Nøjkærhus is located in the highland of Jutland, near Silkeborg, Denmark. Extensive forests, lakes, heath and many smaller grassland areas characterize the landscape. Nøjkærhus originally consisted of two small forest guard buildings, located in a small clearing in the woods surrounded by the drama of the intense highland topography. The Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities has supported the project with development and financial grants during realization. The project facilitates today's outdoor activities and provides a sustainable and innovative direction for the future, where new users are invited inside. Today, Nøjkærhus stands as a bright, vivid and Nordic response to the modern outdoor recreation.
The project works with four architectural compositions and architectural identities, each of which contains various applications and connections to the surrounding countryside. We call the houses respectively the Main house, the Glass house, the Stable house and the Log house. The four houses create a series of harmonious and diverse architectural approaches that ensure simple and clear links between indoor and outdoor spaces. The scenic location and form-related processing creates differentiated and scaled-down building volumes, which approximates a human scale and creates a clear relation to both the forest and the sky. The playful architecture of the roof profiles and choice of material emphasizes the project's function as an active hub for movement, learning and socializing in nature.
The choice of building materials emerges from the desire to achieve a robust, yet textural and bright Nordic expression. Robust both in the sense of durable and flexible to changes in content or use. Nordic, because the buildings are functional, flexible and has the potential to house a wide range of activities throughout the day and year. It has been the desire to create a building with a vibrant and varied play of light and distinctive architectural expression.
