Alsion Campus, Syddansk University
1 / Introduction
Syddansk University’s Alsion campus, located in the Danish town of Sonderborg, is an exceptional example of how our international experience combined with our specialist knowledge of higher education developments have achieved an outstanding facility. As well as a striking – and RIBA award-winning – architectural statement in its own right, the university provides outstanding facilities for students while exceeding Danish energy targets. This was the first project we worked on with architects 3xN, and we have since worked with them on several other major projects.
Key facts
- Waterside campus built on a former railway yard by the Als Sund River
- Highly sustainable features beat Danish regulations by 20–30 %
- Campus received 2007 RIBA European Award
Related Disciplines
The Project Details
- Client:
Syddansk University - Architect:
3XN - Project value:
£30million - Buro Happold services:
Buildings service engineering, structural engineering, fire engineering and risk assessment, computational simulation and analysis, acoustic engineering
2 / Challenge
3xN’s vision was for an extremely open and transparent building that encourages interaction between students and teachers, with extensive use of glass walls and cantilevered sections. The brief also included the need to beats local regulatory standards on energy consumption by 30% –in a country where these targets are 30% more demanding than UK regulations.
Ensuring safety in the event of a fire was another major task, particularly with such a large, open plan design featuring numerous atria spaces. And one of the key challenges for our facades team was to design the glass walls so that they remained visually stunning without affecting internal temperatures.
3 / Solution
Much of our work focused on maintaining the open plan design whilst minimising the need to install physical fire resisting construction. Buro Happold’s unrivalled knowledge of international standards meant that we were able to deliver a solution that was a first for Demark. A bespoke high pressure water mist system was installed throughout the building to rapidly extinguish a fire. An extensive programme of computer modelling and tests at the Danish Fire Institute were undertaken to demonstrate how this exciting solution could work for the client, the architect and the authorities.
The cleverly designed façade also provides just enough shading to reduce solar gain while maximising the amount of daylight entering the building.
4 / Value
The light, airy feeling throughout the University created by the open spaces and use of glass results in a vibrant, stimulating environment for study, while contributing to the outstanding sustainability credentials. The Alsion campus sets the benchmark for sustainable higher education buildings not just in Denmark, but across the globe.
