June 2017

38 BUILD / June 2017 , Opportunities for People and Businesses The 2016 BUILD Awards, Architect of the Year inNordic Region award went to Jesper Hallstom Eriksen of AART ARCHITECTS, based in Denmark. In short, the firm creates opportunities for people and businesses. At AART architects, they are working strategically to create opportunities for people and businesses to lead the transition towards more sustainable development, with architecture as a driving force. Architecture is all about inspiring and taking responsibility. It’s about creating buildings and public spaces with the power to transform and improve how we all work, learn and live. For more than 15 years, AART ARCHITECTS have created opportunities across the Nordic countries – ranging from VUC Syd in Haderslev, Denmark, where the firm has created a beacon for social value creation. The firm has also created an open and digital learning environment, to the Waterfront in Stavanger, Norway, where they have created an award- winning benchmark for urban transformation, with one of Europe’s largest residential buildings in wood. Sustainable lifestyle pioneer The firm’s ambition is to be at the forefront of sustainable development. Therefore, they are engaged in a wide range of research collaborations, just as they are part of the international sustainable think-tank, Sustainia. There, the firm are one of the main partners and lifestyle pioneers in Sustainia Living – a global initiative with the objective to transform the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into tomorrow’s business opportunities. Award-winning projects From the world’s best residential development, to the most universally designed sports center, AART ARCHITECTS have created several interesting projects over the years. The firm’s visions have aroused interest way beyond the Nordic countries, indeed they have covered in media all over the world and exhibited in distinguished venues such as the European Parliament in Brussels, the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the International Architecture Biennale in Venice. Finally, below you will find a detailed case study of just one of the firm’s many impressive projects. DENMARK’S ROWING STADIUM Denmark’s Rowing Stadium at Bagsværd Lake fulfils the vision of creating a rowing stadium in an international league of its own. Beautifully situated with water and forest on all sides, it is a place that accommodates both the elite and the broader public. Here, poised between lake and forest, the classical disciplines of rowing intersect with other forms of leisure. It is thus much more than a rowing stadium. It is a sports centre that mixes various kinds of sports with social and scenic experiences. It shows that sport – for the elite and the public – is not just about strength and stamina, but also social well- being and mental health. It is about the whole person, and that is precisely the starting point for the new national rowing stadium that, as a broadly inclusive framework in everyday life, helps to enhance the performance of the individual athlete. This has become possible through an unfolding of the site’s potential and by entering dialogue with its different users. The result is a national sports centre that makes a difference for the individual athlete and gives something back to the scenic surroundings. An open and welcoming rowing centre constitutes the focal point of the sports centre’s wide-ranging activities – from the activity space (Lunden) around the rowing centre and the promenade square in front of the boat hall (Brinken) to the unifying park stretch (Rostadionparken). Instead of being dug into the landscape, the rowing centre is built up from the boat hall’s grid structure into a transparent building clad with wood. Outwardly, it opens itself up in several places, revealing its life to the surroundings while also providing a transition between the expansive view over the lake and the denser, recreational forest area. The transition between the lake and the forest is drawn all the way into the rowing centre, where the sloping landscape flows through the building and opens it up internally. When moving around inside the building, one thereby has the sense of being situated in the field of tension between the lake and the forest – for example, both the foyer and the boat hall offer views into the forest and across the lake. The varying views across storeys and spatial features give the building a distinct transparency, so you always have the sense of being part of a larger community. Communality is characteristic of the rowing centre, where the foyer is designed to accommodate meetings before and after training. Throughout the building, there are nooks and crannies in which users can meet and engage, and throughout the centre, a close interplay has been created between the many functions: the foyer, boat hall, workshop, training room, multipurpose room, meeting rooms and administration. As part of the new national rowing centre, a referee tower will also be constructed. Inspired by the expanse of the lake and 1702BU09