Project Name
TIRPITZLocation
Architecture Practice
Bjarke Ingels GroupArea (sqm)
2800Client
VardemuseerneCompleted
2017Detailed Information | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Project Name | TIRPITZ | Location |
Blåvand
Denmark | Architecture Practice | Bjarke Ingels Group |
Area (sqm) | 2800 | Client | Vardemuseerne | Completed | 2017 |
The four main elements used in TIRPITZ's construction - concrete, steel, wood and glass - are simple and repeated throughout, all seamlessly blending into the surrounding beach. Impressively, the main part of the structures is actually underground, which means that the Swiss engineers, Lüchinger+Meyer, had to make sure they were strong enough to carry the landscape, i.e. all that sand. To note: the largest roof deck weighs in at 1,090 tons! Another structural coup is the fact that, although underground, all four of the exhibition spaces are flooded by natural sunlight thanks to their large glass panels which face the outdoor courtyard.
The four exhibitions - Army of Concrete, Gold of the West Coast, West Coast Stories, and the bunker itself - are all different in theme and yet, just like the structure and its landscape, work together. How else can the "enchanting steel forest" displaying Western Europe's most comprehensive exhibition of amber (Gold of the West Coast) exist beside "the tale of an impressive war machine." After all, nature and the world's human interventions - both the positive and the negative - go hand in hand.
Erik Bär, the founding partner of Tinker Imagineers who orchestrated the exhibitions, describes visiting TIRPITZ as: "Not a visit to an exhibition gallery, but a scenic journey through the time and space of West Jutland. The idea is that the whole place itself comes to life following the rhythms of nature.” It is certainly a one of a kind experience made all the more so by the inconspicuous and yet impressive structure that has made itself at home on the once tumultuous Danish shore.