For several years now, the city of Aalborg is immersed in a transition from an industrial economy to one based on knowledge and culture. As part of that process, the project consists in transforming the Spritfabrikken, an old aquavit factory that has an iconic industrial status in the city, into an art center. While preserving the character of the place, the project adds a fourth element to a complex in which all the buildings are formally differentiated but interconnected, working together as an ensemble. To become part of this industrial landscape, the addition follows the pragmatic attitude of the old factory, aspiring to the same level of precision in its construction. Similarly, it explores in a contemporary way the characteristics of the pure and monolithic forms of its neighbors. The scale of the addition, combined with the austere nature of its facades, confers a certain abstract quality that helps to distinguish it from its older counterparts. The apertures in the brick facade are limited but precise, each element signalling the building’s role as an art center open to the public. Visitors enter the museum through the adjacent historic building, while a continuous circuit through the sequence of spaces in the new building culminates in the existing Kettle Hall...[+]