The Kildren Performing Arts Centre in Kristiansand, Norway.
Finland
ALA Architects
Based in Helsinki, ALA Architects combines traditional design methods with modern tools such as parametric design (generation of a design through the use of mathematical and geometric relations) and 3D printing. The firm designs a wide range of projects, pursuing fresh angles and flowing forms, including underground stations, houses, high rises and cultural venues.
In 2013, with their entry Käännös, ALA won the design competition for the new Helsinki Central Library. The ultra-modern structure is divided into three levels, with the traditional, quiet library atmosphere on the top floor, which looks out onto the cityscape, floating above busy central Helsinki. The ground floor is an active space, with the two contrasting floors connected by an arching wooden volume, which contains support spaces for the other two levels. The library is being constructed from local materials and will be very energy efficient, paying strict attention to local climate conditions.
ALA designed the Kildren Performing Arts Centre in Kristiansand, Norway to represent a transition from the everyday world to the creative environment of the arts. This notion is enhanced by setting the Centre in an industrial area, with an undulating oak wall that extends beyond the Centre’s entrance into the dull landscape, offering a portal into a new world. The rippling façade of the building echoes the canal in front of the Centre, proposing the idea that the building is fluid and exists outside the structure of everyday life. Contrasting the soft shape of the building’s façade, the walls of the main theatre are covered in metal sheets folded into sharp, geometric shapes, which suggests the industrial landscape outside.
