Building B310 at Technical University Denmark (DTU) provides DTU Energy, DTU Physics and DTU 3D Imagining Center with new facilities and creating space for interdisciplinary collaboration. The six story high building includes custom designed research facilities and generic flexible laboratories able to meet future needs.

The project has been 100% digital from day one, from design and throughout the construction phase – all the way to the construction site with construction workers building from digital drawings on IPADs. Working in openBIM, has ensured shared knowledge and active involvement of client, advisors and contractors from day one. As all stakeholders have actively contributed to the project, workflows and transparency has been optimized, contributing to the complex research facility with high architectural quality. In this way, we have been able to test various choices in materials, façade composition, organization of functions as well as conducting tests of daylight flow during the day along with tests of audio- and visual connections in order to create a comfortable indoor work environment. In addition, users have been involved in 3D testing of the architectural concept, to ensure usability.

The facade is a pattern of brown coppery sections, adding lightness and vibrancy to the building. The choice of dark brown metal combines modern materials is a reinterpretation of the traditional colors at campus, adding yet another contemporary layer to the university. At the ground floor, the facade is folded up into a canopy sheltering a pathway along the building where panoramic windows, giving an impression of the inner life. Inside, social activities are centered at the ground floor and winds up through the levels at the southern end of the building. Here, visual and acoustic connections permeates the building, creating a web of social connections, facilitating a dynamic research environment.

At the ground floor, the facade is folded up into a canopy sheltering a pathway along the building where panoramic windows allow bypassers to get a sense of the inner life. Inside, social activities are centered at the ground floor and winds up through the levels at the southern end of the building. Here, visual and acoustic connections permeates the building, creating a web of social wormholes that facilitates a dynamic research environment. The project is carried out in a close collaboration between client, advisors and contractors, thus all stakeholders have been actively contributing to the project from day one.

Materials are chosen according to their inherent qualities, adding texture and warmth to the building. This includes displaying installations and constructions, giving the research facility a workshop-like feel. The In addition, the architectural concept is designed with a build in contrast between workspaces in laboratories and offices and social spaces in the common areas. In the common areas, warm wooden floors and large glass sections create light and open rooms for social interaction, contrasted by the more mechanical and workshop-like offices specifically designed for conducting experiments.

The project is created for Technical University in Denmark in close collabortion between Christensen & Co Architects, MOE engineers and contractor MT Højgaard.

Photographs by Niels Nygaard #architecturalphotography