ROCKmagneten

The former concrete factory Unicon in Roskilde will be transformed into a dynamic and vibrant town, Musicon. The new district must have character of the creativity and momentum associated with the Roskilde Festival, and it must accommodate a wide scope of possibilities for expression and experimentation for future users, residents and visitors in the district. The former factory halls compose, together with three new buildings, the ROCKmagnet, which will be home to Denmark’s new rock museum, Roskilde Festival Folk School and the Roskilde group.

The master plan for the ROCKmagnet is based on an ongoing transformation of the old industrial landscape and the meeting between old and new. Contrast and spatial variation is the starting point. Just as the urban spaces in Musicon are in contrast to the classical urban spaces in Roskilde city centre, there must be evidence of spatial contrasts internally in the district. Around the ROCKmagnet, smaller urban spaces create transition between inside and outside, giving the three entrants the opportunity to take activities out in the open.

In Musicon, the physical surroundings must give room for events and creative experiments, and temporary measures will be used as a basis for the development of more permanent constellations over time. It requires a variation in landscape, which here results in areas with very different expressions: from robust spaces with rough surfaces to more sophisticated fields with a high level of detail. In this way, the area’s physical surroundings give possibilities for a variation of sensuous experience and uses.

Excerpt from the jury report:

"Overall, the proposal appears admirably as a visionary reading of Musicon and both the total ROCKmagnet and each of the primary entrants' specific circumstances and requirements. We are dealing with a proposal that achieves to emphasise and exploit the tension in the meeting between old and new and let contrasts translate into a rousing and exciting project that will undoubtedly stand as an architectonic catalyst for the future development of entire Musicon.”

Links:

DAC
The Roskilde Festival group
Facebook
Dezeen
Designboom

Facts:
PROJECT: Master plan, urban space
YEAR: 2011
STATUS: First prize in competition proposal, ongoing
CLIENT: Musicon
SERVICES: Responsible for urban space/landscape
ARCHITECTS: COBE, MVRDV
ENGINEERS: Arup London, Wessberg and TranssolarEnergietechnik.
AREA: 52.000 m2
CONSTRUCTION COST: 260 million DKK