Atrium in new building at Lyngby Campus awarded prestigious prize by German architecture magazine.
The Biosphere, the beautiful atrium in DTU’s new Building 202, has won the prestigious German architecture magazine DETAIL’s ‘inside special prize’. The building was designed by Christensen & Co Arkitekter and Rørbæk og Møller Arkitekter.
“Thanks to the strict and balanced spatial composition, the atrium is not only impressive on account of its social function, but also because of its unique atmosphere,” says the jury in explaining its reasons for awarding The Biosphere the DETAIL inside special prize.
The 13-metre-high atrium, The Biosphere, is a one-of-a-kind space and the heart of the new building that houses the university’s research and teaching environments for life science and bioengineering at Lyngby Campus.
The walls are clad with 50,000 metres of oak slats, while daylight floods in through the skylights, creating an extremely warm and pleasant space to spend time in. Cantilevered wooden cubes containing meeting rooms jut out into the atrium, while large windows create a visual connection between the meeting rooms and the atrium.
“When we build new at DTU, it’s vital that we create spaces where different academic competences and disciplines can come together, because we believe it is these meetings that are so important for innovation and new thinking. In The Biosphere, the architecture contributes to students, researchers, and employees being able to see and meet each other in an informal, unique, and high-ceilinged space where thoughts can run freely,” says campus director Jacob Steen Møller, DTU.
DETAIL awards its prizes every other year in four categories; this year is the eighth occasion
The jury prioritizes future-oriented and innovative projects with outstanding architectural and technical qualities.
A total of 352 projects from 36 countries were submitted for the DETAIL Prize 2018.