Peoples Meeting Dome

Bl, Denmark Public Housing participated in the Peoples Meeting on Bornholm, where the topic was the future of housing. Bl wanted a space that will stand out and will speak for itself, instead of an ordinary exhibition tend, the structure being a contribution to the meeting by itself.

The team decided to create a geometry with the classic geodesic dome as a starter point – rather than fully respecting its shape, they adapted its principles and deconstructed it, creating an “unlocked shape”, that is subjected to splitting and scaling, in order that the cut dome will be shaped from the interior towards the exterior, forming “niches, crevices and corners, defining, opening and hiding”.

Courtesy of Kristoffer Tejlgaard

The internal space is playful, yet accommodating. When the dome shape was split, it resulted in niches at the entrances, situated towards the entrance of the site. The light play was creating by alternating materials used on surfaces – the curved surfaces are capped, while the perpendicular ones are transparent.

The center of the room is structured as a womb – it offers no view towards the outside surroundings. However, for the meeting there was a center stage, and the stands were in the open center of the dome.

Courtesy of Kristoffer Tejlgaard

The manufacturing process was pretty intense. After the 3d modelling, the team printed nods through laser cutting and robot welding, creating a system of nodes in steel, which were interconnected through wood. After that, the team created a “skeleton” to cover as a tent, but designed a system that enables the skeleton to vary – it can be disassembled and readapted to new parameters.

Courtesy of Kristoffer Tejlgaard

The team used 2×4 inches and 2×6 inches construction timber and same size plywood-beams, which optimized material consumption and also permitted the absence of interior walls or columns, which gave the interior design a great deal of freedom.