Utzon Centre

The impressive Utzon Centre by the waterfront in Aalborg is a vibrant cultural centre. This is not only an exhibition centre, but a direct presentation of art, architecture and design, completely in the spirit of Jørn Utzon.

 

The presentation consists of Jørn Utzon’s own architecture and design work, as well as examples of the national and international cultural legacy that he is a part of.  Many experimenting activities at the Otzon Centre will also contribute to its role as an exciting cultural powerhouse.  

The Centre is situated at the harbourfront with seaview, in the parksequence, characteristic for the new harbour front area in Aalborg.

The platform creates a basis for the buildings around the courtyard, and emphasizes it as a special place, where the sun creates a southern like micro climate that invites you to stay.

The organisation with the secluded volumes around the courtyard, offers a transparency through the access slits between the volumes. They invite you to stroll informally through the building or just to look at the varied views they offer.

The building complex is a concept of individual buildings, creating a special place around a courtyard on a platform, with the surrounding sculptural and varied roofscape. The auditorium, the boathall and the library are designed with dramatic and very tall sculptural roofs.

These roofs are emphasized by the buildings in between, the exhibition- and workshopspaces, where the roofs are lower, and yet characteristic. The auditorium, the "head" of the building complex, is placed right at the harbourfront. The boathall is placed further along the harborfront and the mainentrance is situated between the two buildings. The library is the tail of the building complex, and turns against the park and also the centre of Aalborg city.  In that way the building complex responds to the varied nature of the site, from the windy and vast harbour front to the more intimate and blooming park next to the city centre of Aalborg.

 

The Official Utzon Centre site: http://www.utzoncenter.dk/en/  Photo: Marina V. Vorobjova