When the Aarhus School of Architecture was established in 1965 the intention was that the school was to be temporarily housed in the old merchant's house buildings at Nørreport 20, 8000 Aarhus C until more appropriate premises could be found, or a completely new school built. Almost 50 years have passed, and the school is still located at Nørreport 20.
The Ministry of Education, Aarhus School of Architecture and the Municipality of Aarhus (Aarhus Kommune) have therefore decided to build a new school of architecture at Godsbanearealet in the center of Aarhus, with the Danish Building & Property Agency as developer. The Danish Building & Property Agency (BYGST) is the state's property enterprise and developer. The new school is expected to be fully functional in 2020.
This will be the first time that a new school of architecture is built in Denmark. Besides concentrating the School physically and creating an up-to-date physical framework for teaching and research, it is the intention to create a school which embraces the city and the world, and makes New Aarhus School of Architecture a laboratory for rethinking and development architecture.
The vision of New Aarhus School of Architecture is ‘Engaging through Architecture’. The school wishes for a place that embodies this vision in a raw materiality and robust structure, though flexible enough to withstand changes over time.
The building is not expected to be a work of art in itself, but a physical framework for continuous change; a
laboratory for architecture.
The new school shall provide modern energy efficient facilities for learning and knowledge sharing with focus on the students. There must be room for individual working spaces as well as for teaching, experimentation and development in a common learning environment. The school wishes for spaciousness with contrasts and a great amount of flexibility as well as general workshop character.
The schools relation to the outside area and the community is a valuable potential for the school in the new location, which needs to be taken into account. The school wishes to be a public point, open to the city and invitingly arranged at Godsbanearealet.
The school is to be built on a ground area of 10-12 000 m³ and is expected to be approximately 15- 17 000 m³. However, the square metres may be reduced by up to 30 % due to funding. The construction sum is expected to be approximately DKK 200 000 000. However, the sum can be reduced or increased by up to 30 % due to funding. Additionally there can be options of up to DKK 100 000 000, if the project receives donations.
The contracting authority reserves the right to cancel the competition. This right will only be exercised if circumstances render a continuation of the competition impractical, for example in the event of difficulties in relation to planning or funding.
As a means of ensuring creativity and innovation in the New Aarhus School of Architecture BYGST invites all architects, architectural engineers, landscape architects or students with a bachelor degree from an internationally approved school of architecture or an equivalent architectural education to participate in an open design competition regarding the New Aarhus School of Architecture.
The open design competition aims to create a room for creativity, and the solutions proposed in the open design competition will be the basis for a competition program prepared for a subsequent restricted design competition conducted according to EU-Directive 2004/18, section IV.
In order to establish a link between the open design competition and the subsequent restricted competition and to provide an incentive to participate in the open design competition, BYGST intends to appoint up to 3 of the participants in the open design competition as participants in the subsequent restricted competition on condition that they meet the minimum requirements for pre-qualification to participate in the restricted design competition. The minimum requirements are stated in section III in the notice for the restricted design contest. The restricted design contest notice can be found at www.bygst.dk/udbud/
If an applicant has not been selected to participate in the competition conducted according to
EU-Directive 2004/18, section IV, via the usual pre-qualification, it is, thus, possible to be nominated to participate via the open design competition according to this prior information notice.
Overall, this means that there will be up to 6 participants in the restricted design competition conducted to EU-Directive 2004/18, 3 of which are selected based on a common pre-qualification assessment, and up to 3 are appointed on the basis of the open design competition according to this prior information note.
BYGST expects a process as follows:
1. Publication of this prior information notice and of the notice for the restricted design contest
2. Pre-qualification of 3 participants for the restricted design competition conducted according to EU-Directive 2004/18, section IV.
3. Launch of an open design competition according to this prior information notice followed by the appointment of up to 3 additional participants for the restricted design competition according to EU-directive 2004/18, section IV.
4. Launch of the restricted design competition according to EU-Directive 2004/18, section IV
5. Launch of negotiation procedure without preliminary notice according to EU-directive 2004/18, section IV and closing of contract.
BYGST emphazies that the timeline mentioned below is indicative.
The open design competition is expected to be released early December 2015 at www.newaarch.dk
It is expected, that the participants must deliver their proposals before 01.02.2016 using the tender site www.docia.com The proposal must consist of one digital A0 poster based on the template, available on www.newaarch.dk and www.docia.com
For further information on the selection criteria, process, jury and overall information about the open design competition go to www.newaarch.dk and download the competition brief, when released in December 2015.
For further information regarding both the open design competition and the restricted design competition, reference can be made to the following websites: www.aarch.dk and www. bygst.dk