On the Architecture

Use your senses and explore ARKEN

  
ARKEN is not constructed as a continuous form but consists of joined building parts. Large open rooms followed by small closed ones makes for dramatic transitions.

The oblique angles of the rooms make ensure that the architecture is surprising, dynamic and full of contrasts. The museum was constructed to challenge one’s eye as well as one’s balance. Unlike the works of art, you are allowed to touch the architecture and slide your hand over the concrete wall.

  
The curving and tilting walls, the split-levels, the special passages of light, the visible constructions and the at times striking colours stimulate all one’s senses, demanding to be experienced with the entire body. The architect behind ARKEN, Søren Robert Lund, was thinking in strong contrasts between the naked concrete grey walls, with the traces of the shuttering boards still visible, to the Venetian red walls of the Red Axis and the cloakroom.

You can explore ARKEN’s architecture with your senses: Challenge your sight in the Art Axis where the room seems even longer than it is. Or use your sense of touch and feel what it is like to walk on the soft wooden floor in the foyer rather than the hard concrete floor of the Art Axis. One’s sense of equilibrium is challenged in the Red Axis where the sloping floor and the slanting wall make walking straight difficult. End up in the café and indulge your sense of taste.