herning museum of contemporary art
HEART architecture
HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art was designed by US firm Steven Holl Architects. Holl is among the select group of architects to have been awarded the Alvar Aalto medal for their work. The firm's design credits include the KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki. Finland, and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. HEART has two institutions in residence: The MidWest Ensemble and Socle du Monde. The ensemble is the pre-eminent chamber music company in Denmark, while Socle du Monde is a biennial founded by a collaboration between artists and the business community. Thus co-habitation within a single building provides HEART with the ability to create a unique programme where audiences can enjoy the results of the recurring biennial and also have the opportunity to experience a wide range of collaborations that bridge the various art forms. HEART was designed to fit its specific site and to complement the range of purposes for the building as well as the unique history of the city in which it resides. HEART is designed to relate to its neighbours – Utzon’s prototype house and the Angli factory – thereby also relating the history which created the place. The theme of HEART concerns tactility and materiality. The external walls, moulded on-site, were created in white concrete, and the facades greet us with a wrinkled, textile like surface. These tactile (and textile) references are continued on the roof. The roof is made up of five forms reminiscent of shirtsleeves cut lengthwise. The "sleeves" create evoke associations with the neigbouring Angli shirt factory with Paul Gadegaard’s decorative work and to the raised forms of the Utzon house. Vertical bands of clerestory glass provide the exhibition rooms with light. The crucial core of the layout is the two exhibition spaces, the pendicular lines of which lie in juxtaposition to the biomorphic nature of the overall structure. In the space surrounding the core exhibition galleries, HEART also features a concert hall, restaurant, library and visitor’s centre, which can host two high school classes at a time and offers state of the art options for educational programmes. The fields surrounding the building are transformed into grass-covered berms and reflecting pools concealing the parking and utility areas. The landscape reaches its culmination in the “square” which features a large pool and is situated near the restaurant, library, and visitor’s centre. Furnished with outdoor stage facilities, it serves as a pivotal point of relaxed social interaction during the summer season. Here, one can watch a performance, experience new media art, or listen to electronic and rock music.
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Museum Hours
Tuesday - Sunday: 10-17 Thursday: 10-22 Monday: Closed Admission & Tickets
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