LUXURY ON CAMPUS

THEIR JOB WAS TO DESIGN "THE STUDENT DORMITORY OF THE FUTURE". WHAT THEY CAME UP WITH IS A HIT WITH BOTH CRITICS AND STUDENTS. THE TIETGENKOLLEGIET IN COPENHAGEN.

The inner courtyard presents a kaleidoscope of student life, everywhere there are windowed cubes projecting from the circular facade, with lights burning late into the night and here and there a party in progress. Some 360 young people live here in the Tietgenkollegiet through which groups of visitors wander as if it were a design museum, attracted by rave reviews in the Danish press. Journalists have declared it “one of Denmark’s finest buildings,” or, simply, “luxury.”

Student dormitories in Denmark are frequently built and run by charitable trusts. And the Tietgenkollegiet, which was financed by the well endowed foundation set up by a major bank, is no exception. But it was not money that called the tune here, but the aspiration to set an international benchmark: “the student dormitory of the future.”

INSPIRED BY A STACK OF PLATES
The circular design that won the contest for the Tietgenkollegiet was the brainchild of 51-year-old Peter Thorsen. At home in cowboy boots, turtleneck and leather jacket, he is a partner with Copenhagen architects Lundgaard & Tranberg. He recalls how during the contest his team spent a long time brooding over a plan of the surrounding buildings: The location for the dormitory was in northern Ørestad, a district of the city built on the “new town” principle. By no means all of the buildings in this new district are architectural gems. The Tietgenkollegiet site is surrounded by extended rectangular blocks occupied by offices and the university. How could a pioneering design be fitted into this configuration? How could the rigid structures be loosened up? “We weren’t at all sure,” Thorsen admits. The team had been eating cake, their plates lay stacked upon the table. “Suddenly one of us grabbed the stack of plates and planted it on the plan,” he recalls. The architects had wanted to create a building to encourage communication and community. And what symbolizes togetherness better than a circle?

NO PLACE FOR LONERS
On the inside of the ring the architects positioned the communal rooms, while the 25- to 33-square-meter individual rooms are on the outside. “Scandinavian architecture is always functional,” says Thorsen. It is a matter of course that the walls and floors in a student dormitory absorb noise, that designers think about where students can dry their wet boots.

The absence of cooking facilities in the rooms is also part of the plan: “We didn’t design the building for people who want to shut themselves away on their own.”

A BUILDING IS LIKE A GOOD WINE
The ground floor is a case in point. There, the residents can chat in the computer room, practice circuit training in the gym, do their sewing in the workrooms, play the piano in the music room. On Saturdays there is a bar in the party room. The building is clad with tombac on the outside, a brass alloy with a high percentage of copper that looks good even in “gråvejr”—which is important: “grey weather” is common in Copenhagen. The € 107 million price tag is the only aspect criticized by the Danish public. Isn’t that a lot to pay for a student dorm? No, says Peter Thorsen, as the use of durable materials will prove more economical as the years go by. “The building is like a good wine,” he adds. “It will continue to improve with time.”

Text: Bernd Hauser, Photos: Lundgaard & Tranberg
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2011