Dorte Mandrup designs Danish crafts college as living textbook
Danish studio Dorte Mandrup has used a palette of exposed brick and timber to create the elliptical form of The Crafts College in Herning, which is designed for aspiring craftspeople in Denmark.
The college on the outskirts of Herning is the second of three planned across Denmark by non-profit Fonden for Håndværkskollegier and funded by real estate company BRFfonden to boost interest and experience in manual trades.
Housed within a large, elliptical ring that wraps a communal courtyard, The Crafts College combines affordable accommodation and teaching spaces for seventy aspiring craftspeople.
"The Crafts College is a natural continuation of an area shaped by industry and previously established vocational education," Dorte Mandrup partner Kasper Pilemand told Dezeen.
"By combining living, learning, and working under one roof, the design was directed towards supporting a strong sense of belonging and collaboration," he added.
The college's ring-shaped plan informed its layout, with more communal areas such as workshops overlooking the central courtyard and student residences placed around the outer perimeter.
Four large openings connect the central courtyard to the surrounding heathland, with galvanised steel staircases and walkways linking to its upper levels and providing deck access to the apartments.
The Crafts College was constructed predominantly from reclaimed brickwork and timber, with material surfaces and junctions left exposed to demonstrate both construction methods and how the materials will age over time.
A double-height cloister framed by timber columns on concrete feet wraps the inner courtyard, while an oversized steel gutter funnels rainwater from the slate-tiled roof into a central pool.
Set back from the large overhang of the roof, the college's tactile brick walls and floors are punctured by large sliding glass doors and timber-framed windows with built-in benches at their base.
This palette is carried through to The Crafts College's interiors, where the rough brickwork has been left exposed in communal areas and the bedrooms have been enveloped in timber panelling that conceals ample built-in storage.
"With the ambition of turning the building into a living textbook, the materials were chosen for their tactility and transparent ways of applications, allowing apprentices to understand the tectonics and artisanal methods in use," Pilemand explained.
"Leaving the surfaces raw naturally demonstrates how materials inherently change character and respond to factors such as climate, use and time, serving as an active teaching tool," Pilemand added.
"Apart from being sustainable, robust, and reliable, these considerations played a fundamental part in the choice of materials."
Dorte Mandrup was founded in Copenhagen in 1999. Previous projects by the studio include a "homely and inviting" diabetes health centre in Copenhagen and a twisted climate visitor centre in Greenland.
The photography is by Adam Mørk.
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