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Project: Sjakket, Copenhagen/Denmark
Second prize of Category "Education/Learning/Culture"
The Sjakket project involved the conversion of a former factory building into a cultural centre for young people. This is a social project undertaken in the industrial north-west part of Copenhagen, which has a large immigrant population. Instead of offering the local youth a meeting place with a well-meaning, high-minded program of cultural improvement, Sjakket speaks the language of the streets and makes a bold statement. The architects decided not to remove the graffiti on the outside walls, but to take them seriously and use them as inspiration for the building's colour scheme. The raw industrial architecture has not been prettified: indeed, the same rawness is deliberately echoed in a striking new addition, a long narrow block, clad in corrugated metal and painted red, which sits on the roof of the existing factory building, positioned at an angle across the semi-circular roof vaults. This structure echoes the containers in the nearby port and makes a bold statement on the Copenhagen skyline. The facilities provided by this new meeting place are attuned to the needs of its young clientele, with a sports hall, recording studio and numerous smaller spaces for more intimate gatherings.
The jury's verdict:
"Through its aggressive yet sensitive architectural transformation of the valuable but unused fabric, the building makes a useful contribution to the social revitalization of this struggling quarter and demonstrates the part that architecture can play as an instrument for social change in our cities."
