Experimentarium Hellerup, Denmark
The substantial extension and refurbishment of the Experimentarium transforms the science centre into a future-forward cultural destination. Staying within the footprint of the existing building, the only way to extend was to build inwards and upwards. Inwards, we completely reorganised the building, introducing substantial elements like the copper-clad Helix staircase winding through the building and a doubling of the interactive exhibition area. Outwards, we added new aluminium volumes that contrast with the partially preserved brick base featuring fluid-dynamic facades.
The adaptive reuse architecture set out to attract the public’s interest in science and technology by creating a tangible connection between the building’s expression and its content: an engaging environment that functions as a hub for experiential learning, research and cultural experiences, including outreach and collaborations with educational institutions and businesses.
The extension doubled the exhibition area to 16 interactive exhibitions and includes functions such as instructional facilities, laboratories and workshops, two auditoriums, a large roof terrace for outdoor activities, a café, a picnic area, and a creative work environment for the 120 employees.
Atriums and staircases
The building was completely reorganised by mixing existing functions with new ones, adding new floors and cutting the building in two places to insert atriums with eye-catching sculptural staircases. Located just inside the entrance and visible to passers-by on the street, the dramatic Helix staircase welcomes visitors and ascends to four separate floors. The sweeping 100-metre-long staircase is clad with 10 tonnes of copper. Its organic form and meandering path are contrasted by the second atrium’s mirror-clad Vector staircase, which connects two exhibition floors and illustrates the shortest path between two points.
Contrasting volumes meet the brick base
The functions break out of the existing structure, so to speak, by stacking a series of aluminium-clad boxes on top of the old building’s brick base. The boxes form a dynamic composition that reflects Experimentarium’s function and the diversity of experiences it offers. This light and modern expression is supported by the brick facade’s visual weight so that the bottling plant forms a stable and calm base for a new and dynamic building volume.
At the same time, the variation in retracted and cantilevering boxes divides the volume into smaller clusters, allowing the relatively long building to interact with the different surroundings it encounters. The aluminium panels are perforated by organic patterns based on fluid dynamics, which, on the one hand, link science and architecture and, on the other, allow daylight in. Developed in collaboration with the Experimentarium staff, the pattern illustrates how air and fluid behave when encountering resistance. In this way, the envelope embeds a scientific narrative that forms a consistent theme across the architecture. In selected spots, large glass sections form “eyes” that expose the wonderful Experimentarium universe and are applied as a form of architectural rubato – the musical term that describes the expressive shaping of music through slight shifts and changes in tempo.
Minimising environmental impact
The project is executed with a special focus on energy consumption, indoor climate, operation, and life-cycle costs to minimize environmental impact. The solutions include detailed material lifecycle strategies, rainwater-collection for toilet flushing, natural ventilation, and solar panels, resulting in the extension being a net-zero building. Furthermore, the façade panels consist of 50% recycled aluminium that partly comes from cans and bottle caps, which highlights the meeting between the building’s past as a soft drink bottling plant and future as innovative science centre.
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