Kulturhuset

An extension to a modernist church

Kulturhuset is an extension and remodelling project in Trelleborg in the furthest southern Sweden. The client brief was to reinvigorate the old modernist church hall [used as a storage space/performance hall] into a proper space for performance and arts.

The history of the building starts as a church from the 1930’s which was sold in the 1970’s for its present purpose. Since it has become a bit run-down, and the client wishes to refurbish and extend with implementation of housing for young adults.

The performance hall is rotated 180 degrees, facing the ‘other’ direction with telescopic bleachers for flexible use. The roof of the performance hall is lowered from 3 to 2 floors, giving the space better acoustic proportions. The extension will house the new foyer, with ticket booths, a small bar, and technical facilities with a Nordic modern vernacular design using wood and organic shapes.

The iconographic idea for the building is to preserve the original facade - both the gable, front and back. The surrounding buildings are mid-century modern with a lot of yellow stone and copper/wood detailing. The idea for the extension is to keep the colour scheme by using yellow brick and green window details. The ‘top’extension has an extruded floor which separates the ‘old’ and ‘new’. The upper facade material is of green mosaics that alludes to materials used of the time and on sunny days reflects the sky.