Architecture

BIG completes subterranean Danish National Maritime Museum

BIG completes subterranean Danish National Maritime Museum
The museum is sunk into a former dry dock, and located adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle (Photo: BIG)
The museum is sunk into a former dry dock, and located adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle (Photo: BIG)
View 24 Images
BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier (Photo: BIG)
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BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier (Photo: BIG)
The museum measures a total of 6,500 sq m (70,000 sq ft) (Photo: BIG)
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The museum measures a total of 6,500 sq m (70,000 sq ft) (Photo: BIG)
The museum is located adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle (Photo: BIG)
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The museum is located adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle (Photo: BIG)
An auditorium, classroom, offices, a cafe, and an extensive library and archives section are found inside (Photo: BIG)
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An auditorium, classroom, offices, a cafe, and an extensive library and archives section are found inside (Photo: BIG)
BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier (Photo: BIG)
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BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier (Photo: BIG)
Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
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Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
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Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
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Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
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Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
The museum features exhibition spaces dedicated to charting Denmark’s long seafaring history, looping around the dry dock’s walls (Photo: BIG)
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The museum features exhibition spaces dedicated to charting Denmark’s long seafaring history, looping around the dry dock’s walls (Photo: BIG)
The museum measures a total of 6,500 sq m (70,000 sq ft) (Photo: BIG)
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The museum measures a total of 6,500 sq m (70,000 sq ft) (Photo: BIG)
BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier (Photo: BIG)
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BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier (Photo: BIG)
The museum is sunk a total of 7 m (23 ft) into the ground (Photo: BIG)
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The museum is sunk a total of 7 m (23 ft) into the ground (Photo: BIG)
Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
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Architectural plan (Image: BIG)
The museum features exhibition spaces dedicated to charting Denmark’s long seafaring history, looping around the dry dock’s walls (Photo: BIG)
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The museum features exhibition spaces dedicated to charting Denmark’s long seafaring history, looping around the dry dock’s walls (Photo: BIG)
The museum is located in a former dry dock (Photo: BIG)
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The museum is located in a former dry dock (Photo: BIG)
An auditorium, classroom, offices, a cafe, and an extensive library and archives section are found inside (Photo: BIG)
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An auditorium, classroom, offices, a cafe, and an extensive library and archives section are found inside (Photo: BIG)
The museum measures a total of 6,500 sq m (70,000 sq ft) (Photo: BIG)
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The museum measures a total of 6,500 sq m (70,000 sq ft) (Photo: BIG)
BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier(Photo: BIG)
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BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier(Photo: BIG)
The museum is located adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle (Photo: BIG)
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The museum is located adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle (Photo: BIG)
The museum is sunk into a former dry dock, and located adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle (Photo: BIG)
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The museum is sunk into a former dry dock, and located adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle (Photo: BIG)
The museum is sunk a total of 7 m (23 ft) into the ground(Photo: BIG)
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The museum is sunk a total of 7 m (23 ft) into the ground(Photo: BIG)
An auditorium, classroom, offices, a cafe, and an extensive library and archives section are found inside (Photo: BIG)
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An auditorium, classroom, offices, a cafe, and an extensive library and archives section are found inside (Photo: BIG)
The museum features exhibition spaces dedicated to charting Denmark’s long seafaring history, looping around the dry dock’s walls (Photo: BIG)
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The museum features exhibition spaces dedicated to charting Denmark’s long seafaring history, looping around the dry dock’s walls (Photo: BIG)
View gallery - 24 images

Denmark-based architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) recently completed work on the new Danish National Maritime Museum. The museum is placed within a large pre-existing dry dock, and thus doesn’t unduly disrupt the local area – an important concern given its location adjacent to the historical Kronborg castle, as immortalized in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Measuring a total of 6,500 sq m (70,000 sq ft), the Danish National Maritime Museum takes up the entirety of the former dry dock, and is sunk a total of 7 m (23 ft) into the ground. The dock’s 60 year-old walls were left untouched, and BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier.

BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier (Photo: BIG)
BIG installed three double-level bridges, in addition to several sloping areas, to make navigating the interior easier (Photo: BIG)

The museum features exhibition spaces dedicated to charting Denmark’s long seafaring history, looping around the dry dock’s walls. In addition, an auditorium, classroom, offices, a cafe, and an extensive library and archives section are also found inside.

BIG isn’t typically known for showing restraint in its larger-than-life projects, but to this author’s mind the Danish National Maritime Museum’s muscular mix of industrial and modern styling, combined with its novel construction, is familiar, but by no means vulgar.

Source: BIG via Arch Daily

View gallery - 24 images
2 comments
2 comments
Satweavers
It seems like the museum is more about architectural "wow" than maritime exhibits. Perhaps it's just the article that's fixating on the "wow".
Bruce Sherman
It's not quite clear from the article, but if it is the type of dock that is dug into the ground next to the ocean it is a graving dock as opposed to a floating dry dock. Both are sometimes referred to as dry-docks, but more correctly, it's a graving dock.