Kolding Technical College

Kolding Technical College in Kolding, Denmark by Schmidt, Hammer & Lassen, 1998

Danish architects Schmidt, Hammer & Lassen's project for the Kolding Technical College in Kolding, Denmark consists of student dorms and educational facilities, as well as common areas for both. Rather than designing the program into a single building, the architects broke the project into five structures to emphasize the space between each and views of the surrounding landscape.

The four residential buildings (above) surround a well-defined green space which contains what the architects describe as a piece of brick "multi-furniture". This piece uses a tall chimney to act as a reference point for students and a point of convergence where students can gather in warmer months.

The fifth building, the educational facilities, mimics the residential structures. Where the dorms focus on the exterior, green space the educational spaces focus toward an internal double-height space (above), lit from above by large, horizontal skylights. Balconies overhang this space which looks out through a large, panoramic window to the landscape beyond.

In Kolding, the architects created a group of buildings that both respects the lengthy, cold Danish winters (internal commons) and takes advantage of the short summers (external commons). The simple forms, volumes and surfaces allow natural light to characterize the spaces through the windows and filtered skylights. Here, the cycle of seasons interacts with the architecture in a reciprocal nature, ideally creating a unique place for learning.