New Museum for National History

landmark2

Landmark

  • LocationCopenhagen, DK
  • Program
  • ClientMinistry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education + University of Copenhagen
  • Size10.000 m²
  • YearIdeas competition 2009
  • CollaboratorsHolgaard Arkitekter

There is not enough space for a new museum in the Botanical Garden of Copenhagen. The only way to preserve the beautiful setting is to build underground.

But who wants to finance a new expensive Natural History Museum if it is invisible?
How can the new museum be both hidden and at the same time be an attractive landmark?

A 20 by 20 meter square hole is excavated. Like a giant imprint it creates a landscape and a landmark at the same time - a phenomenon rather than a building.

The void is clad in one way mirror-glass, and it’s the only element in the landscape that indicates the new underground exhibition space. The mirror-glass will bring the reflections of the sky, the trees and the buildings into the exhibition space.