The Icefjord Centre in Qaasuitsup, Greenland by Dorte Mandrup arkitekter

Article source: Dorte Mandrup arkitekter

An Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat will attract tourists to Greenland and contribute to our understanding of climate change. The Danish architectural firm Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter has designed the visionary building for the centre with respect of the unique, UNESCO-protected natural surroundings.

The vision of a world-class tourist attraction in Ilulissat has come one step closer to realization with the selection of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter’s proposal for an Icefjord Centre. The centre will help develop Greenland’s tourism and will serve as a global portal to understanding the ice fjord and, not least, its culture and history as well as the dramatic melting of the Greenland ice sheet.  The parties behind the centre are the Greenland Government, Qaasuitsup Municipality and Realdania.

Image Courtesy © MIR

• Architects: Dorte Mandrup arkitekter 
• Project: The Icefjord Centre
• Location: Qaasuitsup, Greenland
• Photography: MIR
  
• Year: October 2020

Image Courtesy © MIR

The winning project is a simple, twisting structure resembling a wing stretching across the landscape. “The flight of a snowy owl” was the poetic vision of the architects. The building will be a natural extension of existing hiking trails in the area, with the possibility of continuing the hike onto the roof of the building to enjoy the unique view of the ice fjord and the surrounding landscape. The open facade generates dialogue between the exhibition inside and the building’s natural surroundings; a dialogue between man and nature. The basic idea is that the building should have as little impact on the fragile landscape as possible.

“We selected the proposal from Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter as the winning project because it is a very poetic and visionary project with an architectural unity that underpins the overall vision beautifully. The new building will streamline smoothly with the spectacular natural landscape,” said Jan Søndergård, who is the spokesman for the assessment panel and a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and partner in KHR arkitekter.

Image Courtesy © MIR

The Icefjord Centre at Ilulissat will open its doors to the public in autumn 2020 and is expected to have up to 25,000 visitors annually. The Greenland Government, Qaasuitsup Municipality and Realdania signed a partnership agreement for the building project in 2015. The philanthropic association Realdania is contributing DKK 83 mill., while the Government of Greenland is contributing DKK 15 mill. and Qaasuitsup Municipality DKK 8 mill. Furthermore, work is ongoing to raise donations of up to DKK 10 mill. for the exhibition and for activities inside the Centre. The two international foundations Bloomberg Philanthropies and the OAK Foundation have each made donations. In the longer term, the Icefjord Centre will be self-sustaining, financed by its own revenues.

Image Courtesy © MIR

For Greenland and Ilulissat, the Icefjord Centre will open for new opportunities to increase the already growing stream of tourists from all around the world. The Ilulissat ice fjord caught the attention of the world in 2004 when it was designated as a world heritage site by UNESCO, because of its unique significance for glaciological science and its outstanding nature. Growing tourism will mean more jobs, revenues and development for the area. According to the tourism strategy for Greenland, the centre is the first of five envisioned visitors’ centres, which together will take Greenland to a whole new level as a tourist destination. The idea is that the many nature experiences and cultural heritage narratives that Greenland has to offer will be communicated at several experience centres geographically across different regions in Greenland, inspired by centres such as the Norwegian Glacier Museum & Ulltveit-Moe Climate Centre in Fjærdal, Norway and the Thingvellir National Park in Iceland.  The Icefjord Centre will also serve as a gathering point and activity centre for the local community.

Vittus Qujaukitsoq, Minister for Industry, Labour, Trade and Foreign Affairs, Government of Greenland, said:

“Promoting tourism is high on the Government agenda. One of the cornerstones of our new strategy for tourism is to set up regional visitor centres. Therefore, I’m extremely pleased to see the Icefjord Centre taking shape. Our partnership with Realdania is a vital contribution to developing tourism in the years to come.”

Image Courtesy © MIR

Ole Dorph, Mayor of Qaasuitsup Municipality, said:

“We’re very happy to see the great interest in helping to build the Icefjord Centre that will make Ilulissat and Disko Bay an even more impressive attraction than it is today and that will disseminate knowledge about the ice fjord, and the Arctic climate and living conditions.”

Construction work will be managed by Realdania, and through its Realdania By & Byg subsidiary, will have the building ready for the first tourists, researchers and local visitors in 2020.

Jesper Nygård, CEO of Realdania, said:

“The Icefjord Centre will provide a front-row seat for the melting ice sheet and it will communicate the tangible consequences of climate change to us all. We are confident that the Icefjord Centre will be a significant contribution to the development of tourism in Ilulissat and Greenland as a whole, and not least become a global gathering point for research and climate debate. We now have a world-class architectural solution that underpins such a vision and which will take its place respectfully on the edge of the unique World Heritage Site.”

Ilulissat and the ice fjord are already attracting many glaciologists, heads of states and tourists with an interest in climate change. Ever more researchers are setting up camp around this active glacier in attempts to decode the past, present and future of climate change. The Icefjord Centre will underpin Greenland as the centre of global climate debate and research.

Image Courtesy © Dorte Mandrup arkitekter

Partners behind the Icefjord Centre

About Qaasuitsup Municipality

With an area of 660,000 km², Qaasuitsup Municipality is the world’s largest and most northerly municipality. Qaasuitsup means ‘place with polar darkness’. The principal city is Ilulissat and the municipality comprises eight towns and 31 settlements with a total of about 18,000 inhabitants.

About the Greenland Government

In 2009, the Government of Greenland (Selvstyret) replaced the Home Rule (Hjemmestyret) that was established in 1979. Naalakkersuisut is the government itself, elected by Inatsisartut, (the Parliament of Greenland). There are nine members of the current Naalakkersuisut, led by the Chairman of the Parliament.

About Realdania

Realdania is a philanthropic association working within the built environment with the primary goal of improving the quality of life. Realdania works with houses and buildings, in areas between buildings, in cities, and in villages. This is usually with other players, e.g. municipalities, companies, associations and foundations.

Image Courtesy © Dorte Mandrup arkitekter

Functionality at the Icefjord Centre

About half of the 900-square-metre building will be an exhibition area. The Icefjord Centre will also house the present Icefjord Office, which administrates the UNESCO World Heritage. There will also be a café, shop and field station for researchers.

The exhibition

Three themes will serve as the cornerstones of the Icefjord Centre’s exhibition. Ice and landscape – how ice forms as snowflakes on the Greenland ice sheet and ultimately ends up as icebergs in the fjord. Cultural heritage and civilization – why ice is so life-giving and has helped shape the more than 4,000-year-old Inuit culture along the fjord. Climate change – why ice is life-changing and has an enormous influence on the local and global climate. In addition to the dramatic narrative about the ice, visitors can also sit down for a rest and a bite to eat in the Centre’s experience room.

Image Courtesy © Dorte Mandrup arkitekter

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter – the team behind the Centre

The winning team with Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter as the coordinating contractor consists of: Arkitekt Kristine Jensens Tegnestue (the landscape project), Nøhr & Sigsgaard Arkitektfirma, Masanti Arkitekter og Ingeniører, and Søren Jensen Rådgivende Ingeniørfirma. Niels Bennetzen (urban planning consultant) and Professor of Geology, Minik Thorleif Rosing (from the Geological Museum at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen) are consultants on the project.

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter was founded in 2001 and is based in Copenhagen. The firm is behind several award-winning culture and sports projects in Copenhagen, such as Kvarterhuset, Prismen and Børnekulturhuset AMA’R. The firm also designed the Wadden Sea Centre, a nature information center for the UNESCO-listed Wadden Sea.

Tags: Greenland, Qaasuitsup

Category: Exhibition Center

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