Henning Larsen's bureau received an order for the design of such an important object in a fair fight - in 2009 it won an international architectural competition. Its customer - the municipality of Viborg - presented several key requirements to the building of the future town hall: "green" design and compliance with all standards of "sustainable" architecture, bright modern form, and the possibility of multifunctional use. Larsen's project, according to the jury, satisfied them perfectly.
First of all, the architect decisively abandoned the traditional image of the town hall and the administrative building in general. The complex designed by Larsen is a rectangular parallelepiped with a sloping roof and facades made of concrete mesh, resting on long "tentacles" stretching towards the city park. The role of the "limbs" is actually the horizontally oriented public area of the first floor. The architect covers it with a green roof, and pinches the ends, so that the roof turns into a wide green ramp, along which you can walk, go from one end of the park to the other, or get into the lobby of the town hall itself with its spectacular atrium.
The interior layout of the central core of the building has been made as flexible as possible: the central foyer is adjacent to the dining room and conference rooms, which can be easily separated from the offices of officials and serve as a venue for citywide events.
Green roofing is by no means the only “green” solution in this building. In addition to the already quite familiar solar panels on the roof and a triple-glazed facade system, hybrid ventilation, a passive cooling system using groundwater, and rainwater filtration are used. In addition, all rooms of the town hall are equipped with presence and light sensors.
A. M.
