Due to it’s former status as military barracks, the site of Kildegården has a relatively closed and formal appearance in the city. Since the last soldiers left the site in the 70’s, the buildings has been used for for various functions. After three decades with no unifying vision, the city decided to transform the area to a hub for non profit organizations for sports, civic education and art. Besides transforming the existing buildings and outdoor areas, a new master plan should provide space for housing in order to finance a new gym hall and a house of arts.
The strategy consist of three main steps. First step is to identify and strengthen the identity of the various possible entrances to the site, in order to invite the and interact with the surrounding city. Second step is to engage the existing build structure, by defining the public space at the main entrances of the buildings. By the third step new build volumes are added at positions, where they are visible from the city, revealing the urban transformation and the tension between the new and existing.
The house of arts is the hub for several arts schools in Roskilde, with courses for both adults and children and with art projects in any scale and complexity. We propose a circular building, with no definitive front or back, in order to fit in a central location linking the main entrance with the rest of Kildegården. The southern part of the building is merged with a public space with several possible layouts due to a flexible grid of poles. The merged area is materialized as a terraced surface, with an optimized orientation in terms of daylight and view to the activities in the area.
The building has four workshops with the possibility to transform them into two bigger rooms. The circular roof spans the full diameter ensuring complete flexibility in terms of future divisions. The facade is designed like a full height spatial structure towards the inside in order to communicate the activities, that takes place. It’s possible to reside in niches along the perimeter of the facade and to store and expose the material produced in the art classes and a strong dialogue between inside and outside is created.