CEBRA Architects to Design Information Portal at Rebild, Denmark

The joint proposal by Danish architects CEBRA, developers HP Byg, engineers Viggo Madsen and exhibition architect Elisabeth Topsøe has won the competition to design a new information portal for Rebild, one of the most popular tourist destinations in northern Denmark.

Project Description from the Architects:

Rebild Hills and Rold Forest in northern Jutland are some of Denmark's most beautiful and unique nature reserves, and thus the area holds an extraordinary potential for offering spectacular experiences in this very distinctive rolling landscape. We wish to contribute to the creation of an ideal setting for the narrative about cultural history and nature experiences in these unique surroundings.

We are inspired by the idea of a building, which bids you welcome and acts as a natural gathering place. An open and accommodating building that offers knowledge and insight before guiding and distributing the visitors into the hills and the forest.

We have created an information portal, which is both building and nature. 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

Our proposal is formed as a hymn to nature and the hills and forest, next to which it is situated. Visitors will experience it as a small section of stylised forest with stems and branches, which rise towards the sky and let us catch a glimpse of what lies beyond as fragments of a whole.

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 and looks 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 Rebild Forest, one the region's main tourist attractions and recreational areas with approx. 400.000 visitors a year. The information portal is the gateway to this area, acting both as a key to information and inspiration and as a 'Chinese bo'x where experiences are folded out continuously and new layers are added.

The information portal 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 players.

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 consecutive story.

Project Details:

Name: Infoportal Rebildbakker & Roldskov
Commision: Public
Type: Competition
Category: Culture
Client: Rebild Municipality & Realdania
Location: Rebild, DK
Year: 2012 - ongoing
Purpose: Information center & museum
Size: 10,760 sq. ft.
Budget: DKK 12.7 mio.
Prize: 1. prize in competition
Service: Lead consultancy services
Energy class: Standard 2015
Collaboration: developers HP Byg, engineers Viggo Madsen, exhibition architect Elisabeth Topsøe

Find more plans and concept diagrams in the image gallery below.