The Leiten Culture Garden is a city-wide complex to be built in one of the central districts of Trondheim, Norway's third largest city. We are talking about the Leitenshavn district, named after J. N. Leuthen, an entrepreneur, in the 19th century. who founded a tree nursery there.
The Garden of Culture will include both offices and cultural institutions for the many tourists who visit Trondheim every year. Taking into account the latter circumstance, as well as the very central location of the future complex, one of the main requirements for its layout was the presence of open spaces that help to make the new volume an integral part of the existing urban environment. According to the unanimous opinion of the jury, Hening Larsen's project (and in addition to the star Dane, 5 other leading Scandinavian bureaus participated in the competition) solved this problem in the best possible way.
Larsen inscribes his complex between the crossroads and the city theater in such a way that the new building fenced off the pedestrian square from the roadway. And in order to give this space a greater decoration and intimacy, the architect designs the building itself in the form of several cubes and composes them in such a way that not an even monotonous facade faces the square, but several deep niches. In terms of the complex, accordingly, it resembles a polygon, one side of which is designed in the form of a "ladder". A similar chess principle was used in the design of the facades of the future complex: they are made up of numerous squares, some of which are fully glazed, and some are covered with blind dies in which the windows are cut.
Since the complex will be built on the site of a large park, landscaping is becoming the most important component of the architectural image of the new square. Numerous flower beds are rounded and recessed by the architect just below ground level, giving the impression that greenery is breaking through the paving.
The new complex, with a total area of 39 thousand square meters, will include exhibition halls, an office center and a cinema, the latter being located in a separate volume. As for the office and administrative premises, they are grouped around a light atrium, which faces numerous balconies and staircases intended for relaxation and informal communication. The construction of the Leuten Culture Garden complex is expected to be completed in 2015.
A. M.
