Fjordenhus (Fjord House), commissioned by KIRK KAPITAL, is the first building designed by Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann with Studio Olafur Eliasson. Rising out of the water, Fjordenhus connects Vejle Fjord with the city centre of Vejle. Accessible by footbridge, the twenty-eight-metre-high building is formed by four intersecting cylinders with brick facades from which ellipsoidal negative spaces were removed to create complex curved forms and arched windows. The varying floor plans of the different levels are organised around circles and ellipses, with specially designed furniture and lights connected by spiral staircases and round vestibules. The double-height ground floor, which is open to the public, is permeated by the fjord and contains two aqueous zones with site-specific artworks. By night, Fjordenhus is lit from within, resembling a lighthouse.
Research:
The building is defined by four intersecting vertical cylinders. Ellipsoidal volumes are subtracted from the cylinder surfaces (boolean operations) to form the curved facades and arched openings. The ellipse axes and positions were set to satisfy structural and optical constraints. Floor plans are organized around circles and ellipses that vary by level; spiral staircases and round vestibules align with this geometry. The mathematical work covered cylinder-cylinder and cylinder-ellipsoid intersection surfaces and circle-ellipse relationships for the layout.
Photography: Studio Olafur Elíasson, Anders Sune Berg, Taylor Dover
https://olafureliasson.net/artwork/fjordenhus-2009-2018/
