Cultural Centre of Greenland

Nuuk, Greenland

Photo © Peter Barfoed

Cultural Centers

Architects: Schmidt Hammer Lassen

Location: Nuuk, Greenland
Year: 1997

Inspired by Greenland’s dramatic scenery of icebergs, snowfields and mountains, the main element of the building is sheathed by a floating, undulating screen of golden larch wood. This second skin lends the scheme an elegant airiness, creating a contrast with the solid form of the core building. The screen acts as an architectural metaphor for the Northern Lights, whereas the dark and massive form of the main building is reminiscent of the icy mountains of Greenland.

Daylight streams into the large foyer through roof lights and narrow oblong glass slits in the external screen. The foyer serves as an indoor public piazza for the city and is divided into separate areas by three free-standing geometric structures housing the main facilities of the Cultural Centre: a square box for the television studio, a triangular structure for the café and a circular form for the multi-purpose auditorium which has seating for 550 people and can also be used as a cinema or a concert or conference hall. The Cultural Centre of Greenland in Nuuk is a dynamic meeting place for Inuits from all over the northern hemisphere.

Awards: 1997, Selected Buildings Award/ 1998, The Nykredit Architecture Prize/ 1998, The Danish Arts Foundation Award/ 1999, The Eckersberg Medal.
Read more: https://www.shl.dk/katuaq-cultural-centre/