A sawtooth roof with integrated skylights and solar panels provides this library and cultural centre in Denmark an industrial aesthetic that references its spot at an outdated furniture factory .
Photograph by Stamers Kontor
Developed by Copenhagen studio Primus Arkitekter, the new facility in Allerød occupies a 1930s constructing that previously housed the offices of a factory operated by the Fritz Hansen furnishings brand – the producer of products like Jaime Hayón’s Ro armchair and Arne Jacobsen’s Grand Prix chair.
The architects refurbished and extended the creating to make it ideal for its new use as a cultural centre and library, as part of a bigger masterplan for the centre of Allerød that includes new urban spaces and the growth of a local repertory theatre.
Photograph by Stamers Kontor
The extension is divided along its length into two spaces, with the new children’s library occupying the side that adjoins the brick building housing the main library.
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The other half of the new addition functions as a cultural centre containing a multipurpose local community hall, and a theatre and events space that can be subdivided using folding wooden partitions.
The two spaces feature high, sloping ceilings with integrated skylights that illuminate the interiors and support increase acoustics inside of the huge rooms. The ridges in the roof’s profile also supply an acceptable level for the partition in the cultural centre.
“The extension houses the children’s library and we wished to give them a sense of spatial generosity and abundance of all-natural light that could help these and long term functions in a flexible constructing,” architect David Bülow-Jacobsen told Dezeen.
“Thus we chose to make the floor prepare really open and rational, although the roof section subdivides the area with varying ceiling heights,” he said.
Externally, the building’s shed-like type and materials treatment recall the site’s industrial heritage. The whole exterior is clad in lapped black wooden panels that include texture to the surfaces.
“The panels have been picked to add scale and materiality to the building and had been also utilised to clad an existing elevator tower added in the 1980s to develop a coherent volume,” Bülow-Jacobsen said.
Solar panels positioned on the steeper sections of the roof blend in with the black surfaces, while lighting integrated into the underside of the slanted panels creates a tessellated pattern of light and shadow on the elevation dealing with a public square.
Two upper storeys inside of the present building have been refurbished as component of the project to accommodate a community centre and offices for the library. Large openings in the walls enable spaces on the ground floor to open out to the public square.
Bülow-Jacobsen and spouse Per Appel established Primus Arkitekter in 2008. Other tasks by the studio consist of a modest oak-clad home in Zealand, Denmark.
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Section Dezeen
