Danish museum of Modern Art reorients itself with improved interiors
The 1,100 square meter extension at Arken Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen CIty, Denmark, designed by Danish architects Søren Robert Lund and CF Møller Architects, now hosts creative education spaces for children.
The Arken Museum of Modern Art, which was first established in 1996, opened its doors to public on September 5, 2009 following a facelift engineered by Danish architects Søren Robert Lund and CF Møller Architects.
The extension of Arken consists of three parts – a new main entrance and a new sculpture gallery, by Søren Robert Lund, the original architect of Arken, and new education and experience spaces by Anna Maria Indrio of CF Møller Architects, who also designed the new exhibition wing which opened in 2008.
The colour palette of the museum is restricted to white, gray, warm wood and a few selected splashes of red, resulting in light and airy spaces with generous natural daylight. Entrance to the museum features a 109 square meter glass façade, through which the visitors step onto a warm wooden floor of merbau, into a bright and open sky lit reception area. A newly decorated museum shop opens up to the left, while a new ticket area with redesigned counters is on the right.
The sculpture hall, named ‘the Detlefs Hall’ after the donators Annie and Johs Detleff's Foundation (OJD), who donated DKK52 million ($10 million approx.), and the new education rooms have been fitted up in two of Arken’s existing sculpture yards. The yards have been roofed, and their architecture reflects their use. Søren Robert Lund’s sculpture hall suggests contemplation and relaxation with white walls, skylights and wooden floors that contrast with the original concrete gray and crooked Arken architecture around it.
The education spaces occupy a former exterior courtyard, and have a robust and rugged interior, with concrete floors and walls, making them resistant and suitable for free creative expression and teaching methods. The premises are the center of Arken Teaching, a unit catering for the many children and youngsters visiting Arken, privately or as part of school groups.
The approximately 300 square meter space is divided into three zones by inserting two red volumes, providing storage and kitchen area. The zoning allows introvert or extrovert activites by the young users to take place at the same time. One end houses a digital zone, with computers and widescreen, the other end is designated for various creative workshops. Apart from the red volumes, the colors of the space are the same as the original buildings - two of the walls are in fact the former exterior concrete facing.
The 600 square meter room’s function as the core of the museum where visitors can meet in a form of ‘agora’, relax, orient themselves, and go to and from the art exhibitions, browse the shop, go to the café, to teaching programs, concerts and films. All rooms can be reached from the ‘core’, creating a connection to the original museum while emphasizing the differences.
