Aldo Amoretti Captures the Sculptural Forms of the Wadden Sea Centre by Dorte Mandrup
The Italian photographer Aldo Amoretti, renowned for his many architectural shots, have this time captured The Wadden Sea Centre — a spectacular and award winning museum completed back in 2017. Done by the acclaimed Danish architectural office, Dorte Mandrup, the museum is located in the southern part of Jutland, Denmark. The Wadden Sea is Denmark’s largest and newest national park and UNESCO appointed World Heritage site.
Surrounded by the unique marshland, The Wadden Sea Centre gives the impression of a building that has emerged from the ground, drawing a soft, long and clear profile against the Wadden Sea’s infinite horizon. Here, the building stands as a clear interpretation of the local building tradition and the rural farmhouse typology significant in the area with its distinct thatched roofs and facades underlining the tactile qualities and robustness.
The significant thatch, harvested from local wheat fields, folds into generous overhangs and then into walls, creating a singular, horizontal and monumental form. Whilst the resulting building appears somewhat introverted and enclosed in its expression, the thatch offers a tactility and variation which breaks down its mass and provokes a strong impulse to touch. This sense of intrigue is central to the project’s success – its materiality is at once familiar, resonating with a local vernacular, yet distinct, taking on a new poetic form while hosting a public function.
The bright and polished exhibition spaces are in stark contrast to the tactile qualities of the external materials – whitewashed walls and ceilings provide sculptural but undefined rooms which reinforce the building’s sense of introversion and the division of internal and external space. The main building of the Wadden Sea Centre features the extended exhibition space, an entrance area with café, a covered terraced and office area, while the annex — opposite to the access — hosts education rooms, a second covered terrace and a storage space.
The building as a whole acts as a contemporary landmark and a gateway to the Wadden Sea National Park, while it harmoniously blends in with the surroundings.
All images courtesy of Aldo Amoretti
