The Floating Kayak Club

The Floating Kayak Club brings water and building together in a way that the user gets the full experience of practising the sport in its true environment.

The sculptural building form is divided into two volumes, one dedicated to the users and the other to the kayaks. This creates a central courtyard with a water space and a strong ‘club feeling.’ Outdoor activities relating to community training, playing and social events take place on the raised roof deck. A series of ramps, walkways and stairs ensure continuous movement between the two volumes and the upper and lower decks.

More from the Architects:

The Floating Kayak Club is located on the water pulled away from the shore, which highlights the building as a sculptural object and focuses on kayaking as an outdoor water sport. As the building floats, the relationship between the building and the water is so close that the user gets the full experience of practicing the sport in its true environment.

Two volumes, one dedicated to the users, the other to the kayaks, creates a courtyard surrounding a central water space angled to give the users full advantage of the direct sailing route into the fjord. The central water space strengthens the community and supports a 'club-feeling'.

Outdoor activities relating to community training and playing are raised to the roof deck, which in various ways is enabled with sport activities, barbecue area, outdoor kitchen, dining area and sundeck. The two volumes and the upper and lower decks are connected via ramps, walkways and stairs in a continuous movement, which allows a loop flow.

Designed by Force4 Architects, The Floating Kayak Club does exactly that: float on the water. Conceived as a sculptural object, the building is so close to the water that users can enjoy the full experience of practising the sport in its natural environment. Relating to the water theme, the façade panels from Steni that clad the building are in a specially selected spectrum of blue shades.

The façade colour concept came from photos of the sea and the sun reflecting off it. The architects then ran the photos through Photoshop to determine the colour range they were looking for. The result is a unique façade expression that is additionally robust and durable within the marine environment.

More from the Manufacturer:

Vejle Kayak Club, “The floating kayak club”, is precisely that: a kayak club whose clubhouse floats on the water – with Steni façade panels in specially adapted colours.

It was the architects from the Danish company Force4 who came up with the extraordinary clubhouse; their idea was to highlight the building as a sculptural object and focus on kayaking as an outdoor water sport: “When the building itself is floating, the relationship between the building and the water is so close that users can enjoy the full experience of practising the sport in its natural environment.”

 A spectrum of blue shades
“Given that the clubhouse is located actually on the water, it was important for us to ensure that the façade adopted a part of what was reflected in the water surface. So our job was to come up with a spectrum of blue shades. We took photos of the sea and the sun reflecting in it, ran them through Photoshop and hit upon the result we were looking for. From working with Steni previously, we knew that they supplied robust façade panels, and that they were skilled in the field of colours. A good, close working relationship with Steni quickly led us to the final façade expression. And we think it works really well – the end result was just what we were looking for,” relates Maria Jockers, architect at Force4.

 

Generates club spirit
The clubhouse comprises two distinct sections: one for the users, the other for the kayaks. This creates a “courtyard” that surrounds a central area of water, giving the paddlers the benefit of being able to enter the fjord at Vejle directly. The central area of water also reinforces the sense of community and boosts club spirit. Outdoor activities linked to teambuilding and games have been elevated to the “roof deck”, which has been set up for a variety of sports activities and also features a barbecue area, an outdoor kitchen, an eating area and a sun deck. The two sections and the upper and lower decks are connected through a network of ramps, walkways and stairsKlubbhuset er todelt, den ene delen er tilegnet brukerne, den andre til kajakkene.

 

Proud of the clubhouse
“The clubhouse is excellent for us; we’re really proud of it and it works perfectly for both our social events and our training activities. In addition, the building itself attracts a lot of attention, as people think it’s beautiful and interesting. With the façade panels from Steni, it can also withstand the effects of the wind and weather without its colours fading,” says John Broe Rasmussen, President of Vejle Kayak Club.