Aktivitetshuset

The facade filters the sunlight on the outdoor ball courts, creating a forest-like atmosphere in the midst of this urban neighborhood. The Activity House, with its distinctive facades, has brought a much-needed boost to this part of the city.

Like a giant version of a traditional Danish cut-paper Easter letter, the striking façade of the Activity House features an organically shaped textile print blown up and realised in aluminium. This not only gives it exquisite visibility, it also refracts light to create fantastic shadow play inside the space and across the floor of Aktivitetshuset’s rooftop ball court.

The net-encased outdoor playing field is open to the public 24 hours a day for games of basketball or football with a view.

Despite its location in a residential neighbourhood called the Green Triangle, there isn’t much nature present in this densely populated area. However, the natural world is referenced, in the way Aktivitetshuset is placed on asymmetrically arranged pillars, which stand in a manner reminiscent of trees in a forest.

The building’s façade stretches over its three storeys and covers two of its four sides, while the ends are open to reveal large windows, white stairs and latticework. Its architects, known for their slightly neutral designs, have worked to create an unexpectedly eye-catching building housing a youth centre, café, computer rooms and dance hall as a leisure facility to activate, integrate and create a play space for over 1,000 young people in the neighbourhood.