BE INSPIRED VISIT AARHUS Programme for the visit to Aarhus, Denmark August 28 – 30, 2013
BACKGROUND FOR THE VISIT Aarhus, which will be European Capital of Culture in 2017, is Denmark’s second-largest city, and a powerhouse for the development of Jutland. The City itself has a population of 330,000 and caters to a population of 1.2 million within one hour’s driving distance. Aarhus houses an internationallyrenowned university and a number of other educational institutions. The city is the home of Vestas, the Danish wind turbine giant, and takes pride in being a young city driven by enthusiasm, knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit. In recent years, the City of Aarhus has undergone a major urban renewal process. The reopening of the small river, on the banks of which the original Aarhus was built, has become a driver in the rejuvenation of the city centre; something which is now spreading to the old port area, where a number of spectacular projects are well underway. The programme for this visit to Denmark’s charming number two city centres on these two aspects of modern Aarhus: the conscious planning of a modern sustainable city, and the creation of a knowledge-driven city. On the first day you will see a number of the most interesting urban development projects; and the second day will focus on design and knowledge as the drivers for a modern economy. We have planned the press visit to Aarhus to coincide with the start of the Aarhus Festival – one of the major annual cultural events in Denmark. This year the overall theme of the festival is “Signs of Life – in a New Reality”, exploring topics such as urban development, cultural manifestations, and urban ecology, amongst others. The visit is concluded in the Aarhus Concert Hall with the official opening of the Aarhus Festival by HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
ACCOMODATION The City of Aarhus, Danish™ and the Danish Association of Architectural Firms will provide accommodation for the delegation. Hotel: Scandic Hotel, Østergade 10, 8000 Aarhus. Scandic Aarhus City Hotel is a newly-built hotel located in the centre of Aarhus. The 18,000m2 hotel has preserved a beautifully ornamented facade from the 19th century, and combines the city centre’s historic atmosphere with modern hotel facilities. The hotel includes restaurant and conference facilities and 228 rooms allocated over six floors.
PROGRAMME
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 28 19:00 Introduction to the programme, and get-together reception at NCC’s DOME OF VISIONS.
THURSDAY AUGUST 29 Theme of the Day: The Development of the City of Aarhus 9:00 There will be an introduction to the Scandic Aarhus City Hotel by Aart Architects. 9:15 Departure from the hotel 9:30 Official welcome at Aarhus City Hall by Mayor Jacob Bundsgaard. 10:45 Visit to “Godsbanen”, which is a dynamic new hub for art and culture, “emerging” out of a synergy between landscape and historical freight train warehouses. The cultural production centre in “Godsbanen” - or the former railway freight yards - is a landscaped spatiality which creates a totally fresh, new identity within a historical framework. The unique roof surface defines the meeting point between the existing freight train warehouses and the railway freight yards, creating a common architectural expression. Presentation by 3XN Architects.
11:15 Aarhus’ City Architect Stephen Willacy will lead a guided walk along the Aarhus River, with a presentation of the City’s development - including the history of Aarhus, the reopening of the river, and the new Habourfront City District, along with a presentation of the best and most sustainable new buildings. Other Danish architects will also participate in the walk. Since Viking times, the Aarhus River has been very important to the City, and in fact the river is the reason why Aarhus was originally founded here. The Aarhus River was covered over in the 1930s and turned into a major thoroughfare to the Port of Aarhus. In 1989 the Aarhus City Council decided to reopen the river, as part of the City’s vision to develop a lively urban environment. This project has in recent years greatly contributed to creating a unique urban environment, thus making the city centre more attractive to both residents and tourists. Among others: VOXHALL. As an extension of the NW Dahlerup’s old warehouse building, VoxHall has been built as a location for the Aarhus underground music scene. VoxHall has existed since 1999 and was enlarged in 2009 (by Kjær & Richter Architects), increasing the audience capacity from 500 to 700. Mølleparken – the current main library which will be moved to Dokk1 (on the harbourfront). 12:15 Lunch at C.F. Møller Architects with a great view of Aarhus.
