The North Atlantic House

Centrally located on Byens Ø in the harbor of Odense, the North Atlantic House serves as a significant cultural hub for Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.

FUNCTIONS ENSURING LIFE AND ACTIVITY

The building is experienced as a composite structure, a hybrid encompassing various functions such as an exhibition space, shop, restaurant, conference facilities, association rooms, offices, and 25 youth residences. In this way, the building becomes almost a North Atlantic city within the city, ensuring life and activity around the clock.

INSPIRATION AND MATERIALS FROM THE NORTH ATLANTIC COUNTRIES

The project is rooted in a deep understanding of the culture and identity of the three North Atlantic countries. Reflecting this, the building takes the form of a cluster of houses standing on columns in a landscape plateau composed of seating steps, lounging areas, terraces, shelves, and a stage. By connecting the exterior and interior landscapes, an open and inviting ground floor is created with outward-facing functions.

The building clearly references the black timber houses with gabled roofs found across the Nordic region, while the landscape draws inspiration from the rock formations and dramatic nature of the three countries. The building generates a universe where various functions are connected in a natural and creative way, with a playful use of unique building materials. These include black zinc, raw concrete, fish skin, and cut driftwood from the Icelandic coasts – together forming a sensory, vibrant, warm, and playful framework for the house’s diverse contents.

COMMUNITY, SUPPORTED BY ARCHITECTURE

The jury emphasized that the building “stages and unfolds an exciting and captivating universe that, in an exemplary way, creates a natural and imaginative cohesion between the building’s functions, plays with materials, and at the same time acts as a generator for the community among the Nordic countries by shaping and expressing an architectural framework around it.”
As an architectural object, the building charts a path between tradition, culture, the present, and the future. It does so through an architecture that is humanistic in its approach and forward-looking, ultimately bearing the architectural signature of both a crafted work and an icon.

The North Atlantic House is the first new building on Byens Ø in Odense Harbor, a development area for which CORNELIUS VÖGE and MASU Planning won the planning competition in 2010.

Literature:
A New Golden Age – NORDIC architecture and landscape, Archipress, DK, 2015
Atlas of European Architecture, Braun Publishing, DE, 2015
Arkitekten nr. 6, DK, juni 2014.

Awards:
Tyndpladegruppens Arkitekturpris, finalist, 2016
LEAF Award, finalist, 2014
Odense Kommunes Arkitekturpris 2014
Odenprisen, Odense Byforening 2014

Photo: Kirstine Mengel og Adam Mørk

Culture

Transformation

Public

Private

Planning