Vejle - Aarhus - Aalborg
Denmark has a lot of eye-catching modern architecture. From 2023-2026, Copenhagen has been designated as the World Capital of Architecture and many people visit the Danish capital to see its modern architecture. Our architecture tourism trip was in Jutland, a tour Vejle – Aarhus – Aalborg. The architecture tourism trip was very nice indeed, and a next year’s tour Esbjerg – Kolding – Odense is high on the list.
The present route is rather easy; from Vejle to Aarhus is only 76 km., and from Aarhus to Aalborg 119 km. Vejle has 63 k. inhabitants in the city proper, and 121 k. in the municipality, Aarhus 261 k. and 330 k. resp., and Aalborg 118 k., 221 k. resp. All three cities show great Danish architecture and design. All three cities have of course culture, history and nature as visitor attractions. And all three cities work on waterfront city development.
Vejle
The small city of Velje has some special architecture. The extension of the art museum is very nice, and next door you find the music hall, but the main attraction is the new waterfront area. Three structures are highlighted.
Bølgen, the Wave, is a luxury residential complex. Each of the five rolling ‘waves’ has nine storeys and some 20 individual apartments, with two-story homes. And they have a wonderful view of the Vejle Fjord and the E45 Vejlefjord Viaduct. The complex was constructed in two phases. The first two ‘waves’ were completed in 2009, then there was the financial crisis, and the construction of the last three ‘waves’ was completed in 2018. The architect was Henning Larsen Architects, who also designed the wonderful Moesgaard Museum near Aarhus. Since the Wave is a residential complex, visiting the interior is not possible. But the views from a distance and walks along the Fjord’s promenade are very pleasant.
In front of the Wave, the wooden floating structure of the kayak club is a very attractive place and gives a good look and feel of the waterfront. The structure was made to bring people together and create more community life - there is a BBQ place, a kitchen and a rooftop deck. You can enjoy the architecture of the kayak club floating building and relax on the rooftop. Next to the kayak club structure is restaurant Remouladen, where the rooftop terrace is equally pleasant.
Fjordenhus. Art and architecture are one in Fjordenhus. This building is the headquarters of Kirk - a financial investment company. Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and his architects have designed the building. The building covers 9.000 sq.m. and consists of four contiguous cylinders that rise to 28 metres above sea level. The ground floor of the building can be accessed and this is a must-see. In a video by Eliasson and his team, the idea and the process are explained.
Link: www.fjordenhus.dk/EN/
Youtube video Olafur Eliasson: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QCLS01fhqw
Click to enlarge
Aarhus
Moesgaard museum
On the way from Vejle to Aarhus you find the prehistory Moesgaard Museum. It was opened in 2014. The museum presents itself in the following words “Discover mankind – at Moesgaard Museum, you come close to the people of the past and the present through set designed and dramatized stories.” Our interest is not anthropology and history, but the architecture. The structure of the buildings appears to be simple, almost brutalist with its raw concrete, but timber and glass ensure that the building is not a cold building. The green roof and the ample space around the museum, lead to a harmony between the building and its surroundins of rolling hills and forest.
The views from the top of the building are very nice indeed. Inside the museum, the big foyer is an impressive heart of the building. The ‘evolutionary’ staircase gives access to the museum. “The interior of the building is designed to evoke a varied terraced landscape, which is inspired by archaeological excavations as they gradually unearth the layers of history and expose lost civilisations” says architect Henning Larsen about the interior. The big staircase gives access to upper and lower exhibition spaces, but is also reference space and a meeting place.
The best of the museum’s architecture is the exterior with its sloping roofscape of grass, views of the surroundings, access to terraces and plenty of space for activities (a picnic in the Summer, sledding in the Winter, a place to relax after a walk. The museum is a big public space in natural surroundings. The frontpage of Moesgaard’s website presents a beautiful drone picture, the website of the architect present a stylish drone video.
Link: www.moesgaardmuseum.dk/en/
Video footage henninglarsen.com/en/projects/featured/0716-moesgaard-museum/
Aarhus Ø waterfront development
Aarhus Ø (the docklands district) has been converting a former container port, Nordhavn, to a new residential and recreational area. The district consists of medium to high rise modern architecture, seaside promenades, places for leisure (an open air harbour bath, parks), a community vegetable garden, and a network of canals. The district will have more than 10 - 12.000 residents once it is completed (in 2019, the number was 4.000). Much attention is paid to architecture – the mostly residential complexes have special designs and a visit to Aarhus Ø is definitely worth the trip.
