Kolding Local Authority has launched an architectural competition to obtain proposals for a reinterpretation of Skamlingsbanken’s history as a national rallying ground. GPA and Ingeniør'ne are advisers on the project. 

The project involves a new visitor centre at Skamlingsbanken, situated southeast of Kolding. For generations, this has been the site where Danes have gathered whenever the nation was faced with huge changes or challenges. Skamlingsbanken has seen campaigners arguing for the right to speak Danish, explaining the concept behind the Danish folk high school movement, speaking up for women’s suffrage and taking up the fight against Nazism and for freedom.

The project will also include a new exhibition building, measuring some 500 m² complete with parking facilities as part of a cohesive landscape plan. Architecture, exhibition and landscape must come together to communicate the significance of the space.  Parts of Højskamlingen, the highest point of Skamlingsbanken, have been scheduled as an open space, so the landscape, views and public access to the area have been secured for future generations. Skamlingsbanken does not currently present its full potential as a cultural heritage site in an area of natural beauty, and the communication of its historical importance is now to be placed into a wider context which in an engaging and relevant manner will put the past, present and future into perspective.

Kolding Local Authority has launched the competition in close collaboration with the foundations Skamlingsbankeselskabet and Fonden til opretholdelse af Klokkestablen på Skamling.

The competition is primarily targeted at firms of landscape architects, architects and engineers as well as exhibition designers.  Every pre-qualified team will receive a fee of DKK 100,000 for timely submission of a compliant tender.  The application deadline for pre-qualification is 6 June 2016 and the competition is expected to be completed within the period end-June to end-September 2016.

Moreover, it is worth noting that the competition is part of a large development project which is supported by the foundation A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal.