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THE LOUIS POULSEN MAGAZINE OF LIGHTING AND ARCHITECTURE 2008 586 The Playhouse and the Tietgen Student Residence Performing Arts Centers Louisiana Museum turns 50 The Tivoli lamp rotates again 1 Picturesque yet modern The Tietgen Student Residence and the Playhouse in Copenhagen 2 The circular Tietgen Hall of Residence was inaugurated in May 2007 and nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Prize in 2008. Photo: Jens Lindhe Two new buildings in Copenhagen by Lundgaard & Tranberg architects show how pictorial principles of composition, known from Romantic gardens and horticulture, live on in new architecture. BY PETER THULE KRISTENSEN The Danish architecture company Lund- tistic distinctiveness that appeals to the Pictorial idioms are a well-known con- gaard & Tranberg has attracted a great imagination. cept in the history of architecture, nota- deal of attention in Copenhagen lately, The Tietgen Residence is a single circu- bly in 18th and 19th-centuries English because of two buildings in particular: lar building, its tight geometry broken landscape gardens, which are arranged the Tietgen Student Residence in the by a number of boxes protruding from in a series of tableaux that tease the new Ørestaden district, and the Play- the façade in an irregular pattern. The visitor’s curiosity, at least in part by house, situated on the waterfront in Playhouse is another relatively simple concealing what is hidden around the one of the oldest parts of town. design, its well-nigh square body divid- next corner. Rich variations are used as Both the Tietgen Student Residence ed into layers and softened by minor a way of encouraging visitors to keep and the Playhouse are popular with projections and other less unorthodox exploring, continually offering up small their users and the public alike, per- elements. In neither case do the irregu- surprises and contrasts that seem ‘nat- haps because both combine a simple, larities appear to stem from the narrow ural’ or unplanned. Although, in fact, it easily understood main concept that needs of functionality; nor are they de- has been planned in minute detail, the caters for functional needs, with an ar- termined by the constraints of the loca- apparent lack of composition is de- tion. Rather, they stem from a desire to signed to help liberate the mind of the create a pictorial composition. The ar- visitor, to free them to expand their im- The Royal Theatre’s new Playhouse, chitectural narratives are also under- pressions as they tour the gardens. In which was inaugurated in February 2008, affords a phenomenal view of pinned by the way in which artifi cial the pictorial-compostion ideal, things the Port of Copenhagen. light is used. are not intended to look too perfect or 3 The Tietgen Hall of Residence forms part of the new Ørestaden district on the island of Amager, and is perched on the bank of a long, artifi cial canal. fi nished, but to combine an unforced new student residence designed in the same type of room, however. The ir- form with natural textural effect, like, same way. Lundgaard & Tranberg was regularity of the exterior does not stem for example, a fallen tree on the forest the only studio invited to take part in from functional diversity, but from a fl oor. the architecture competition that de- desire to create an impression of varia- This ideal is refl ected in much 20th cen- cided to break with the prevailing struc- tion. The façade is in other words picto- tury modern architecture. For example, tures in the area by proposing a circular rial, composed according to principles the architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965) building that would draw the surround- similar to the traditional Romantic gar- designed buildings that were often ing landscape into the district, not block den. built around a meticulously structured it out. walkway full of minor contrasts and The ground fl oor of the circle has a high Textural effects photogenic motifs. As this article seeks ceiling and contains rooms for commu- In terms of materials, the building re- to show, the pictorial form of composi- nal use. Six further fl oors are divided fl ects a similar tendency towards the tion did not die out with Le Corbusier’s into fi ve sections, each with a curved ’wild’ and unrefi ned, again epitomising generation, but lives on in design stu- corridor giving access to twelve student a pictorial ideal. In other words, the dios like Lundgaard & Tranberg. fl ats on the outer edge of the circle, materials look exactly like what they and a common room, communal kitch- are, often with a built-in variation. The The Tietgen Student Residence en and utility room on the inner. The façades are covered with dark-brown The Tietgen, inaugurated in 2006, is