Situated near Jægersborg Dyrehave, north of Copenhagen, Ordrupgaard houses Northern Europe’s most comprehensive collection of French and Danish art from the 19th and early 20th century. Originally built as a three-winged country mansion in the neo-classical style during World War I, the museum was expanded by a modern 1,150 m2 glass and black lava concrete extension in 2005, designed by Zaha Hadid. Snøhetta’s design, most of which is underground, but also partly excavated from the landscape, creates a holistic and continuous path throughout the entire museum and its surrounding park and gardens, linking Hadid’s extension for special exhibitions with the museum’s original building and permanent collection. In total, Snøhetta’s design comprises landscape interventions as well as five brand new, subterranean exhibition spaces, two of which create a continuation of Hadid’s exhibition space, and three specially dedicated to one of the museum’s main attractions: its extensive and permanent collection of French impressionistic paintings.

▼项目概览，overall of the project © Laura Stamer

Through its innovative yet subdued design, the new extension and its exhibition spaces allow for a circular movement through Ordrupgaard, creating a continuous movement through the museum’s rich collection and lush gardens. The design further lives up to the highest international standards when it comes to exhibition design and art conservation and display, providing a comfortable and intuitive museum journey that is accessible and tangible for all.

The largest of the three main exhibition spaces designed by Snøhetta can be partly seen from the outside as a monolithic, steel-coated sculpturesque structure that seems somewhat excavated from a larger volume below ground. Just like a hidden treasure that reveals itself as it appears during excavation, the structure glistens in the landscape. Cut in a wide range of different facets and polished in different directions, the structure creates a play of light throughout the days and shifting seasons.

▼钢涂层表面形成丰富的反射效果，a monolithic, steel-coated sculpturesque structure © Laura Stamer