Plassen Cultural Center
The Norwegian city of Molde has just 25,000 inhabitants, but every July the biggest stars of jazz and about 100,000 jazz enthusiasts flock to the town’s world famous international jazz festival. In designing the city’s new cultural center, the challenge faced by 3XN was to create a building that was flexible and robust enough to provide a framework for cultural life on both scales.”There must be room for celebration in this building, both inside, on top of it and around it. And it must be able to withstand being invaded by happy people throughout the year – year after year, says Head of Competition and Partner of 3XN, Jan Ammundsen about the Danish architectural practices most recently completed project. Located in the city center and overlooking both the fjord and the mountains, the Plassen cultural center is an obvious meeting point. With an optimal use of every square meter, 3XN has created a building that can function both when a hundred and 100,000 people gather for concerts, festivals or theater.
photograph by © Adam Mork
The architectural solution is a structure where almost all surfaces and spaces have more than one function. Together with the building’s roof, an existing staircase next to the building constitutes a total of three outdoor amphitheaters that collectively accommodate several thousand spectators. During the day the roof offers a cafe with outdoor seating, a recreational area with splendid views an...