As it approaches the 30th anniversary of its founding, Danish firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects is showing no signs of slowing up in its exploration of new material applications. The practice recently published work-in-progress images of a major new project in the Netherlands as it approaches completion: the International Criminal Court at the Hague will stand as one of Europe’s foremost democratic institutions, and its significance is reflected — quite literally — by a shimmering skin of transparent and opaque glass panels.
International Criminal Court, the Hague, the Netherlands
The glazing will allow huge amounts of natural light to flood the internal spaces, representing the I.C.C.’s values of openness and transparency in architectural form. Schmidt Hammer Lassen describes the pixelated membrane as “a tapestry grid, almost like embroidery.” The distinctive elevations will form a modern exemplar in democratic architecture and represent the Danish firm’s longstanding love of utilizing materials in innovative ways across the globe.
© Adam Mørk
© Adam Mørk
Cultural Centre of Greenland, Nuuk, Greenland
The studio’s mastery of different façade materials stretches all the way back to 1997, when they completed the Cultural Centre of Greenland in the capital city of Nuuk. The center is wrapped in a gently undulating skin of timber evoking the flowing waves of the Northern Lights that frequent the night sky only 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
The golden larch wood was chosen for its warm aesthetic, in contrast to the frozen landscape surrounding the center, and because it provides additional protection against the elements. This dual functionality forms a common thread throughout the following two decades for Schmidt Hammer Lassen, its architects harnessing a plethora of different materials for both practical and aesthetic purposes.
Performers House High School, Silkeborg, Denmark
Fast-forward 10 years, the firm was at it again in the cultural genre, wrapping the Performers House High School in a perforated envelope of rust-red steel panels. This façade also showcased the studio’s ability to create dynamic skins which would evolve over the course of time, operable shutters allowing light to emanate from this striking ochre vessel.
While the raw texture of weathering steel suited the school’s location in Silkeborg, Denmark, Schmidt Hammer Lassen has also illustrated its capability to detail external elevations using more unforgiving, luxury materials: in Shanghai, it clad a series of six slender residential blocks in white Chinese granite, draping the Andersen Garden Housing Complex in a pristine cloak of subtle sophistication.
Andersen Garden Housing Complex, Shanghai, China
When the International Criminal Court is completed next year, it will take its place in an expanding galleria of material applications by this flexible firm. Stay tuned for more innovative façades and elevation treatments in upcoming projects over on Schmidt Hammer Lassen’s firm profile.
