Katuaq Culture Centre Nuuk: Grønlands Kulturhus

Nykredit Nuuk, Architect, Greenland Building Design, shl Architecture Info, Picture

Katuaq Culture Centre, Nuuk, Greenland

Katuaq – Grønlands Kulturhus design by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects: Development in Greenland, Europe

11 Feb 2017

Katuaq Cultural Centre of Greenland in Nuuk celebrates its 20th anniversary

This week, the Katuaq Cultural Centre of Greenland in Nuuk celebrates its 20th anniversary:

Katuaq Cultural Centre Building

Katuaq – Grønlands Kulturhus

Katuaq Culture Centre, Nuuk, Greenland

Design: Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Denmark

Katuaq Culture Centre Nuuk: Grønlands Kulturhus
photo : Joachim Ladefoged

Inspired by Greenland’s dramatic scenery of icebergs, snowfields and mountains, the main element of the building is sheathed by a ‘floating’, undulating screen of golden larch wood. This second ‘skin’ lends the scheme an elegant airiness, creating a contrast with the solid form of the core building.

The foyer serves as an indoor public piazza and is divided into separate areas by three free-standing geometric structures housing the main facilities of the Cultural Centre: a square box for the TV studio, a triangular structure for the café and a circular form for the multi-purpose auditorium.

The Cultural Centre of Greenland in Nuuk is a dynamic meeting place for Inuits from all over the northern hemisphere.

The screen acts as an architectural metaphor for the Northern Lights, whereas the dark and massive form of the main building is reminiscent of the icy mountains of Greenland.

Daylight streams into the large foyer through roof lights and narrow oblong glass slits in the external screen.

The decoration of the foyer in Culture Centre of Greenland is – as well as the building – a reference to the surrounding nature and Greenlandic culture. The Greenlandic artist Buuti Pedersen has created the relief based on the old myth of the sun and the moon called Malina & Aningaaq. The relief is carved directly into the wall.

The auditorium has seating for 550 people and can also be used as a cinema, theatre or concert/conference hall.

Katuaq Culture Centre Nuuk – Building Information

Building Size: 4,800 m²
Building Construciton Cost: € 12 million excl. VAT
Competition: 1992, 1st prize in open international competition
Dates built: Construction period 1994 – 1997
Client: Nordic Council of Ministers/ Greenland’s Home Rule/ Nuuk Municipality.
Engineers: Rambøll A/S/ NIRAS A/S

Awards:
1997, Selected Buildings Award
1998, The Nykredit Architecture Prize
1998, The Danish Arts Foundation Award
1999, The Eckersberg Medal

Katuaq – Grønlands Kulturhus – Imaneq 21 – Postbox 1622 – 3900 Nuuk
+299 36 37 80

Katuaq Culture Centre arkitekt : Schmidt, Hammer and Lassen

Location: Nuuk, Greenland, north western Europe / north eastern Americas

Greenland Architecture

Greenland Building Developments – chronological list

Icelandic Architecture

Greenland Buildings by Danish architects:

Greenland National Gallery of Art
Design: BIG + TNT Nuuk + Ramboll Nuuk + Arkitekti
Greenland National Gallery of Art
image from BIG
Greenland National Gallery of Art

Ilulissat Icefjord
Design: Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter
Icefjord Centre
image from architects
Ilulissat Icefjord

Cultural Centres

Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architectural Designs

Schmidt Hammer Lassen Buildings

Thor Heyerdahl School of Advanced and Further Education, Larvik, Norway
Thor Heyerdahl School

Urban Mediaspace Aarhus, Jylland, Denmark
Aarhus Library – largest public library in Scandinavia

Horsens Masterplan, Horsens, Jylland, Denmark
Horsens Masterplan

Faroe Island Building

Greenland Architecture

Comments / photos for the Katuaq Culture Centre Nuuk Building design by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Denmark page welcome

Website: https://katuaq.gl/kl/