Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Nordic Architecture & Design Special – Denmark
Making the architect’s business everybody’s business NOVA5 have expanded their partner group and their area of expertise. From specialising in social housing and public schools, the Danish architecture firm is now taking on more commercial projects as well as projects involving sports – still keeping their social perspective on things. By Nicolai Lisberg | Photos: NOVA5
Since the foundation of NOVA5 in 1994, the Danish architecture firm has mainly been known for specialising in social housing and schools, but lately the firm has taken on international and commercial projects as well as more projects involving sports. “I believe it was the obvious choice to move into the area of sports. We wanted to have a wider spectrum of clients, and in many ways it was a prolongation of what we’ve been doing so far. With the school reform a few years 54 | Issue 105 | October 2017
back, more PE and physical activity had to be integrated in the way we were building and renovating schools, so we’ve taken this experience we have gained over the last couple of years and used it to design sports facilities as well,” says Thomas Dahl, architect and partner at NOVA5.
Democratic architecture One of the projects the architecture firm is working on at the moment is the new stadium for the Danish football team,
FC Elsinore, who recently stepped up by entering the Danish Superliga. One of the reasons why NOVA5 won the design competition was their democratic way of approaching the project, which was a bit different to how you would typically design a stadium. In fact, one of the first things they did was to change the working title from New Elsinore Stadium to Elsinore Sports Ground. “The new stadium will be located in a green area that the local residents use a lot. So instead of making a traditional tall, excluding stadium, to be used just once a week, we wanted to integrate it into the society and the local area,” explains Jennifer Dahm Petersen, architect and newly minted partner at NOVA5.