A series of Rhythmic Strikes
On the former railway yard, right by the Als Sund in Sønderborg, lies Alsion, consisting of University of Southern Denmark, a research park and a concert hall.
The main concept is a series or “comb” of wings separated by atriums. This comb structure breaks down the building complex into a series of rhythmic strikes, and in scale and principle the individual “houses” in the scheme are similar to the rest of Sønderborg’s buildings facing the sound.
Bringing People Together
Like in several others of 3XN’s institution buildings and business buildings the idea was to create particularly excellent conditions for informal meetings, interaction and knowledge sharing.
The main part of the ground floor is reserved functions that will bring together researchers, business people and students in both the formal, professional context, but not at least in incidental, informal encounters in the university library, the café, the auditoriums and some of the other “meeting points.” Tall, bright rooms open up for views to the sea, and create spatial variation by a lot of internal, visual connections crisscrossing the building. The other three floors contain offices, laboratories and classrooms.
The Concert Hall
For the concert hall great efforts were made to optimize the acoustical conditions especially the reverberation period, for both symphonic performances as well as for amplified music. In the foyer in front of the concert hall, the walls into the hall are decorated by artist Olafur Eliasson using titanium-fired “reflective tiles”.