The winning hospital expansion project in Hoerlev includes a new emergency department and maternity center with a total area of 52,000 m2. The architects proposed to radically lower the height of the building in comparison with the existing multi-storey hospital building. The new part consists of three ring-shaped bodies of different sizes, set on rectangular bases. The latter form a single "stylobate" for the entire complex, through which visitors get inside and move along the numerous passages between the "rings". In the intermediate zones between them, as well as inside the buildings, courtyards with lush gardens will appear; they will be complemented by the green flat roofs of the “passages”, as well as a new park adjacent to the old building. Thus, the project consists of two equal parts - the architecture itself and the varied landscape, which helped the team of authors create the effect of a “healing environment”. A similar architecture, in which the human scale and a comfortable environment for the stay of patients, play the main role, Henning Larsen's bureau created in the Söndergård hospice, built in 2010.
Construction of the new complex in Hörlev is scheduled to begin in May 2014 and will be completed around October 2017. A patient hotel, conference hall and research center are planned for the next phase.
Another competitive project - the Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research - was carried out by the architects of Henning Larsen's bureau as part of a joint program between eight Danish universities, the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. However, the competition was eventually won by another Danish firm - Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects.
Henning Larsen proposed to combine all the university functions of the Center in one building with an area of 2,500 m2: it has a very characteristic break in the roof, reminiscent of the authors of a swan: for the Chinese, the swan is a symbol of aspiration, for the Danes, a national symbol and perfectly reflects the identity of Denmark and its presence on Chinese soil, architects say. The center is supposed to be located on a new campus on the territory of the University of China Academy of Sciences GUCAS. Its architecture reflects the typical Danish approach to school design: it is a "shell" that should stimulate the productivity of learning and maintain the health of students.
The volume of the building is based on a cube, chosen for energy saving reasons, as well as for the sake of a clear and logical spatial structure in which it is easy to navigate. Teaching and research spaces and public areas are terraced around a 30m high central atrium, which, according to the authors, will foster interaction between different scientific disciplines and stimulate the scientific process.
This visually massive cube is positioned in a light glazed foyer. To the southeast, its main facade rises sharply upward, forming an acute and fully glazed corner facing the city square and the adjacent park. On the roof are the student apartments with interconnecting gardens and small terraces.
The center is planned to open in March 2013. It will employ about a hundred researchers from both countries, 300 students and 75 graduate students.
N. K.
