A new meeting point

C.F. Møller Archi­tects is behind a major project next to the Inter­na­tional School Ikast-Brande with a much-awaited expan­sion with several halls, multi-func­tional and educa­tional faci­li­ties. The project called The Heart makes the educa­tional faci­li­ties at the school even better, and at the same time creates a new meeting point centred on an area of fast growth in Ikast.

’Hjertet’ (the Heart), as the project is called, includes a multi-purpose buil­ding, as well as an acti­vity park, to create a new rela­tion to the neigh­bou­ring Busi­ness College HHX Ikast, Ikast Brande upper secon­dary school, the teacher trai­ning college, and the Inter­na­tional School Ikast-Brande, which was also desi­gned by C.F. Møller.

35 user groups

‘The Heart’ combines educa­tion, acti­vi­ties, commu­nity, exer­cise and recrea­tional pursuits in new ways. The inter­na­tional pupils will thus be a natural part of a very wide-ranging group of users, inclu­ding sportsmen and women, musi­cians, skaters and users in a social psych­iatry project. Overall, 35 user groups were involved in the deve­lo­p­ment of the buil­ding and park.

The aim of the Heart is to combine many diffe­rent faci­li­ties and parallel acti­vi­ties, and to use all of the rooms, all the time, all day long, so that the buil­ding is always used actively from early morning to late evening — expressed in an archi­tec­ture that resem­bles a small town, with varying roof heights and a square which gathers, leads and distri­butes the users.

Central square & streets sports hall

The Heart covers 3,660 m² in total, and features a central square with a perfor­mance stage. The square distri­butes users out to the various rooms in the multi-buil­ding.

One wing holds the school’s teaching rooms, which in the after­noons and evenings can be changed to multi-rooms and art work­shops for asso­cia­tions and evening schools.

For young people and younger sports enthu­si­asts, the street sports hall is parti­cu­larly inte­res­ting, as it is desi­gned so as to retain a sense of being outdoors.

There is also a café with a service kitchen, and a shop area where organic groce­ries from a local socio-economic initia­tive as well as handi­craft by blind produ­cers can be sold.

On the first floor of the multi-buil­ding there are various large and small rooms for relaxed move­ment acti­vi­ties such as dance and yoga, as well as cultural events and perfor­mance culture, and coun­sel­ling services for young people in the muni­cipal Youth and Educa­tion Advi­sory Centre.

Accessible activities

The surroun­ding acti­vi­ties land­scape is desi­gned around sustainable drai­nage prin­ci­ples and includes very active pursuits such as a skate bowl and flows­kate parc, a cycle pump-track, parkour faci­li­ties and play­grounds, beach volley pits and a multi-use playing field; as well as more quiet and shared acti­vi­ties such as spots for petanque, picnics and camp­fires.

The Heart is a very open and acces­sible buil­ding, which also draws atten­tion through its use of many small, informal venues and seating areas, to rein­force the multi-building’s capa­city as a social gathe­ring point that is not just a place to spend active leisure time.

In its essence the project is a show­case in how broadly diffe­rent user groups of leisure faci­li­ties can be combined.

Pursuing active and social lives

The Heart will give a great boost to leisure time acti­vi­ties, local socioe­co­no­mics and teaching oppor­tu­ni­ties for the school. This also creates a strong contact between the many diffe­rent users where the young people for instance can obtain advice on important life choices to pursue active and social lives. In this way the Heart connects every walk of life to make it easier to make the next step for each indi­vi­dual.

Partner

A number of local and national colla­bo­ra­tion part­ners have joined the field to ensure the project in Ikast-Brande Muni­ci­pa­lity comes to frui­tion, inclu­ding local busi­nesses such as Best­seller, and major Danish foun­da­tions Reald­ania and the Danish Foun­da­tion for Culture and Sports Faci­li­ties. The Carls­berg Foun­da­tion has contri­buted inte­grated artworks for both the buil­ding and the site.

The floa­ting floor plans and the resul­ting archi­tec­ture are a perfect example of how very diffe­rent user groups of sports and leisure faci­li­ties can be orga­nised.