The Museum of Danish Resistance 1940-1945 in Copenhagen, Denmark by POLYFORM Architects

Article source: POLYFORM Architects

Danish POLYFORM Architects and Dutch SeARCH Architects have created the proposal ”The Flyer” for one of the most talked about competitions in Denmark in recent years – The design of the new Museum of Danish Resistance 1940-1945.

The POLYFORM/SeARCH-project suggests that The Museum of Danish Resistance lies as an elegant featherweight flyer in the Churchill Park in Copenhagen.

Image Courtesy © POLYFORM Architects

• Architects: POLYFORM Architects
• Project: The Museum of Danish Resistance 1940-1945
• Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Client: Styrelsen for Slotte og Kulturejendomme
• When: 2015
• Area: 1.963 square meters (netto)
• Type: Competition
• In collaboration with: SeARCH, Oluf Jørgensen Ingeniører A/S, Cenergia, Palle Roslyng-Jensen
• Team: Thomas Kock, Jonas Sangberg, Bjarne Mastenbroek, Rie Davidsen, Johannes Grove og Andrea Verdecchia

Image Courtesy © POLYFORM Architects

The shape of the flier reflects that moment where the wind has lifted it up and the curious by passer can steal a glimpse of the resistance narrative written on it – and is spurred to pick it up and form an own opinion and understanding of the message.

The illegal flyer
Illegal fliers were distributed in large quantities by the Danish resistance movement during World War II’s German occupation of Denmark from 1940 to 1945. To the ordinary Dane the fliers and the illegal press showed the presence of the resistance in Denmark and engaged them in the messages of the freedom fighters.

Image Courtesy © POLYFORM Architects

The flyer-analogy creates an open and airy museum design that invites the public in and exposes the political and personal dilemmas of the occupation. The roof of the museum opens the museum up to the city on one side and the landscape on the other side. In this way the design relates strongly to both the location and the occupational history – and ties the city and the landscape elegantly together in a simple concept.

Heated debate as an architectural driver
The five teams who prequalified for the competition to re-build the new museum took on a difficult and politically charged architectural challenge.

Image Courtesy © POLYFORM Architects

The old museum was burned down by an arsonist in 2013 and the immediate plans to rebuild the museum sparked a heated debate of the direction of the new museum. The debate was fueled by contributions from surviving members of the resistance movement, politicians, historians and other opinion leaders.

This emotional debate and the intense historical dilemmas of the time became a driver to the POLYFORM /SeARCH-team who sought to create a solution that sparked the visitor’s curiosity and encouraged them to form an understanding – of the nature of resistance and this complex time in Danish history.

The other contestants of the competition were BIG, Henning Larsen Architects, Lundgaard & Tranberg and Heneghan Peng Architects. The winner of the competition was the proposal by Lundgaard & Tranberg.

Image Courtesy © POLYFORM Architects

Image Courtesy © POLYFORM Architects

Image Courtesy © POLYFORM Architects

Image Courtesy © POLYFORM Architects

Tags: Copenhagen, Denmark

Category: Museum

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