13:30 Presentation of Dokk1, which will be Scandinavia’s largest public library upon completion in 2014. The library represents a new generation of modern hybrid libraries. The building is situated at the mouth of the Aarhus River in one of the most prominent locations of the Aarhus City Centre. Dokk1 forms part of the ambitious plans for the new harbourfront city district, revitalizing the former industrial cargo docks on the harbourfront by connecting the area both visually and physically to the historic city centre. Presentation by schmidt hammer lassen architects. 14:05 Visit to Pakhus 27: Presentation of the new plans for the new harbourfront city district by Bente Lykke Sørensen, of Arealudvikling Aarhus. The showroom, “Pakhus 27” (a 100+ year-old warehouse, previously used for butter storage) is centrally located in the new Habourfront City District. The main attraction of the showroom is a 2 x 9 metre model of the new district and a section of the existing city centre (scaled to 1:500). The model is continuously updated whenever new projects are decided upon, so that the model is always an up-to-date illustration of both the location of the individual buildings and the architectural designs. 14: 30 Visit to Navitas, which is a 38,400m2 project to be completed in 2014. Navitas provides space for training, development and business, with a focus on energy and innovation, and on becoming an international beacon of knowledge about energy and energy conservation – a full-scale energy laboratory, with an emphasis on visibility, measurability, and the opportunity to keep records of operating conditions. The crystalline structure relates to the environment and the context. The star-shape supports the ambition to create a close and intimate inner universe around the common square, in the spacious atrium and lush courtyards. Presentation by Kjær & Richter Architects.
15:00 Bestseller office building, Pier 2, is a new, sustainable urban office block at the Aarhus waterfront, for the fashion company Bestseller. The development is composed as a series of independent volumes, with atriums, terraces and roof gardens in-between - creating in effect a city within a city. The building is designed to be in ‘low-energy class 2015’, according to the Danish building code, and marks the entrance to the new urban waterfront development. Presentation by C.F Møller Architects. 15:30 Student Housing Tower. This student housing tower on the Aarhus harbourfront is a genuine zero-energy building, which represents an evolution of the traditional youth/student apartment, which would normally contain shared baths and kitchens. In the tower, each of the 99 apartments has a private cooking area and private bath, but in addition each apartment also supports its own energy unit, thus making it possible to monitor and be individually accountable for energy consumption. The loss of shared social spaces in the shape of kitchens and bathroom facilities is more than outweighed by the social space that has been introduced on each floor, the big stairwell, and the big open deck towards the south west. The Student Housing Tower was designed by Arkitema Architects. Presentation by Arkitema Architects. 16:00 The Iceberg residential complex consists of 208 apartments on Aarhus’ harbourfront. In order to maximize views and daylight conditions for every single apartment, the building volume is cut up by jagged lines. The roofs rise and fall into peaks and valleys, which create visual passages across the individual volumes - like floating icebergs that constantly refract one’s gaze. The varying forms which derive from this simple algorithm make it possible to organize a wide range of different apartment types within the complex. Presentation by CEBRA.
16:30 LightHouse* creates an attractive and versatile urban area on the harbourfront in Aarhus. Openness, vividness and multiplicity all characterize the winning proposal by 3XN and UNStudio. The project mixes a high-rise structure with small groups of terraced houses, to ensure smaller community ambience. In adding a sunlit seaside promenade with cafés, shops, and a square for leisure activities, the master plan emphasizes the interaction of private, semi-public and public areas. Presentation by 3XN. 17:00 Bus drive back to hotel. 17:15 Time off. 18:45 ARoS – Aarhus Museum of Art, designed by schmidt hammer lassen architects, is a cultural centrepiece of Aarhus. The museum has been designed specifically to welcome visitors, straddling a public thoroughfare which transforms the building into a bridge linking two of the city’s cultural centres. This public route through the museum provides a vital connection with the network of streets beyond, encouraging dynamic interplay between the museum and everyday life. Before the dinner there will be a presentation by ARoS, of the temporary park space and of Aarhus’ plans for 2017. After the presentations there will be a walk around Your Rainbow Panorama – the spectacular rooftop ring walkway by the Danish/Icelandic sculptor Olafur Eliasson. 19:30 Dinner at ARoS.
