rebildporten | CEBRA architecture

RebildPorten is a new visitor’s centre and exhibition space for one of the most beautiful and popular tourist destinations in northern Denmark: Rebild Hills and Rold Forest. This area in northern Jutland forms a unique nature reserve, and thus the area holds an extraordinary potential for offering spectacular experiences in this very distinctive rolling landscape. Up until now, only a series of red wooden gates marked the entrance to the area. RebildPorten creates a new gathering point that informs, inspires and activates the visitors - an ideal setting for the narrative about cultural history and nature experiences in these unique surroundings. The project’s distinctive expression and character are derived directly from Nature’s own formal language and elements, which makes the building stand out from its surroundings and blend in with nature’s scenery at one and the same time. The building as landmark The structure is designed as a hymn to Nature and the hills and forest, next to which it is situated. It is created in the encounter of building and nature and appears as a sculptural structure made of bluff timber, thus making the building accessible to the eye of the observer - very similar to a forest’s opening and closing when one moves through it, looking upwards through the branches’ chaotic network of crossing lines. By shaping the building out of raw cut timber, the visitor not only experiences a ‘walk in the forest’, and a particular atmosphere determined by Nature’s own strength and rustic weight, but also the scent of wood and nature, which sets the mood for the visit to the forest and hills. With its location between Rebildhus and The Fiddler’s Museum, the building stands out from its surroundings as a place of significance - a small piece of forest projecting out into the built environment. Communication and guiding Rebild Hills is centrally located in Northern Jutland and is, together with Rold Forest, one the region’s main tourist attractions and recreational areas with approx. 400.000 visitors a year. The visitor’s centre is the gateway to this area, acting both as a key to information and inspiration and as a ‘Chinese box’ where experiences are folded out continuously and new layers are added. ReboldPorten is the visitor’s window to the unique nature, history and the many activities in the area. At the same time, it aims at contributing to the creation of synergy and a collective identity in a strong and lively local environment with a variety of committed parties. Thus, communication and guiding becomes a crucial factor for the project’s ability to function as both usable and recognisable gathering point. The project incorporates an overall concept and appearance for communication and presentation, where individual key elements and design secure recognisability, whether you find yourself in virtual space, out in nature or in the building itself. The building’s distinct characteristic - the ‘graphic’ strength of the timber’s structure and the visual reference to trees and branches - acts as a matrix for logos, communication elements, media, guiding landscape elements etc., in order to create an appearance and a guiding concept, which tie landscape, building and user experience together in one consecutive story.