A place for children of all ages

Børnekulturhus Ama’r has been a complex project in many ways, involving a long construction process. However, it was worth it resulting in a magnificent building which encourages children’s play and discovery among its unusual shapes, spaces and rooms.

Gravity has been put to the test in the first children's cultural centre on Amager, where nothing is as you would expect – perhaps because children have been asked to make suggestions for its interior! Dorte Mandrup Architects, in cooperation with Nøhr & Sigsgaard Architects, found solutions for the creative and technical challenges which the building’s brief required. Troldtekt acoustic panels have been used on all ceilings – including the flower meadow, which is upside down together with a couple of Martians (also upside down).

The building's very complicated structural shape is reflected in the sloping ceilings, which add good acoustics in all the rooms. Architecturally, the children's culture centre is very unified with a unique identity, while containing a myriad of flexible and connected rooms of varying size.

"It has been important while designing the centre's many different rooms to ensure that they are mutually connected visually and linked by the dynamic ceilings and wall surfaces," said Anders Brink, architect at Dorte Mandrup Architects.

The children's culture centre offers daily workshops and events open to all children so therefore the rooms have been designed to cater for changing functions and activities. The materials used are durable and sustainable. For example, the window bays are made of sustainable, certified wood while Troldtekt panels are made from environmentally friendly cement and wood. The services are also modern, such as the windows that open automatically on hot days.