Plassen

The 3XN design cuts and folds the surface of the Gørvellplassen.

Project details

• Project Name: Plassen
• Location of Site: Molde, Norway
• Design Team: Kim Herforth Nielsen, Jan Ammundsen, Marie Hesseldahl Larsen, Johanne Dahl Holmsberg, Eva Hviid-Nielsen, Michael Soja Hoxbroe, Jorgen Sondermark
• Project Type: Theatre and Jazz House
• Client: Teater - og Jazzhuset
• Site Area: 9000 sq. m.
• Built-up Area: 5800 sq. m.

Surface and roof merges.

Plassen ("The Square") Theatre and Jazz-house, Molde, Norway

The Norwegian town of Molde at the Romsdalsfjorden south of Trondheim, is renowned for its roses and its international jazz festival, attracting famous jazz musicians and a wide audience when it takes place every summer in July. The 3XN winning design of the competition for a theatre and jazz-house literally grabs the Gorvellplassen, the site of the new building. It cuts and folds the surface like a giant paper cutting, resulting in a building where the inside and the outside, the surface and the roof, merges to allow the stages, the gallery, and the cafe to open up and take advantage of the outside area.

Low-rise and growing out of the site, the Cultural Centre creates new outdoor spaces.

Emphasizing this principle, the form of the building can be described as horizontal strips, relating to each other creating wide openings for the daylight, providing a splendid view from within as well as from the outside. It is relatively low-rise, consisting of just three floors that make room for Teatret Vart, Molde International Jazz Festival, the Bjornson festival, the library and the arts centre in a compact and well-functioning structure.

Open mouth entrance connect outdoor space with foyer.

With its highly usable and easy accessible areas, it maintains the public space of Gorvellplassen, and even enhances the flexibility of the square. Contemporary and innovative, but at the same time simple and blunt, the design of the building resists any excesses. Hence, it is in accordance with the surrounding sober and regularly shaped buildings, while the horizontal lay-out opens up the square in the north-south direction. Use of the same local stone on both walls and floors, creates a calm atmosphere. The exterior is dominated by the broad staircase, completed with beds for the roses, providing people of Molde not only with a space to rest in nice weather, but also the jazz festival with a big open-air stage that may become a new focal point for the town. Heart of the building is the stage in the main hall, an arts centre with a gallery facing the upper square and the library situated in the eastern wing with a strong exposure to the square.

More photographs

Library with red box hall.

Art gallery above main staircase.

Flexible multi-functional hall.

Landscape cross section.

Cross section.

Credits

• Text - Christian Bundegaard, Courtesy of the Architect
• Photographs - 3XN architects, Courtesy of the Architect