Viby Syd has developed from being a disadvantaged district into a mixed one that is an attractive area to live and work. The office and community centre will be a wooden building designed to give the area a sustainable boost by making it a healthier and more socially stimulating place, in tune with the visions of the developers The City of Aarhus and the housing association Boligforeningen Århus Omegn.
The vision of the office and community centre is to create a place that can become an active part of the entire area. With its multifunctional town square, it leaves space for not only recreation and everyday living, but also acts as a new natural gathering point for residents and visitors where market days and town fairs can take place. The red tiles and green elements of the surrounding square will simultaneously flow through the entire building and the ground floor, to then open up into a public passage with community centre, café, and much more, while the office spaces on level one and two will spread along the passage to become a green atrium, the very heart of the building.
The public passage dissolves throughout the building into a funnel-shaped, green atrium; an inner climatic Babylonian garden that creates the optimal light conditions and visual contact between the separate office spaces around the building highlights the evaluation report on the winning proposal.
With its surrounding square, public passage, and mixed functions the house is created to maximise life, while its material is designed to minimise its carbon footprint. With wood as its recurring element in facades, pillars, floor structure, as well as roof construction it builds on the principles behind ‘Design for Disassembly’. In other words, it is designed to reduce construction waste and thus its carbon footprint, as its materials can be removed, sorted out and recycled; a significant architectural tool as construction waste stands for 35% of all waste in Denmark.
Not only is wood recurring in the constructive concept. It is also an integrated and natural part of the building, on the inside, as well as the outside, where trees and plants play a central role. Not just something for the eye to catch, but also for the well-being of the people that work and move around the building. Studies show that trees and plants together with daylight can have a direct effect on how we live and thrive in architecture.
Anders Tyrrestrup, Partner, AARTWith the effect of architecture in mind, the building is predisposed to create the optimal conditions for great daylight and opportunity to look at the green elements inside and outside.The City of Aarhus and Boligforeningen Århus Omegn who will continue to run the building in the future.
Construction is scheduled to commence in 2022, with an expected completion date by 2023.