Henning Larsen Architects Wins Egedal Town Hall and Health Center Competition

Henning Larsen Architects and a group consisting of turnkey contractor Züblin, landscape architect SLA and consulting engineers Henrik Larsen and Jørgen Nielsen have won the competition for a new Town Hall and Health Center in Egedal, Denmark. The building will be the center of the new, merged Egedal Municipality near Copenhagen. The Town Hall and Health Center form part of the same entity and will be one of the first buildings in the new planned urban area around Egedal Station.

Project Description from the Architects:

Egedal Town Hall and Health Centre will be the uniting centre of the new Municipality of Egedal north of Copenhagen. Egedal Town Hall and Health Centre will be one of the first buildings in the new planned urban area around Egedal Station. It will thus spearhead the development of the new district.

The Town Hall and Health Centre form part of the same entity. The Health Centre is designed as a village with courtyards and green, internal walkways connecting to the central square of the building. Thus, the Health Centre will become an active part of the Town Hall, while at the same time offering citizens the opportunity to use the area outside town hall opening hours. The roof of the Health Centre is shaped as a large roof garden with green recreational spaces.

The Health Centre comprises training facilities for children and adults as well as rehabilitation facilities.

The Town Hall is designed to constitute the architectural framework for a central square – a public, interior passage for citizens. The Town Hall floats as a monolith of slate above a heavy base. The facade is modeled in two layers, creating a contrasting sense of heaviness and transparency. The various activities of the building sprout up around the central square that leads through the large atrium. The town council hall is situated on the ground floor and can be opened up towards the central square – in connection with exhibitions, concerts or other special events.

Flexibility and variability are keywords in the design of Egedal Town Hall and Health Centre. The building consolidates the previous administration departments and an entirely new health centre under the same roof. The different building sections can be separated or united as needed, making room for new, spatial opportunities to develop. The Town Hall forms an important element in the development of the new urban district in Egedal. Therefore, the building is designed to stand out with a distinctive character in all development phases.

Sustainability

The sustainable vision for Egedal Town Hall and Health Centre has been to create a healthy, inspiring environment for both employees and visitors. The users should feel comfortable in all parts of the building through good, natural daylight conditions and use of healthy indoor eco-labelled materials.

During the design process, detailed daylight simulations have been carried out with a view to place the different functions most optimally in relation to the sun and daylight. This means that all fixed workstations are provided with ample daylight, which is important for the users’ experience of the indoor climate.

The building geometry, flexibility and use of daylight reduce the energy consumption without use of technology. This strategy results in a building with an energy consumption that meets the requirements for low-energy class 2015 according to Danish building regulations. With a 100 m2 solar cell system, the total energy consumption is reduced to 24.3 kWh/m2/year, which makes the building meet the energy requirements for low-energy class 2020. Egedal Town Hall and Health Centre will thus become a sustainable showpiece in public building.

About the competition

A total of five teams participated in the competition. The participants included Dissing+Weitling in collaboration with NCC and Aarstiderne Architects in collaboration with Myhlenberg.

All teams were evaluated on the basis of three parameters: architectural quality and functionality, construction cost as well as constructional quality. Henning Larsen Architects’ team won with the highest score for all criteria.

Extract from the citation:

”The proposal stands out with its design and spatial qualities – which in a convincing way unite the organisation of the exterior as well as the interior physical framework in a strong and easily comprehensible architectural concept.”

”The building introduces a significant quality level for the future buildings in the town of Egedal. Particularly, the great focus on the green element should be emphasised.” 

”The jury considers the daylight to be used in an effective way in the proposal. In particular, the design of the skylight in the atrium effectively lets the daylight flow into and around the building, without unnecessary solar energy impacting the indoor climate in warm periods.”

The jury consisted of the Economic Committee of Egedal Municipality, architect MAA Mathilde Petri, architect MAA Carsten E. Holgaard and landscape architect MAA MDL Steen Bisgaard Jensen.

The five finalists’ projects will be exhibited in Stenløse Town Hall Rådhustorvet 2, 3660 Stenløse from Monday 27 August up to an including 2 September.

Egedal Municipality

Egedal Municipality was established in connection with the municipal reform in 2007 where three municipalities in North Zealand were merged. The municipality has approx. 42,000 inhabitants and forms part of the Capital Region of Denmark.

With the new Town Hall, Egedal will become the natural centre of the municipality in a few years. The new Egedal Town Hall and Health Centre will replace eight old and partly worn-down administration buildings.

Project Details:

Project: Egedal Town Hall and Health Centre
Location: Egedal, Denmark
Client: Egedal Municipality
Gross floor area: 18,000 m2
Construction period: 2012-2014
Type of assignment: Turnkey contract, 1st prize in invited competition

Architect: Henning Larsen Architects
Landscape architect: SLA
Consulting engineers: Henrik Larsen Rådgivende Ingeniørfirma and Jørgen Nielsen Rådgivende Ingeniører
Contractor: Züblin

Team from Henning Larsen Architects: Troels Troelsen, Maria Sommer, Mette Kynne Frandse, Peer Teglgaard Jeppesen, Mette Lorentzen, Mads Reinau, Christian Schjøll, Jakob Strømann-Andersen, Erik Holm-Hansson, Ina Borup Nørlev, Ingela Larsson, Martin Stenberg and Andrea Hoepfner

Find more drawings of the project in the image gallery below.