Best known is the complex the Iceberg. It is a modern condominium complex consisting of white apartment buildings with blue balconies. Next to the Iceberg is the Lighthouse complex, with a 142 m. tower (a top floor restaurant is to open). The 'AARhus Ø' residential building has 20 floors and is 72 meters.
ARoS, Aarhus Art Museum
ARoS was opened in 2004. It is a big modern art museum; 20,700 sq.m. on ten storeys. It is popular, and received over 600.000 visitors in 2022, making it the most visited art museum of Scandinavia. The building is a red cube with white interior, which is cut vertically by a ‘museum street,’ a glass-covered curved section. In 2018 a colorful 150-metre-long circular walkway on the rooftop of the building. This 'Rainbow Panorama' was designed by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. We mentioned his name earlier, he designed Vejle’s Fjordenhus.. His stand is that art and architecture should be one.
ARoS is big and impressive. The exterior is called a square diamond, but to us it was a red cube. The interior, especially the museum street, is the highlight of architecture. The premium of ARoS is the Rainbow Panorama. Art, or architecture, or a perfect merge? The experience is wonderful. Visitors are surprised when they enter the walkway, and the impact of light on the views made me look in a different way, and my inner state of mind changed.
ARoS will expand; after a delay the construction of the project ‘Semi-Subterranean Dome’ has started. It will be a 1.200 square meter subterranean gallery and a huge semi-subterranean dome. generating a special experience of colour and light. It opens in 2025.
Link: www.aros.dk/en/
More in Aarhus
Aarhus has much more to offer to architecture tourists. Two places along Basin2 of the harbour are mentioned: Dokk1 library+ building and Navitas Science and Innvation campus.
Dokk1 is a library+, or, as the website states, “a public space that functions as a culture house, uniting public institutions like library, citizen services, and national TV. Dokk1 provides a space for communities, contemplation, learning, and play.” The building is a big (30.000 sq.m.) heptagonal building. The exterior is not very attractive exterior (opinions vary, website Culture Trip calls it ‘iconic’), but the interior design is a good exprience. The building is on top of a bus station and the upper floors contain a municipal service centre, a restaurant and a big and beautiful library. Library in a broad meaning, most modern libraries have spaces for music, study and play. In a big space you find 'gongen', which is said to be the world's largest pipe bell.
The Navitas building is also big (38.000 sq. m.) and is home to the Aarhus School of Marine and Technical Engineering, Aarhus University and INCUBA. It is is beautifully located. The outdoor areas around the building have been well designed with wooden stepped levels, tyical Danish style. It is a popular spot for taking a break at the waterfront..
Links: www.dokk1.dk/ www.navitas-aarhus.dk/,
More in Aalborg
The Utzon Centre and the Music House were early big public investments in Aalborg’s waterfront development Significant is also the Nordkraft centre – an impressive transformation of the old coal powerplant into a complex with a cinema, restaurants, an art space. Aalborg university constructed a large complex – a unique location for a university. Now many residential complexes are constructed along the water, also on the other side of the fjord.
Aalborg
Kunsten Museum
The modern Kunsten museum is a listed building and was designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and associates. It was completed in 1972. Following a period of refurbishment (C.F. Møller Architects) the museum reopened in 2016. Part of the restoration work was the creation of a new exhibition gallery, new teaching rooms, new café and shop facilities, and a new terrace in the refurbished sculpture park. The museum is built of white marble, and inside you find marble flooring and copper lamps (also designed by Aalto).
Most striking in the museum is the light; the illumination in the museum is mostly by natural light. A special construction reflects daylight indirectly, and it is wonderful. The natural light through the ceiling and the large windows creates a bright atmosphere. The light positively influences the visitor experience. It feels ‘light and airy’, very different from for example the big Aarhus museum. It is easy to move around, the beautiful sculpture garden is attractive and gives good views of the museum. This place is worth a visit!
Link: kunsten.dk/en.
