You don't see the lights, only the light—Gammel Hellerup Gymnasium

Bjarke Ingels Group studio was commissioned to design a new gymnasium for Ingels' alma mater, Gammel Hellerup High School in Hellerup, Denmark. To avoid affecting the natural daylighting of the buildings surrounding the school's open courtyard, BIG chose to excavate the courtyard and place the new gymnasium beneath it. The curved roof (Ingels drew inspiration from ballistic arcs) allows for other programming on top, while making the underground gymnasium feel more spacious.

The gymnasium ceiling uses deep glued-laminated timber beams to achieve its curvature, allowing the roof to extend to meet the rectangular courtyard. The roof's form is a small hill covered with bare oak flooring, providing an outdoor gathering space for the campus. Beneath the roof, BIG installed discontinuous linear fluorescent lamps between the glued-laminated timber beams as the main lighting for the gymnasium. Special gaps were also created in the courtyard floor to allow daylight to penetrate indirectly, forming natural skylights at the edges of the hall.

The light introduced by the hall's skylights reduces energy consumption and, in addition to electric lighting, creates a halo of natural light on the ceiling, while producing a soft wall-washing effect in this 5,200-square-foot underground space. The entire lighting system considers daylight control and is partially powered by photovoltaic panels.


In the courtyard at ground level, BIG integrated white LED luminaires under white steel tables to illuminate the sloped roof at night. Circular chairs are arranged irregularly on the sloped roof, with the same LED luminaires installed underneath, creating a warm and wonderful glow at night.



Jury Comments:


A perfect combination of architecture and light.


A clear, distinctive, and consistent design.


The spatial design is brilliant; you don't see the lights, only the light.


Using color temperature differences to distinguish daylight is very ingenious.