The consultancy company ALECTIA and Entasis Architects have won the project “Municipal Jobs” in the big, ambitious competition about urban renewal of Viby South in the Municipality of Aarhus. The team turns the vision of sustainability into shape, colour and aroma through a highly unconventional cube-shaped low-energy building with hanging green façades.

The urban renewal of Viby South in the Municipality of Aarhus will be realized based on a recently held architectural competition. Entasis Architects and the consultancy company ALECTIA have won one of the five part projects: Consultancy on a new low-energy building accommodating 100 municipal green workplaces. The architects Aarhus Arkitekterne and Kristine Jensens Tegnestue and the culture consultant Nueva also participated in the overall competition for the five part projects.

The Municipality of Aarhus has ambitious goals and aspirations about being CO₂-neutral in 2030. As a first mover, the Municipality of Aarhus stands as the instigator of creating an entire urban community where you live, learn, work and amuse yourself, all within walking distances. The green municipal cube house will stand out in the cityscape and become an easily read symbol and an entertaining and beautiful image of the need for a sustainable future.

Cube covered with green plants and flowers
The green house will something new in the cityscape of Viby South. It looks nearly like a green plant cube where one corner has been cut off. It will appear free-floating at a level of two metres above the ground, as a cube consisting of green plants and flowers.

The plants will grow on the façades with a luxuriance and materiality creating a surprising, eventful and positive image of a sustainable CO₂ neutral district.

On the top floors, the Municipality of Aarhus will establish approx. 100 workplaces for their employees. Moreover, a café can be built on the ground floor with large window sections. The café will be able to serve outdoor so that the customers can enjoy a cup of coffee on the new square.

Cube-shaped low-energy building
With its precise form and minimal surface “the green house” can achieve the classification Low-Energy Class 1 with relatively few and well-known initiatives. In addition, Low-Energy Class 0 (2020) or “Passive House Standard” is certainly within reach. The energy profile of the house will primarily be made through passive initiatives, such as high insulation, thermo-activity and passive solar heating.

The façade of the green house will be planted with seeds, cuttings or already cultivated plants and flowers. The bio-vertical garden will be very efficient as regards reducing energy consumption, both in the winter by protecting the building from the cold and in the summer by giving the building a natural cooling system.

It is expected that the housing association Aarhus Omegn will be the building owner of the green municipal house with the Municipality of Aarhus as a tenant.