Utzon Center for Architecture and Design
Utzon Center is a legacy of Jørn Utzon, known to the public as the architect of the Sydney Opera House. Utzon grew up in Aalborg and he wanted to leave something behind for the city (Utzon died in 2008). Together with his son (architect Kim Utzon) he created the Utzon Centre. The mission of Utzon centre, as it expresses, is to feel, sense and touch architecture, to help understand a whole world of architecture. A kind of architecture experience centre. As ‘Enjoy Nordjylland’ tourism organization states “The Utzon Center in Aalborg is an experimental culture and knowledge center, where architecture, design, art and communication comes together.”
In the Utzon centre you find exhibition spaces with a small permanent exhibition and temporary exhibitions (where indeed you can touch things), teaching spaces for students and ‘architecture playing’ spaces for the whole family, an atrium courtyard, and a very good restaurant. Utzon Research Center at Aalborg University organizes many activities for and in the centre. Utzon centre is indeed an activity centre with exhibition spaces – it is much more than a museum where you can look at things.
Utzon centre is 2700 sq. m., not very big and gives an intimate feel. Its location is on the promenade of the Limfjord. Utzon Park is next to the building. The building is organized as a series of spaces / buildings around a central small courtyard with a beautiful garden. Most striking are the curved rooftops. The wood, closeness to water and nature, the colours used, all give a warm feeling.
Link: utzoncenter.dk
Aalborg Musikkens Hus
Aalborg's House of Music is a big 20.000 sq. m. venue in Aalborg, Denmark that was opened in 2014. It is located at Musikkens Plads (Music Square) by the Limfjord. The building contains a concert hall and practice rooms for the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and The Royal Academy of Music.
The idea for the building was to create an iconic place. As Mussikens Hus states, with inspiration from the Spanish Guggenheim, which has led to development in and around Bilbao, it was clear that the vision for the architecture of the Musikkens Hus should be to create a synergistic effect, so that the citizens also enjoy the bold cultural building, and that was a catalyst for development (link in Danish).
Coop Himmelb(l)au was selected as architecture firm – they also designed the Musée de Confluances in Lyon, which was described in a blog, with some question marks raised. The Musikkens Hus building is a kind of U-shaped - rehearsal and training rooms are arranged around the core of the complex which is a big concert hall for about 1,300 visitors. A grey concrete foyer connects the various spaces. The building has a veranda overlooking the public square and the fjord in front, a very nice spot.
I visited the music house directly after visiting the Utzon centre, and the contrast is big. Utzon is smaller scale – a more human scale, with a lot of wood, a warm atmosphere, a courtyard with a garden, visitors in the exhibitions and the architecture play rooms. The music house is big, impressive, grey concrete and steel, escalators and elevators, and a façade that may or may not appeal to visitors. It is definitely worth the visit, but unlike the Utzon centre, not a building that made me happy. And for various reasons, the Bilbao affect of serving as a tourism magnet is not likely be achieved. I’ll take up this issue in a future blog.
Link: musikkenshus.dk/
Vestre Fjordpark
Vestre Fjordpark opened in 2017 and is a new and larger version of an older park and swimming area. It is now a 165.000 sq. m. open air water park and activity centre, an architecture mix of building and natural landscape. The building serves as seating area for the basin activities, and has various spaces for facilities (boats, equipment a café) and meetings. The roof of the building has a playground with trampolines, a slide and a small climbing net. There is a sauna as well (no. 9 on the map).
For Danish citizens open access to this leisure and sports complex is something normal, obvious – many cities have open access swimming areas, which are well maintained and taken care of, also by the visitors (no graffiti, no cigarette-ends). Other countries (like Holland) can only dream of this Scandinavian urban civic sense. Vestre Fjordpark is far from 'iconic', but it is a very nice place. Pleasant for a stroll around the water, or sit next to the pool area with an ice cream, or appreciate the building and the landscape from the rooftop. It is at a few km. from the city centre, perfect for a nice walk or bike ride along the fjord.
www.aalborg.dk/mit-liv/fritid-og-oplevelser/ud-i-naturen/friluftsbade
More in Aalborg
The Utzon Centre and the Music House were the early big public investments in Aalborg’s waterfront development Significant is also the Nordkraft centre – an impressive transformation of the old coal powerplant into a complex with a cinema, restaurants, an art space. Aalborg university constructed a large complex – a unique location for a university. Now many residential complexes are constructed along the water, also on the other side of the fjord.
