Ordrupgaard Museum Extension
Zaha Hadid Architects

 
Photo: arcspace

The design is based on Zaha Hadid's personal interpretation of the surrounding landscape and the relationship to the original building.

When Ordrupgaard reopens its doors, after being closed for almost two years, the museum will have doubled both its exhibition space and public space.


Photo: arcspace

The growth of Ordrupgaard presented an opportunity to explore new formal relationships between the components of the museum and the garden that frames it, in so far that the ensemble constitutes a kind of topography in itself.

/Zaha Hadid

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace
Ordrupgaard was built in 1918 as a country estate and showcase for insurance magnate Wilhelm Hansen's remarkable collection of French Impressionist and Danish paintings. It has been a public museum since 1953.

Photo: arcspace
The design is based on Zaha Hadid's personal interpretation of the surrounding landscape and the relationship to the original building; both in size and in the proportions of the new galleries.

Opacity is achieved by an in-situ black lava concrete skin that acts as a counterpoint for the various glazed elements that reflect the landscape and allow glimpses of the interior. Earthworks and embankments bring the building into the ground at key points around the plan.


Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace


Photo: arcspace
The new entrance is accessed from a courtyard that physically separates the new building from the existing long French Gallery building.
The Foyer runs parallel to the courtyard "pointing" visitors in the direction of the galleries.


Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace
Lighting slits act as orientation devices to the visitors. Natural light is filtered and moderated as it passes through the building shell; the roof.

A long sloping ramp divides the Temporary and Permanent Gallery spaces and leads to the Multipurpose Hall and Café which face out to the garden.

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace
Terraces are designed to connect the new to the existing Mansion garden terraces; again providing visitors with a visual connection between the buildings.
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Model photo courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects


Drawing courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects
Site Plan


Drawing courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects
Ground Floor Plan

Even though Zaha Hadid's building has a strikingly different and contemporary idiom in relation to the original country house, she has managed to capture the special spirit of the site and skilfully bring it up to date. Despite the new extension, Ordrupgaard retains its basic character.

/Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark
Director Ordrupgaard