BIG’s Glasir Tórshavn College is the Faroe Islands’ latest architectural offering
The picturesque landscape of the Faroe Islands has just received a new architectural addition in the shape of the Glasir Tórshavn College by Copenhagen based international architecture firm BIG. The building is designed to combine context and strong, sculptural, modern design.
The new structure is essentially a complex of different functions, comprising within a single, coherent design the Faroe Islands Gymnasium, Tórshavn Technical College and the Business College of Faroe Islands – effectively becoming home for a over 1,750 students, teachers and staff. Sitting on the edges of the island's capital of Tórshavn, the Glasir (as it's more informally, locally known) balances an urban scale with a certain lightness of touch, and views of the sea and greenery beyond the city, which connect it to its context.
Since the scheme mixes many different uses, functionality and a clever internal arrangement were key to the design. BIG opted for a structure that is ‘organised like a vortex', explain the architects, with five levels planned around a central courtyard. There's ‘one [level] for each of the three institutions, one for food and faculty, and one for physical exercise and gatherings', the team adds. The circular void at the heart of the building is a stepped, architectural landscape that mirrors the natural one outside, and allows space for meeting, relaxing and socialising for students and staff.
Connections to the outdoors were equally important for the team, so the external materials chosen – glass and aluminium – were picked for their lightness and transparency, allowing for the views and setting to take centre stage. All areas of the building open up to the surroundings, with the top levels, in particular, cantilevering out towards the mountainous scenery. Adding to this balance is the complex's rooftop, which is planted with grass that will grow to eventually ‘allow the education center to disappear into the Faroese landscape'.
‘Inspired by the dramatic Faroese topography, Glasir is designed like a landscape for learning: the central space of the school is conceived as a topographical interpretation of the natural landscape — a continuous terraced terrain with steps and staircases that connect across several levels and merge the multistory building into a single entity', says BIG founder and creative director Bjarke Ingels.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the BIG website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his 1990s-inspired collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: meet the practices
In the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2024, our latest guide to exciting, emerging practices from around the world, 20 young studios show off their projects and passion
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Meet Mast, the emerging masters of floating architecture
Danish practice Mast is featured in the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024
By Jens H Jensen Published
-
Step inside One High Line's sculptural forms in New York
One High Line, the residential building designed by Bjarke Ingels of BIG with interiors by Gabellini Sheppard and Gilles & Boissier, swirls up into the skyline absorbing its New York City context
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A redesigned Aarhus showroom reinterprets Danish history through modern context
Danish architecture studio Djernes & Bell transforms the Aarhus showroom for Dinesen and Garde Hvalsøe by blending old and new
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Minimalist Heatherhill Beach house was conceived with an 'essentialist mindset'
Heatherhill Beach house by Norm Architects in Denmark's Vejby is designed as a minimalist retreat conceived with an 'essentialist mindset'
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
3XN exhibition in Copenhagen discusses architecture through our senses
3XN exhibition 'Aware: Architecture and Senses' opens its doors at the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
River Wing at Clare College responds to its historic Cambridge heritage
University of Cambridge opens its new River Wing on Clare College Old Court, uniting modern technology with historic design
By Clare Dowdy Published
-
EPIQ's ‘vertical neighbourhood’ is a dynamic design centred on green space and heritage
In Quito, Ecuador, EPIQ by developer Uribe Schwarzkopf and architect Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is a dynamic contemporary build that slots into the cityscape
By Tianna Williams Published