15_Henius House | C.F. Møller Architects

NAME

Project title: Henius House

Recommending party
The project has been submitted by: Julian Weyer, C.F. Møller Architects partner

LOCATION
Country: Denmark

City: Aalborg

Address: Ditlev Bergs Vej 5-135, 9000

AUTHOR

Designer or design team architects: C.F. Møller Architects

DETAILS  

Plot Area: 8.029 sq.m.

Gross Area: 16.000 sq.m.

Of which residential: 95%
Public/communal areas: 5%
Facilities for the public: 0%
Business/trade: 0%
Offices: 0%

Number of residential units: 2240 youth residences and 45 family home
Typology of users: students
Total building costs Euros: 35.500.000,00 €
Building Cost = Total Bulding Cost / Gross Area: 2.218,00 €/ sq.m.
Floor area ratio = Gross Area / Plot Area: 1,99
Work started on date: Friday, 18th November 2011
Work completion date: Wednesday, 7th August 2013

OWNERSHIP 

Promoter: Himmerland Housing Association
Allotment rule: Members on waiting list, offered pr. seniority
Reduction cost percentage compared to the market value:
– assignment:15%
– rent: 30%

Description of the project: 

Aalborg has attracted attention by focusing on good student and youth homes in attractive locations in the city. The 240 new youth homes – called Henius House after Isidor Henius who owned the Eternit areas in 1896 – is a modern youth housing development with emphasis on the social community and many opportunities for common activities.

The Eternit area (called Eternitten) is a brownfield site, two kilometres south of the city of Aalborg, which previously housed the Danish Eternit factories in Aalborg. It is now under the transformation from cement industry to new urban district.

The facades of grey concrete with exposed construction joints are inspired by the cement factory’s original rough industrial architecture on the site. The raw concrete panels are interspersed with protruding volumes, another characteristic of the former industrial buildings. These volumes contain the common facilities, which are indicated in various bright colours.

Optimizing the circulation and gross areas of the complex has successfully provided funds to upgrade the shared facilities: The buildings offer both shared kitchen facilities and common rooms on all floors, common fitness facilities, internet café and workshops as well as outdoor areas designed for sports, movement, health and social life. The roofs are used for a ball court and various roof terraces, and the common facilities are highlighted with colours, graphics and scenographic lighting to emphasize their importance in the complex.

Six buildings in all, with four to five storeys each, will be oriented so that all residents are secured the best possible light and views of the area – which is on a ridge overlooking the city, the valley of Østerådal and the Limfjord strait.

The youth residences are flexible in their design to ensure optimal opportunities for future adaptations of the interiors, so that two youth residences for example can be merged into a family home or a shared flat.

The buildings meet the requirements for Danish low-energy class 2015, and sustainability features include low-energy windows and highly insulated building envelopes, solar panels, ventilation with heat recovery, green roofs and rainwater harvesting.