Danish architecture practice CEBRA has designed a visitor center that mimics undulating landscape, hollows and hills of Skamlingsbanken in Denmark.

Called Skamlingsbanken Visitor Center, the 500-square-metre center is embedded into the landscape and acts a portal for the significant history and the site's local nature. 

CEBRA has designed the center to be part of the undulating landscape, and it is observed that starting from the overall design to the small details, the design is aesthetically harmonized with the natural topography.  

It houses spaces for different kinds of events and provides a space for an exhibition about Skamlingsbanken’s history: the center is about nature, democracy, and the power of speech.  

"Visitors will experience an architecture that finds its origin in Skamlingsbanken's unique nature and history," according to CEBRA.

From a distance, it is not possible to understand that there is a structure under the landscape. The small facades formed by the landscape look like "a living organism" winking at nature. Visitors can easily climb over the landscape.

"Skamlingsbanken holds a central place in Danish history, and over time it has been a setting for debates about democracy, the border country and women's suffrage," said CEBRA. 

"In the past, Skamlingsbanken - due to its undulating landscape with hollows and hills - was a natural gathering point sheltered from the wind, and many civil gatherings and festivals, therefore, took place right here."

"Skamlingsbanken connects the past with the present and the future, and one of the project’s main ambitions has been to actualize the place’s remarkable history and nature into a contemporary context," said Carsten Primdahl, partner and architect at CEBRA. 

"The new visitor centre is a modern arena for democratic culture and recreates Skamlingsbanken as a setting for important debates and education about the things that concern us, e.g., climate change," Primdahl added.

He added that "Today, nature and the eco systems of our planet are challenged as a consequence of human activities, and it is a shared democratic task to protect and maintain the planet as a safe habitat for nature, animals and humans. At Skamlingsbanken we have created a place where visitors will gain knowledge about our democracy and nature through a diversity of experiences."

As CEBRA explained, "Skamlingsbanken’s landscape was created during the last ice age and offers a rich and varied nature characterized by rolling hills and large meadows, and the scenic context has been the main inspiration for the design of the visitor centre."

Respecting the nature of terrain, CEBRA elevated the landscape along two circular cuts, while the exhibition space becomes a subtle insertion in the landscape in the form of a softly curved hill.

"The visitor centre is an architectural interpretation of the glacial landscape. It is not a destination itself, but part of an overall narrative. The building is a portal – to the significant history and the local nature - and forms a natural starting point for hikes in the area, where a network of paths flows through both building and landscape," continued Carsten Primdahl.  

"From here visitors are guided into the landscape or inside the centre to the exhibition, the teaching facilities, or the café,” says Carsten Primdahl," Primdahl added.

The main attraction point at Skamlingsbanken is its natural topography. When visitors enter the exhibition space, they will experience moving throughthe hill and its many hidden stories. 

The architects plaster corrugated back wall with clay, and the interiors are characterized by local materials such as wood, terrazzo with fieldstones and, calm, earthy colour tones. 

The introvert and dimmed exhibition space culminates with a spectacular panoramic view towards the Little Belt Strait. 

Since the visitor centre has been built in a protected area, according to the architects, "the landscape and biological values have been important focal points in the project." 

Inaugurated in May 2021, the project was realized in close collaboration with the clients, foundations, landowners and the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, the project team succeeded in expanding the protected area around the visitor centre from 35 hectares to 128. 

Skamlingsbanken is located on the highest point in Southern Jutland and consists of an old grazing landscape. Several native species are rare, and during the development of the visitor centre, it has been crucial to protect the site's flora and fauna.

For this reason, CEBRA worked in collaboration with the biologist, Mette Keseler List from Kolding Municipality, and a special grass mixture based on local species was developed and spread on and around the building.

Currently, CEBRA is working on a project, that will further develop the experience for visitors at Skamlingsbanken with an exhibition project in the landscape surrounding the visitor centre. The project is expected to be realized within the next few years.

For landscape design, CEBRA worked with landscape practice Opland.

Skamlingsbanken Visitor Center was honoured with Kolding Municipality Architecture Award 2021.

Floor plan

Section

Section and elevation

CEBRA also designed a breath-taking prayer hall with restaurants and cultural facilities within irregular forms of "cracks" and geometries in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The firm is designing a new headquarters of a food manufacturer Danish Crown, which is set to be built in Randers, Denmark.

Project facts

Project name: Skamlingsbanken Visitor Center

Architects: CEBRA 

Location: Vejstrup Parish, Jutland, Denmark 

Size: 500m2 

Date: 2019 – 2021

Landscape: Opland

Engineer: DRIAS, Dansk Energi Management

Exhibition designer: YOKE

Main donation: AP Møller Fonden 

All images © Adam Mørk

All drawings © CEBRA

> via CEBRA