DTU B357 Interior

Space for knowledge sharing

Different zones supports the students' work before and after classes. Here students and teachers can gather at large oak tables, or work in smaller groups in the soft furniture, which have a view to the adjacent green environment.

We have designed the study area in building B357 Electromagnetic Test Center at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The building is home to students and researchers at the DTU Electro Institute and it holds five new laboratories, three radio-silent laboratories for different types of antenna measurements, and a room for measurements of millimeter wave components and circuits. In addition, the facility contains a large teaching laboratory with an adjacent study environment. This combination of specialist laboratories and social learning zones creates an environment that nurtures interdisciplinarity interaction.

Designing a Distinct Arrival

The students arrive at the building through a distinct, green-painted entrance. We have chosen the green color to create a distinct, recognizable arrival. In the entrance hangs a custom-made lamp, “Electromagnetic Fields and Waves” above a statue of H.C. Ørsted, who discovered electromagnetism in 1820. Since his discovery, the idea of a connection between electricity and magnetism became particularly vivid for Ørsted during a series of lectures in the spring of 1820. Subsequently, he experimented with discharging currents through a fine platinum wire and observed how a magnetic needle reacted to the discharge. In the design, the statue and the lamp function both as wayfinding elements that mark the entrance of the building, and at the same time they are elements signifying the research tradition that is continued in the building. When students, teachers, researchers, or guests enter the building, they move directly from the entrance into a common area with different communal zones to support the students’ work before and after classes, including a larger study environment orientated towards a view of the surrounding greenery. Here students and teachers can gather around large oak tables, or work in smaller groups on soft furniture while feeling connected with the surrounding environment.

A Multi-Purpose Interior

The furniture has been developed to fulfill the client’s wish to have both furniture that students can gather around and furniture that encourages the students to stay on campus to work on assignments and hang out with other students. To provide these facilities, we have designed both lounge furniture and furniture reminiscent of the cafe interior with high tables. As the students’ work is primarily done digitally, the lounge furniture has built-in plugs so that the students can easily charge computers and mobile phones. B357 is placed opposite a canteen, making the student environment easily available to all users of the DTU Campus.

Client: Technical University Denmark
Area: 1 498 m² / 16 124 ft2
Year: 2022
Collaborators: Artelia / ELINDCO
Images: Niels Nygaard