Danish Architecture Centre (Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

: Dansk Arkitektur Center), DAC, is a communication and development centre for architecture in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. It is located in Gammel Dok, a former warehouse from 1882 located on Strandgade in Christianshavn

Christianshavn

Christianshavn is an artificial island neighbourhood located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in the early 17th century by Christian IV as part of his extension of the fortifications of Copenhagen. Originally it was laid out as an independent privileged merchant's town with inspiration from...

, where it operates an exhibition space which puts on temporary exhibitions about architecture, urban planning and sustainable development.

It was founded in 1995 as a collaboration between the Danish Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs

Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs (Denmark)

The Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs is a ministry in the current Danish government.Lene Espersen has held the ministry since the 10th of September 2008....

 and the Realdania foundation.

History

The Gammel Dok Warehouse was built in 1882 to the design of the architect H. C. Scharling. It takes its name from Gammel Dok, Denmark's first dry dock

Dry dock

A drydock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform...

 which had been established on a neighbouring site in 1739. The warehouse was extended with an extra floor around 1920. The building was acquired by the Danish state in 1979.

Danish Architecture Centre was founded in 1985 through a collaboration between the Danish Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs

Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs (Denmark)

The Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs is a ministry in the current Danish government.Lene Espersen has held the ministry since the 10th of September 2008....

 and the Realdania foundation. It moved into the Gammel Dok building after renovation and conversion work carried out by Erik Møllers Tegnestue

Erik Møller

Svend Erik Møller was a Danish architect.Møller used to work with the famous Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen. Together they won the competition to build the new City Hall in Aarhus, which was built from 1938 to 1942. At the same time they built another town hall in Søllerød. From 1955...

 had been completed in 1986. The plaza in front of it was laid out in 1997 following the completion of neighbouring Arkitekternes Hus, a modern 3XN

3XN

3XN is a Danish architectural practice with head office in Copenhagen.-History:The company was founded in Århus in 1986 as Nielsen, Nielsen & Nielsen by Kim Herforth Nielsen, Lars Frank Nielsen og Hans Peter Svendler Nielsen. The latter left the company, which is today led by a partner group of...

 designed building housing the Architects' Association of Denmark

Architects' Association of Denmark

The Architects' Association of Denmark , or simply AA, is an independent professional body for Danish architects. It was founded in founded om 21 November 1879 with the prime duty to advance and promote architectural quality by influencing the planning and design of our physical environment in the...

.

There are currently plans to move the centre to new and larger premises in a building to be built by Realdania on the so-called Bryghusgrunden site next to Christian IV's Brewhouse

Christian IV's Brewhouse

Christian IV's Brewhouse is a building in Copenhagen, Denmark, dating from 1608. In spite of the name under which it is known today, the building was not originally built for the purpose of brewing beer...

 on the other side of the harbour. The project has been designed by Rem Koolhaas

Rem Koolhaas

Remment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, USA. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural...

.

Exhibitions and events

By means of temporary exhibitions and events, it seeks to communicate knowledge of architecture and urban planning, promoting interest by the general public.

Industry initiatives

The DAC also develops projects and operates various programmes promoting cooperation across the professional boundaries of the construction and architecture sectors by establishing partnerships. DAC's role is to develop projects and set up, ensure financing of and manage partnerships.

Facilities

The Danish Architecture Centre operates an exhibition space in its historic building and also has conference and meeting rooms. Facilities also include a well-stacked bookshop and a restaurant.

External links

• Official website
• PDF about Danish Architecture Centre