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The Arctic Culture Centre
designed by SMAQ
(
italiano)
SMAQ is a collaborative studio for architecture, landscape and
urbanism. It was established by Sabine Müller and Andreas Quednau in
New York in 1998 and is now located in Rotterdam. In several
international competitions SMAQ received prizes including Europan 5, 6
and 7, the Sarajevo Concert Hall Competition (honourable mention) and
the e_competition: Possible Futures. SMAQ’s work has been awarded with
the Egon Eiermann Award and the Hans Schaefers Award among others.
Recently, the work has been published in deArchitect (Netherlands),
Arquitectura Viva, Pasayes de arquitecture y critica (both Spain),
Bauwelt (Germany), dérive (Austria), Hochparterre (Switzerland), and
Concept (Korea). The Europan 6 winning competition entry
‘DotsAndLoops’ is currently in the process of being implemented.
As the northernmost town in the
world, Hammerfest identifies a vital and unique dynamic: the
integration of urban space and town culture with extreme
environmental conditions. SCOOP proposes a new concept for
Hammerfest’s harbour that is generated through the synergetic
overlap of realms. Rather than enclosing environmentally controlled
artificial environments, SCOOP reacts to the extreme conditions -
reflecting, harnessing, and protecting - and makes these reactions
manifest both in the built form and the urban space to generate a
new waterfront that is emblematic of Hammerfest.
Within the newly developed strip, the urban waterfront functions and
specific cultural centre programs overlap and interact with each
other to create spaces which are open to the flows of energy and
cultural use.
Landscaping the waterfront
The new waterfront connects the town centre with the beach via a
quay promenade. Along the “Golden Mile”, specific open and enclosed
destinations are programmed with public functions, including the
town square, cultural centre foyer, the hotel restaurant, the spa,
the pier, the research library and exhibition space, and the beach.
SCOOP develops in the differentiation between exposure and shelter a
climatic zoning along the continuous promenade, where the choice can
be made between levels of exposure. This gradient of zones is the
foundation for the new public space of Hammerfest - outdoors as well
as indoors.
The quay promenade focuses on pedestrian and tourist activities
rather than industry as the new harbour program. Along the new
promenade, the strollers can choose from a range of exposures, from
direct openness to the sea and wind, to wind-broken, rain-protected,
sun-catching. Niches with benches also function as wind-breaks for
the promenade.
The buildings find their location by bending around the public space
to shelter it from the harsh winds, while casting a minimal shadow
there. As an ensemble, they open up Strandgata to the waterfront and
create new views and connections to the sea while moving through
Hammerfest.
The Arctic Culture Centre
The Arctic Culture Centre is an extroverted, climatically active and
user-interactive bow, dynamically poised between three poles:
Hammerfest town centre, the harbour and the quay promenade/beach.
The form opens up to the south creating strong dynamic between the
town square and the new sheltered, sun-catching niche of the Arctic
Culture Centre harbour terrace. The public promenade extends through
the foyer, engaging the Culture Centre directly in the public route.
The main entrance is from Strandgata. From here, the foyer opens up
to the sunlight, the water and views of the town, becoming an
invitation to the residents of Hammerfest.
At opposing ends of the foyer are the auditoriums, the main hall
hovering boldly over the water in the evening sun, the smaller
rehearsal hall nests quietly along the street in the morning sun.
Directly related to the foyer is the atrium, where rooms for the
regional music group LINK and the public functions of the Culture
School gather around a central space whose mirrored balconies are
angled to reflect any available sunlight deep into the building.
This atrium, which is also part of the public promenade, provides a
common space for the students and performing artists to interact
which doubles as an improvisation stage.
Above, the Regional Stage for Dance, the rehearsal spaces of the
Culture School, and the administration of the Culture House also
gather around the atrium. The quay level accommodates dressing rooms,
service, storage, and technical spaces as well as the stages.
Concept
The Arctic Culture Centre reacts to local forces, intelligently
using what it can from the available resources and giving back to
the environment. In the months when there is sunrise, any available
light and heat energy is reflected or absorbed through the serrated
skin to the interior of the building, and used or stored, whereas in
the dark months, the light emitted through the slits in the membrane
turn the building into a radiant lantern.
The building is composed of 4 climatically reactive components: Skin,
Sun Space, Atrium, Sun Wing.
Skin
The Culture Centre is wrapped in a reflective and shiny metal skin
to form a loose layered structure which peels at different angles in
reaction to different environmental conditions to accommodate
sun-shielding, sun-reflecting, ventilation, acoustics, and
artificial lighting in combinations. Around the auditoriums, the
skin peels open to allow natural ventilation due to the negative
pressure created by the prevailing wind. To the outside, the skin
forms a series of sun-reflecting bands, to the interior, the form
provides specific auditorium acoustic conditions, while allowing
natural light to reflect onto the ceiling. After sunset, the
integrated light fixtures emit light through the slits to the
exterior. The entire skin is understood as an intelligent interface
where the interior and environment make contact, and is itself a
visualization of the way in which resources can be thoughtfully used.
Sun Space
Due to the constancy of the low angled sun and the long hours of
solar radiation in summer, collection of solar energy on the
vertical plane is very efficient. The Sun-Space on the south façade
catches the solar energy and transfer it to and transfer it via a
heat exchanger to a time-lag store which releases the energy for
heating the school and offices in the early morning. The louvers
provide thermal mass in the Sun-Space as well as shading from glare
in the foyer and allowing view over the water to the town centre.
During the winter months with no natural daylight, the function of
the space is inverted - light fixtures integrated in the louvers
enable the Sun-Space to light up the foyer and the Harbour Terrace
and form the backdrop for winter and evening performances.
Atrium
In the atrium, angled mirrored balconies react to specific sun
angles throughout the day to reflect sunlight deep into the building
to naturally light the common space and the public route through the
interior. Since the upper balcony reflects early-year light, and the
east and west surfaces reflect early-morning and evening light, the
sun-defined form and materiality generates a fluid and dynamic
three-dimensional space.
Sun Wing
In order to naturally light the public route through the building
for the main part of the day, the south foyer corridor extends a
scoop to the east, to catch the morning light that would otherwise
be obstructed by the small auditorium. The surface twists to reflect
the maximum amount of light into the space until the sun reaches the
Sun-Space just after noon. The Wing signals the threshold where the
quay promenade enters the culture centre.
The solar plan is time-lagged, so that afternoon energy is stored
overnight and even seasonally. When sufficient solar energy is
unavailable, supplementary heat energy is absorbed from the sea via
a heat pump, and when necessary local natural gas is used as a
back-up.
Materiality and structure
The shiny reactive skin, which reflects the arctic environment,
penetrates into the interior of the building in the atrium and the
sun wing to catch and reflect the available daylight. In contrast,
the wood-clad interiors of the foyer and auditoriums create sensual
and warm inner spaces. In this way the foyer and the timber
boardwalk become continuous in both function and materiality.
all texts and images ©SMAQ 2004
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