Hammerfest Arktisk Kultur Senter | Enrique Greenwell

Description Hammerfest Arctic Cultural Centre International Architecture Competition for the Findus site. Client: Hammerfest Municipality and Hammerfest Næringsinvest. Design: Enrique Greenwell The Municipality of Hammerfest, the northernmost town of Norway and Europe, organized an open international architecture competition for the Findus Site and the programmed Arctic Culture Center (ACC). Hammerfest will become the center of the multi energy (gas, oil, wind and tidal electric power) Barents region. A stretched 300-m. zone along the harbour seafront with the former Findus plant is free for an urban re-development consisting of a hotel and a cultural center that together would function as a congress facility. The Design Concept evolved from local cultural aspects, the Viking maritime tradition heavily weighed in on the solution, bringing traditional materials such as wood to the project. Viking ships were sturdy and lasted a long time, so for the sake of design an upturned “Viking ship hull” was used as the building shell, these concave elements were staggered in such way that interior spaces were created and voids to the outside were covered by large expanses of glass. For the main Concert Hall a big Tensile Structure in the form of a big sail hovers above the public spaces, forming a glowing element that can be easily recognized from the sea, this solution is used in other spaces, such as the “Winter Garden” and Exhibits to create the effect of Northern Lights glowing in the distance, while at the same time their juxtaposition makes them blend in with the surrounding mountains. The overall master plan includes a marina and connector to a Cruise Line dock.