lo- rooms are individually delineated in tombac, a type of red copper with a cated on a long, artifi cial canal in a new the outer façade as boxes of varying varied surface, through which run district of Copenhagen known as Øre- sizes that protrude at different points green tracks from the copper. The win- stad North. Most of the surrounding on the circle. This provides an irregular dow frames and shutters are made houses have wings that are more or idiom that makes the façade resemble from unpainted oak, and the handrails less parallel with the canal, and the an organic structure and hints at an in- on the balconies are of matt stainless original plan for the area envisaged a ner diversity. Every fl oor contains the steel. Inside, most of the walls are of 4 The Waterfront Bollard, which is characterised by glare-free, downward light, fl anks the main entrance to the residence. Tietgen Student Residence The Ørestad outdoor fi xture was developed especially for the new district by Louis Poulsen and the ARKKI design studio, which won the competition to draw up an integrated plan for Ørestaden. The elegant and simple fi xture is mounted on a rectangular steel pole. 5 The Hall of Residence’s circular interior forms an intimate and beautifully proportioned open-air space. The WeeBee LED fi xture by Louis Poulsen is mounted in the circular plinth. The trees in the yard are accentuated by the WeeBee LED fi xture. 6 Plan, 4 th fl oor Section raw concrete cast on the spot in a a piece of a larger form – perhaps a apparently strewn about at random. slightly irregular structure. The same fragment of a plant motif – the origins applies to the corridor fl oors, which are of which are no longer traceable. It is Lighting made from magnesite and resemble inspired by origami but also references The artifi cial lighting is carefully at- concrete, and the partition walls, which Romantic art, which often used frag- tuned to the rooms’ different uses and are made from unpainted plywood and ments and incomprehensible ara- involves relatively few types of fi x- form entry niches to the rooms. The besques that echoed plant motifs to tures. Nowadays, builders often specify textures continue inside the students’ fi re the observer’s imagination. It is an that the lighting should be energy-effi - rooms in the form of built-in furniture. artistic approach perfectly suited to cient; unfortunately, this often results A beautiful feature of the building is a pictorial ideal. The pattern was cre- in a light that is cold and ugly. The ar- the large, imprinted pattern that ated by Julie Henriksen and Mathilde chitects tried to comply with the design stretches along the plywood walls Aggebo, who were responsible for the by subduing the light as much as possi- within the corridors. From the round design side of the building, basing it ble and being economical with it, so yard outside, the pattern is seen inside on the principle of variation within that light is only deployed where abso- the corridors, gradually getting bright- frameworks. For example, they used lutely necessary. er as it moves upwards. From within different signal colours for the letter- In the corridors, the patterned ply wood the corridor, it feels as if the pattern is boxes and kitchen chairs, which are walls are illuminated by a fi xture Fixtures of the corridors of The Tietgen Student Residence For illumination of the Tietgen Kollegiet corridors, Lundgaard & Tranberg posed a number of requirements: The fi xtures should appear subtle and adapted to the ceiling geometry and modelling. To ensure even illumination of the walls, the fi xtures should come with dimmers, and require- ments to corridor lighting listed in standard DS 700 should be observed. It proved impossible to fi nd a standard fi x- ture that met these requirements, so the architects designed a custom fi xture in partnership with Louis Poulsen. The result is a fi xture fi tted with T5 lamps, mounted in a slit at the top of the wall. The fi xture refl ec- tor design only channels light to the walls. 7 The Playhouse mounted in a narrow gap between the light outside the building as possible. It The Playhouse wall and ceiling. The fi xture, which the has only been installed in a few select- Like the Tietgen Student Residence, the architects developed in collaboration ed places, such as semi-submerged spots Playhouse was the result of an architec- with Louis Poulsen presented a real cast in a low circular concrete edge in tural competition won by Lundgaard & challenge in terms of function and de- the middle of the round yard, and in the Tranberg. Inaugurated only this year, the sign due to being so close to the ply- form of smaller ceiling spots above the square building is perched on the wa- wood walls yet having to light up the passages towards the yard.