Awarded building

The courthouse in the Danish town of Holstebro is a worthy representative of white concrete buildings. It is constructed of pre-cast elements for the inner walls and white in-situ cast outer walls for each building segment, and upon completion in 1992, won a Danish Precast Concrete Association award that year.

The famous architects 3XNielsen A/S designed the deconstructive style building for the Danish Ministry of Justice, and the project was realised in a masterly way using AALBORG WHITE® cement.

Deconstructivism

Towards the end of the post-modernistic era, a new architectural style, know as deconstructivism, emerged in Central Europe. In deconstructivism, sectioned buildings, in which independent units are combined to form freely articulated structures, replace traditional, rigid building designs. In deconstructive buildings, individual sections attain their own identities.

Thus 3XNielsen designed the key functions of the courthouse in separate sections of the building.

Contrasts glass-concrete

The monolithic white concrete sections are united by a single, free-floating, aluminium roof, shaped as a giant wing. Beneath the wing, glass walls connecting the various sections create a common lobby with cloakrooms, waiting rooms and access to other parts of the building.

The way in which the white concrete monoliths penetrate the glass wall emphasises the use of glass as a membrane to break down the strict distinction between outside and inside.

Contrasts black-white

The building is a dramatic representative of deconstructivism, and contains many impressive features.

A good example is the three large, precast black concrete columns at the entrance to the building. The columns, which have a high gloss, polished finish, are based on AALBORG WHITE® cement, and they deliberately do not quite reach, or support, the wing shaped roof.

White in-situ details

A lot of effort was put into designing the in-situ moulds for the, carefully segmented white concrete facades. The architects worked with the idea of using the joint holes left by the moulds to obtain an aesthetic effect on the facades.

Special stainless steel plugs were also designed to cover the joint holes, thus completing the design.

White concrete durability

On visiting the building, it is evident that this is a striking example of how well white concrete ages. AALBORG WHITE® cement and standard dark aggregates were used for the concrete mix in order to achieve the special off-white look.

The building sections have not been cleaned or treated in any way over the years, and both interior and exterior white concrete faces remain in mint condition.