FRIDAY AUGUST 30 Theme of the Day: Aarhus – City of Knowledge 9:30 Bus pick-up at the hotel 10:00 Visit to the House of Vestas. The Vestas Headquarters are structured as a single building, with a shimmering dark glass mosaic façade covering an open and welcoming atrium which is the focal point of the building. Leading off from the atrium are office wings, an auditorium, meeting rooms and a canteen. The Vestas HQ represents a modern, open and sustainable working environment made from natural materials, with the Scandinavian light ever-present. The landscaping project - also by Arkitema Architects - paraphrases the West Danish costal landscape of dunes and wild grasses. Vestas HQ was the first building in Scandinavia to achieve a LEED Platinum certification. The building is fitted with Denmark’s largest geothermal heating system and uses about 50 percent less energy than the average office building. Presentation by Arkitema Architects. 10:45 Bus drive to Moesgaard Museum, with a short stop at Aarhus University. The University of Aarhus, which dates from 1931, is a unique and coherent university campus showing consistent architecture, homogenous use of yellow brickwork, and adaptation to the landscape. The University is an icon of Scandinavian modernism and has won renown and praise as an integrated complex, which unites the best aspects of functionalism with solid Danish traditions in form and materials. Presentation by C.F. Møller Architects. In the bus there will also be: a presentation on the City of Aarhus’ commercial and Climate Strategy, by Jan Nielsen.
11:30 Moesgaard Museum is the first cultural historical museum to be built from the ground up in Denmark for more than 100 years. The existing museum is situated in an over 300-year-old manor house. The new 16,000m2 museum building is uniquely located in the hilly landscape adjacent to the house. The rectangular roof appears to be ‘growing’ out of the landscape - and it will form the setting for picnics during the summer. The interior building has been designed as a varied terraced landscape, inspired by archaeological excavations, gradually unearthing the layers of history. The museum will be completed in September 2013, and will open in June 2014 when the exhibitions have been set up. Presentation by Henning Larsen Architects, and by Museum Director Jan Skamby Madsen of the Moesgaard Museum. 12:15 Bus drive to The Old Town. 12:45 Lunch in Den Gamle By Open-Air Museum. 13:30 Walk to and tour of The Hothouses (Væksthusene) in the Botanical Gardens. The new hothouse is an 18-metre high tropical hothouse, in which the public can go exploring among the tree-tops. The project includes a comprehensive restoration of an older hothouse originally designed by C.F. Møller Architects. The new hothouse also uses an organic form, which at the same time is based on energy-conserving design solutions and on a knowledge of materials, indoor climates and technology, by means of advanced parametric calculations. Presentation by C.F. Møller Architects.
14:30 Boat trip around the Harbour. A run-down commercial port replaced by world-class architecture. In the coming years, Aarhus will be enriched by a brand new and spectacular city district. When completed, the Harbourfront City District will have a total floorage of 800,000m2, with housing for 7,000 residents, and 12,000 jobs. In terms of both volume and vision, the Harbourfront City District will therefore rank among Europe’s largest waterfront projects. Presentation by the City of Aarhus. 15:15 Champagne, tapas and presentations at Designit. Innovative design companies develop products and solutions in the public space that solve some of society’s challenges and lead the way in the development of sustainable and “smart” cities. The participating companies work with design solutions that develop cities and create experiences and identity in the public spaces, and bring new life to streets, parks, squares and urban spaces, where a collective impression and expression has a meaning and a function to people, buildings and surroundings. Scandinavia’s largest design company Designit will host this session with talks and presentations from Designit, Kollision, Veksø and Smart Aarhus. 17:15 Back to the Hotel 18:30 Official Opening of Aarhus Festival. 21:30 Farewell reception at the hotel.
PARTICIPANTS 3XN Architects Aarhus Festival (Aarhus Festuge) Aarhus Sea Rangers Aart Architects and+ Arkitema Architects ARoS Atlas & Voxhall Live Venues Bestseller C. F. Møller Architects CEBRA Architects City of Aarhus CUBO Architects Danish Design & Architecture Initiative DANSKE ARK Den Gamle By Open-Air Museum Designit Dokk1 DR Godsbanen Henning Larsen Architects Kjær & Richter Architects Kollision LightHouse* Moesgaard Museum Navitas NCC Pakhus 27 Scnadic Aarhus City Hotel schmidt/hammer/lassen/architects Smart Aarhus Veksø Vestas