House of Music in Aalborg, Danish Building Project News, Opening, Design Image
House of Music in Aalborg
Musikkens Hus, Jutland, Denmark design by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU architects
post updated 10 October 2021
House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark
New photos taken today of this unusual building:
photos © Adrian Welch
University Aalborg building tower design just west of the Musikkens Hus, on the waterfront:
31 + 30 + 29 + 27 Mar 2014
House of Music in Aalborg Building
Design: COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU open House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark
Musikhuset Aalborg
e-architect director Isabelle Lomholt attended this opening event (Friday 28 Mar) and met with architect Wolf Prix to discuss the building design.
photograph © Hélène Mogensen de Monléon
“Architecture cannot reach the power of music” – Wolf Prix
Attending the Press opening of the House of Music in Aalborg I was an hour early and lucky to find my way into the building with some tired looking builders who told me they had been working since 3am, and were now as their final duty checking the automatic doors.
photograph © Hélène Mogensen de Monléon
Aalborg is an industrial and university city on the Limfjord in the North of Jutland, with just over 100,000 inhabitants making it the fourth most populous city in Denmark.
The entrance all reached on the waterside (Limfjord) of the building was 3+ stories high, and a mixture of glass, making the most of the views across the water and contrasting industrial and, perhaps in some people’s opinions thoughtless surrounding buildings; and concrete pillars and stairs. A delightful space – ready for both day and night, summer and winter.
photograph © Hélène Mogensen de Monléon
On the 3rd floor a small group of invited press waited for architect Wolf Prix who arrived and asked for coffee – coffee was promptly brought and we gathered for a cosy lecture. Wolf Prix talked about winning this architecture competition, scaling back the design to suit the budget and his joy of designing for this beautiful site. He also talked of his passion for Philip Glass, Handle and Mozart, and how these three composers informed this design. Prix encouraged us to read the exterior round windows as musical notes on sheet music.
photograph © Hélène Mogensen de Monléon
After the talk we had a guided tour around the building. The musicians lucky enough to study, rehearse and preform here will be spoilt with top class facilities and views towards the city and over Aalborg Bugt.
photograph © Hélène Mogensen de Monléon
We were encouraged to read the building, not as a shoe-box for music, but in a liquid poetic sense – this building played pleasurably on my visual senses.
photograph © Hélène Mogensen de Monléon
e-architect director Isabelle Lomholt also visited (on 29 Mar) the new Moesgård Museum Extension designed by Henning Larsen Architects plus various new buildings in Aarhus and Copenhagen (27 Mar + 30 Mar).
photographs © Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
photographs © Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
photographs © Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
photographs © Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
Architect Wolf Prix of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU at the opening event:
Architect Wolf Prix with Isabelle Lomholt one of the directors of e-architect:
Musikkenshus – external photos of this new Aalborg building by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU:
Address: Musikkens Plads 1, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
Phone: +45 60 20 30 00
21 Oct 2009
House of Music
Design: COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU reveals final scheme design for the House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark
Wolf D. Prix, Design Principal and CEO of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU presented today the final scheme design for the House of Music during a press conference at the Utzon Centre in Aalborg, Denmark in attendance of Mayor Henning G. Jensen, Director of Realdania Hans Peter Svendler and member of the City Council Henrik Thomson.
House of Music Aalborg image © COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
Within a close collaboration between the builder, Fonden Musikkens Hus i Nordjylland and COOP HIMMELB(L)AU the schematic design has been revised and finalized. Modifications in relation to the original layout presented in September 2008 comprise amongst others the large stairs leading up to the façade of the house fronting Limfjorden. Instead an open entrance at ground level has been created, located between sculptural building objects of the Foyer and Restaurant. The different volumes and surfaces create an architectural expression suited to the multi-functional and synergetic nature of the building. Wolf D. Prix stated: “Supreme architecture is only achieved by continuously refining the fundamental architectural principles. Therefore, the architecture of the House of Music is a living and very dynamic process.”
House of Music Aalborg image © COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
Concept of the House of Music
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU’s design for The House of Music in Aalborg combines Cultural and Educational functions with shared public spaces, performance spaces and infrastructure in an open system enabling synergy and exchange between the public, artists, students and educators – a shared Hybrid space.
Music, Creativity and Art are the centers of inspiration, both of the shared-synergetic behavior and of the form and expression of the architecture.
Formal and informal encounters and exchanges are enabled via public spaces that are oriented towards the adjacent Culture Square and Fjord, and are designed to serve as interchange platforms connecting the semi-public and private functions of the multiple institutions housed within, and providing areas of exchange of information, knowledge and inspiration for the various residents and the public in the House of Music.
House of Music Aalborg images © COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
A 1,300 seat, world class, symphonic concert hall is at the core of a compact U-shaped block of music, educational and performance support spaces which wrap around the Main Hall on three sides. The Building composition opens to the north in a vertical public foyer with views over the fjord and adjacent Culture Square. Three additional halls of various sizes and functions complement the Main Hall and are organized below the Foyer in a vertical inversion of the classical front-of-house / back-of-house horizontal orientation, optimizing floor space and providing a lively vertical social space with a mix of users and visitors.
House of Music in Aalborg – Musikkenshus images / information from COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
Coop Himmelb(l)au architects
Location: Aalborg, Denmark
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Comments / photos for the House of Music in Aalborg Musikkenshus – Architecture design by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU architects page welcome
Website: www.musikkenshus.dk