The university campus was built in the city of Odense, the birthplace of Andersen, back in the early 70s of the last century. The project of Gunnar Krohn and E. Hartwig Rasmussen (now their bureau is known as KHR Arkitekter) is quite typical for their time: the architects actively used open concrete surfaces in combination with rusty Corten steel panels. It was in such a rather tough and brutal environment that the architects of the C. F. Møller was to fit into a modern, high-tech building for the Faculty of Engineering.
It brings together four institutes that conduct custom research in materials science and structural mechanics, nano-optics, ecology and robotics. For their full-fledged work, it was necessary to place several specific premises in the building: the largest distillation plant in Denmark, special laser optics laboratories - with protection against vibration and a special microclimate, a super-strong concrete slab for testing loads on structures.
The glass rectangular parallelepiped is covered from the outside with white perforated panels made of an extra strong type of fiber-reinforced concrete, reinforced with steel fibers - compact reinforced composite. The arrangement of round holes of different sizes has been carefully calculated, so that the amount of sunlight penetrating into the interior is almost halved, but at the same time the facades remain easily permeable from the inside. It goes without saying that the building meets the requirements of modern "green building": low energy consumption, comfortable microclimate, use of environmentally friendly materials.
The linear shell of the three-storey building hides a living interior space, organized according to the principle of “city within a city”. Several “blocks” have been created on an area of 21,000 m2, connected by walkways and walkways at different levels. These blocks contain all teaching and research facilities, with large laboratories located on the ground floor. Special sliding walls allow the most flexible use of certain premises.
The central part of the interior space is occupied by a complex geometric volume, which the architects themselves call the "Piece of Furniture". In fact, this is a huge staircase that allows you to climb the green area on the roof, and "on the way" forms areas for informal communication and relaxation. It also forms a small area in the very center of the building and an atrium. The decoration of this sculptural object brings to mind the very "rusty" panels used on the facades of the old buildings of the university campus.
The new building, on the one hand, obviously interacts with the existing environment, and on the other, it noticeably distances itself from it, demonstrating a completely opposite approach to the use of familiar materials and the organization of space: powerful, "dark concrete" becomes light and delicate, and rigid, linear the environment is lively and flexible.
