News: Danish studio NORD Architects has released designs for a new Marine Educational Centre in Malmö, Sweden, comprising a 700-square-metre visitor centre with a large overhanging roof structure that covers an external aquatic learning environment.
Copenhagen-based studio NORD Architects won a competition run by Malmö City to design the new Marine Education Centre that "strives to provide users with a deeper understanding of marine life".
The education centre will be set in 3,000 square metres of landscaping, including small ponds and planting that are intended to mimic an assortment of marine ecologies and create "an engaging learning landscape" that allows visitors to have a hands-on experience of nature.
"In the learning landscape, users will find floating laboratories on small removable pontoons, teaching signs on the seabed and underwater sea binoculars to name a few," said the studio, whose previous projects also include a cylindrical building for the Natural Science Center in Denmark.
"With the changing climate, rising oceans and increased severity of cloudbursts, there is a need more than ever to understand the profound influence that marine life and the oceans have on our lives," said NORD partner Johannes Molander Pedersen.
Large sections of glazing concertina back from the centre to "merge together" the interior with outdoor areas, under a roof structure topped by a series of small triangular fins.
The elevated wedges contain solar panels that harvest solar energy to power the building's heating system, while a rainwater tank collects water to flush the centre's toilets.
Inside, visitors will be able to explore the impact of energy consumption through a series of displays and interactive environments that show the inner workings of heating, ventilation and water systems, and the role that architecture plays in harvesting renewable energy.
"It allows a hands-on learning experience that invites users to explore using their senses in the field, and thereafter analyse and understand their observations of the marine life," said Molander Pedersen.
"We have developed a learning landscape where education is everywhere. It is in the landscape, in the building and in the transition between nature and culture."
NORD Architects will collaborate with engineering firm Grontmij Malmö on the new Marine Educational Centre, which has an estimated construction cost of 22 million SEK (£2 million).
The Centre is scheduled for completion in 2016.
