bohr Science Park for the University of Copenhagen. The project, a collaborative effort with Ramboll DK + UK + SE, GHB Landscape Architects and Collin Gordon Associates, includes 45,000 m2 of laboratory and teaching facilities to house math, computer science, chemical and physical disciplines. The building is a functional entity with dynamic student circulation among light filled spaces with access to large greens.
More about the winning proposal and more images after the break.
The project was conceived as a volume sliced by the road Jagtvej, which cuts through the northern part of Copenhagen. To respond to this divided ground condition, the building is connected with skywalks, “an interesting solution to the problem of crossing the road,” explained the jury. To address crossing the Jagtvj, the team designed a public connection where students travel between two large green spaces.
Although ‘Stage 1′, the 30,000 m2 building to the east of Jagtvej which will be finished in 2014, and ‘Stage 2′ , the 15,000 m2 building to the west which will be completed in 2015, are physically separate entities, they were conceived from the same volume. This strategy allows the building to read as a whole, momentarily interrupted by the road.
The building is clad in a uniform treatment – a geometric panel that creates a textured effect. ”The facade uniqueness defines an entire special identity for the total building construction.While retaining the image of that in the case of one building complex, interconnected across Jagtvej,” explained the jury.
“The building’s disposition is designed so it contributes to the understanding of the building’s internal flow while offering a special design experience with a varied and distinguished shaped room with long balcony along binding scenario with daylight filtered through the green vertical atriums. This is a unique multidisciplinary composition with intense interactive look both internally across as out of the building,” explained the jury.
