Icefiord Center by Dorte Mandrup

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter has won the international competition to design The Icefiord Centre in Ilulissat to blend in with the impressive landscape, while offering local residents, tourists, and climate researchers the ultimate vantage point from which to absorb the historic atmosphere of the Icefiord.

Architect: Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter
Location: Ilulissat, Greenland
Expected by 2020
Images: MIR
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Project's description: At the western coast of Greenland lies the massive glacier Sermeq Kujalleq. For more than 250 years, glaciologists have studied the ancient glacier and its daily production of immense amounts of ice, and it remains an ideal spot for scientific observation of climate changes.

The Icefiord Centre will tell a story of ice, of human history and evolution on both a local and global scale. The building is designed as an all-encompassing framework – partly inside and partly outside – that embraces all activities. The wooden framework, designed as a truss, bridges the rugged landscape. It floats lightly above it, curving out over the edge of the Sermermiut Valley, offering a spectacular, undisturbed view of the valley and the Icefiord.

The framework is covered by a gently sloping, curved wooden boardwalk that becomes the starting point for the World Heritage Trail and at the same time acts as gathering point, viewing platform, and informal seating area.

The Icefiord area carries 4,000 years of cultural heritage and is essential for today’s understanding of climate changes.

> Norwegian Mountaineering Center by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter
> Helsinki Central Library by Jorge Hernandez de La Garza