After the Wadden Sea Center in Denmark and the Trilateral Wadden Sea World Heritage Partnership Center in Germany, the Wadden Sea World Heritage Center marks Dorte Mandrup’s third project in this unique environment. Created as a spiraling movement upwards and around, rising from the harbor, the Wadden Sea World Heritage Center is a “working field station that wants to engage visitors and aims at making them active participants”.
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Building in nature constitutes a contradiction, as architecture enables immersive access to the landscape, while at the same time, natural landmarks are being slowly engulfed by tourists. The human presence in natural landscapes is an interplay of scales, a juxtaposition of archetypal shelters against the vast sceneries, as well as a negotiation between access to the landscape and environmental conservation. Exploring a variety of attitudes and formal strategies, the following takes a look at what could be learned from the experiences and design philosophies of several architects and practices that have perfected ways of addressing architecture in the landscape.
Dorte Mandrup has won the international competition to design the new Exilmuseum in Berlin. Located adjacent to the ruins of the historic railway station Anhalter Bahnhof, the museum will tell the stories of those who fled during the Nazi regime and look to today's present displaced populations. The studio’s proposal reinterprets the portico ruins on Askanischer Platz, together a monument and symbol of those driven into exile during the Second World War.
Denise Scott Brown once said: “Architecture can’t force people to connect; it can only plan the crossing points, remove barriers, and make the meeting places useful and attractive.” Although it cannot control the outcome, architecture holds the potential to set the stage for chance encounters and social interactions, thus nurturing community building and influencing the fabric of our social culture. The following explores how architecture can improve the social capital of its surroundings through design strategies and thoughtful programming, creating the fertile ground for social interaction among different groups of people.
As architecture is increasingly reliant on renderings to convey its message and depict the unbuilt, many practices turn to seasoned 3D artists to help them portray their designs in the most favourable light; thus they externalize visualizations to a handful of firms.
Selected from 69 submissions from 10 countries, six international firms were shortlisted for the design competition of the future Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation at the University of Arkansas.
Danish architecture studio Dorte Mandrup has designed new culture house and library in the heart of the Swedish baroque city of Karlskrona. Working with Marianne Levinsen Landskab and Torbjörn Nilsson, the team developed the cultural project to combine an art hall, library and cafe together in the city center. The culture house is meant to become a modern meeting place and hub for several cultural activities at the corner of Karlskrona’s central square.
Danish firm Dorte Mandrup have designed a new skyscraper to become Western Europe’s tallest tower in Brande, Denmark. Rising over 1000 feet, the project is sited in a rural Danish village of 7,000 people. Dubbed Bestseller Tower, the project will be visible from 37 miles away in every direction. The skyscraper will include offices for the Bestseller fashion company, a hotel, and a “village” of green retail pavilions. The company aims to make the skyscraper "climate positive" as part of their sustainability goals.
Denmark-based architect Dorte Mandrup has won her third UNESCO World Heritage Center project, with her design of the Trilateral Wadden Sea World Heritage Partnership Centre. The project was the winner in a contest to design a new headquarters for the Centre, an organization that aims to protect the Wadden Sea and is jointly run by Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.
A new project in central Copenhagen will see two Danish practices—Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Dorte Mandrup Architects—create a new urban IKEA store, a budget hotel, and housing linked together by green space. Set to open in 2019, the area—which sits adjacent to Kalvebod Brygge, close to the railway lines that pass through the city core—will be master-planned by Dorte Mandrup while two striking high-rise residential towers, dubbed "Cacti", will be designed by BIG.
We always attempt to work with a material and try to see what it can do in relation to the sculptural or in relation to the place
In this video from the Louisiana Channel, Dorte Mandrup discusses the design philosophy behind her firm’s nearly completed Wadden Sea Center, a visitor’s center located in within Denmark’s largest national park. The design employs local construction traditions, creating a sculptural roof and facade from a modernized thatch roof system. Watch the video for more on how Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter approaches a design challenge, and how their buildings belong to their sites.
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This article is part of our new "Material Focus" series, which asks architects to elaborate on the thought process behind their material choices and sheds light on the steps required to get buildings actually built.
Installed last year, the Salling Tower provides a striking, sculptural landmark in Aarhus Docklands. From inside, its deceptively simple counterbalanced form provides a range of ways to look out over the harbor and the city - but from the outside the project's designers, Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter wanted the tower to take on an abstract appearance, referencing nautical themes with its sail-like shape and porthole-like openings all while obscuring the process of its own construction. To do this, the firm created a structure composed entirely of a single steel piece resting on top of its foundations. In this interview, project architect Noel Wibrand tells us about how the project's material choice contributed to the construction process.
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Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter won the competition to design an extension for the headquarters of the Danish Society of Engineers (IDA). ‘‘The Opal’’ will form part of the scenic Copenhagen Harbour, accommodating a conference hall and restaurant. Of all shortlisted designs, the IDA stated that The Opal best-reflected "[their] vision of engineering."
The eye-catching design alludes to the gemstone it is named after, which reflects light to take on multiple colours. This reference is seen both in the structure and form of the new addition to the Copenhagen Harbour.
Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter have been selected as the winners of an international competition to design The Icefjord Centre in the UNESCO-protected area of Ilulissat, Greenland. Beating out proposals from leading architects including Snøhetta, Studio Other Spaces, Rintala Eggertsson Architects and Kengo Kuma and Associates, the new pavilion will serve as an exhibition and gathering space for locals, tourists and researchers alike.
The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design (ArkDes) have revealed that In Therapy: Nordic Countries Face to Face—the exhibition for the Nordic Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale, curated by David Basulto—will partly comprise "a contemporary survey of Nordic architecture." 300 projects, drawn from over 500 submissions to a recent open call, will be complemented by an in-depth study of nine projects completed post-2008 by practices including Tham & Videgård, Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter, and Lahdelma & Mahlamäki.
"Just as Sverre Fehn’s pavilion is a crystallisation of Nordic architecture—embodying a precise and fluid articulation of structure, light, and nature—the nine we have chosen to focus in on as particularly representative of the contemporary scene have a similar gravitas and complexity – but with their own distinct identities" says Basulto, who has made the selection alongside James Taylor-Foster, Assistant Curator.
Danish architects Elkiær + Ebbeskov (E+E) and Leth & Gori have won an invited competition to design a large multifunctional sports building in Langvang, Denmark. Competing against teams led by Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter, CEBRA, COBE and Kontur, their winning proposal features a combined sports hall and community centre consisting of a series of multifunctional arenas for activities and events. The scheme also includes a masterplan of the surrounding area centered around sports and recreation.
A team consisting of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter, Leth & Gori Architects, Marianne Levinsen Landscape with Henrik Larsen and Jørgen Nielsen engineers have won the competition for Marthagården day care centre in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen.
The project includes the renovation and transformation of two existing buildings and an extension facilitating groups of children and workshops. Furthermore the project offers a remodeling of the exterior landscape and playground. More information and complete architect’s description after the break.
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