Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter adds another their fifth UNESCO site to their portfolio, after facing stiff competition from firms like Snøhetta and Wingårdhs Arkitektkontor. The team led by Danish architect Dorte Mandrup ultimately won the competition to design a new culture house and libraryin the heart of Swedish baroque city Karlskrona, where many of its central parts have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“he task demands that we act with humility and respect for the existing and at the same time add a new character and identity to the place. This is our preferred way of working, and projects like this is what makes working as an architect meaningful.”

Dorte Mandrup architect, Founder and Creative Director.

Dorte Mandrup, together with Marianne Levinsen Landskab (landscape architect) and Torbjörn Nilsson (library consultant), have been announced winner of the competition to design a new culture house with library, art hall and café in the center of Karlskrona, Sweden. Due to its unique architectural character and naval past, central parts of the city have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site making the culture house our fifth World Heritage related building.

The culture house is located at the corner of Karlskrona's "Stortorget" central square. The project, meant to become a modern meeting place and hub for several cultural activities, complements its richly historic surroundings also. At 6,000 m², it will comprise of a library and room for different activities such as dance, music, and exhibitions. Visitors will also be able to access a theater hall, an art hall, tourist information, a maker space, study space, and cafe.

Their answer to the diverse program was a design that respectfully plays together with the unique buildings of the city and the square. On the outside, the architects interpret the three-part façade division of the baroque and thus scale down the building's length. Inside, a large, sculptural staircase creates a natural movement through the various levels of the building and connects Stortorget with the city's new viewing platform on the roof of the culture house.

Summer 2018, Karlskrona Municipality invited architecture firms to bid on the task to design a new cultural center in the centre of Karlskrona. Their winning proposal were announced on April 3 and now it will form the basis for the forthcoming detailing and construction of the cultural center, which is expected to be ready by the end of 2021.
 
“Karls krona (project’s name, ed.) constitutes a new icon on Stortorget in the form of an elegant interpretation of classical architecture” and “… [the building] has a evident Karlskrona identity”.
Statement Jury.

More information

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter was founded in 1,999 by Dorte Mandrup. Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter engages in a wide variety of projects: cultural institutions, buildings for children and youth, sports facilities, schools, housing, master plans and office buildings, as well as renovation and alteration of Federally Listed historical buildings. The visionary methods of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter are based on a thorough analysis of every parameter involved in the brief.

On this foundation, new materials, constructions and variations of space are investigated. The office seeks to combine the tactile and poetic experience of space with conceptual clarity and accuracy, in both large-scale schemes and in detail.

Dorte Mandrup (born 28 July 1961) graduated from the Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark, in 1991. Eight years later, she founded her Copenhagen-based studio, where she continues to be Creative Director. Her design philosophy and artistic yet systematic mindset permeate the entire office as she is the design lead responsible for all projects.

Studies in both sculpture and ceramics, and medicine have influenced Dorte Mandrup’s approach to architecture, which has always been ‘hands-on’. Shape and form constitute the company ethos - to create spaces that are aesthetically pleasing, contextually relevant, and invite people to engage.

As a humanist with a distinct nonconformist outlook, Dorte Mandrup is well known for her commitment to the development of the architectural practice and her frequent participation in public debates. Receiving national and international acclaim for her work, in 2018, Dorte headlined at the curated international exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia.

Dorte is member of the Architecture Section in Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Vice Chairman of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, former member of the Historic Buildings Council in Denmark, Chair of the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award 2019, Adjunct Professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and holds frequent visiting professorships abroad, in 2018 at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning and from 2021  at Mendrisio Accademia de Architettura, Switzerland.

Dorte Mandrup has been awarded numerous national and international awards. Among those: Bauwelt Prize, AR Award for Emerging Architecture, and the prestigious C.F. Hansen medal.

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Published on: April 8, 2019
Cite:
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
"Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter won, new culture house and library, competition in Karlskrona" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/dorte-mandrup-arkitekter-won-new-culture-house-and-library-competition-karlskrona> ISSN 1139-6415
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