The Danish Rock Museum (DRM) is the main focus of the new Roskilde ROCKmagneten that over the coming years will be developed into a community for artists, musicians and other creative professionals. The new building is located between the old industrial halls that previously housed a concrete factory. It is characterized by its twenty meter cantilever over the main entrance and an outer façade of anodized gold aluminium pyramids.

‘We translated the aesthetics of rock music into an architectural experience. The exuberant metal façade for example gives a new meaning to the use of metal-stud in architecture. The combination of gold and red velvet embodies the glamorous side of rock music.’ says Jacob van Rijs, co-founder and principal architect of MVRDV.

‘The Danish Rock Museum is a building that is both the epitome of Musicon and at the same time a breath of fresh air in the neighborhood. It will be a dramatic and iconic building, which sits upon and between the old characterful factory structure.’ says Dan Stubbergaard, owner and creative director of COBE.

The building with a surface of 3100m2 over 5 floors features a large exhibition hall, flexible auditorium, café, museum shop, administration offices and a lobby. The Danish Rock Museum is a mix of a traditional museum and an adventure: the museum will be equipped with interactive production rooms, exhibition facilities, recording studio, library and research facilities. The foyer of the museum will in time not only provide access to the museum but to the whole ROCKmagneten and can also be used as an outdoor concert stage. Performances can either face the large public plaza on one side or the refurbished industrial halls on the other.

The masterplan foresees transforming a 45.000m2 former industrial site into a new, dense neighbourhood, including the renovation of 8.000m2 of historic factory halls, organized around a plaza for events. Three new volumes will be added on top of the halls: The 11.000m2 ROCKmagneten consisting of The Danish Rock Museum, The Roskilde Festival Folk Music School and accompanying student housing, and the headquarters of the annual Roskilde Rock Festival.    

MVRDV won the competition for the Danish Rock Museum together with Danish co-architect COBE in 2011. The DRM team further consists of Wessberg engineering, Norconsult fire safety and LIWplanning landscape architects. The building will be realised by B. Nygaard Sørensen A/S contractors.

The official ground breaking ceremony for the Rock Museum will be held on Monday the 30th June at 13:00h. Danish Minister of Culture Marianne Jelved, Mayor of Roskilde Joy Mogensen and CEO of Realdania Jesper Nygård will break ground. The event features live music by Nelson Can, various musical activities and provides information about Rockmagneten and the construction process.