Dezeen Magazine

Christiansen and Andersen create a pavilion of wooden walkways in Copenhagen castle grounds

Conceived as a Danish alternative to London's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, this ring-shaped wooden structure provides a temporary events space in the leafy grounds of Copenhagen's Rosenborg Castle (+ slideshow).

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

Designed by Danish architects Mikkel Kjærgård Christiansen and Jesper Kort Andersen, the Around Pavilion will be used to host music, theatre and story-telling events in the King's Gardens, which surround the 17th-century castle.

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

Christiansen and Andersen won a competition run by the Danish Architects Asssociation to design the structure, which is intended to be Denmark's version of the annual temporary pavilions created by architects for the Serpentine Gallery in London and MoMA PS1 in New York.

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

The building was constructed by carpenter apprentices from the local technical college, using batons of Nordic pine to help the structure to feel at home amongst the nearby trees.

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

Its round plan references the meticulous geometric layout of the lawns, hedges and flower beds in the surrounding gardens.

The circular cutout in the centre frames a round patch of grass used for performances and demonstrations, as well as providing a lunch spot for picnickers.

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

"It is inspired by the walk along the alleys and the skyline of the Rosenborg Castle," Christiansen and Andersen told Dezeen.

"The exact circular cut of the pavilion provides an element playfully relating to the very geometrical structure of the garden."

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

A pair of decked walkways wind around the outer edge of the structure under the shelter of a sloping roof. This roof is made up from strips of pine and can be seen above the box hedges of the adjacent gardens.

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

The floors of the walkways gently rise and fall, dipping at four points to represent "the corners of the world". Ramps lead up from the ground at these points, then drop back down into the central courtyard.

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

"The pavilion bows down, providing a long step for entering," explained the architects. "When inside the pavilion, one can still see glimpses of the garden outside, but is at the same time encapsulated in a remarkable space."

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

Snippets of the surrounding gardens can be seen through the slatted walls from this central lawn.

"The trees in the garden create a rhythm with the poetic light glimpsed through the wooden structures of the pavilion, and the scent of wood, grass and summer air unite in a spatial experience like no other," said the architects.

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

The competition to design the pavilion launched in 2014, and was open to all members of the Danish Architects Association. It attracted 56 entries, with the winner selected by a jury of local architects.

"Pavilion MAA re-interprets the traditional pavilion concept and draws inspiration from international ideals such as the Serpentine Gallery and Young Architects Program at MoMA PS1," said the Danish Architects Association in a statement.

Around Pavilion Copenhagen

Other annual pavilion design competitions include the Triumph Pavilion – which is held as part the London Architecture Festival – and the MPavilion in Melbourne, which this year will be designed by London-based architect Amanda Levete.

The Around Pavilion can be visited during park opening hours until 30 August 2015.

Photography is by Hampus Berndtson.