Bringing in the sky

One of the most striking interior elements in the new home of SDC will be a 2,000 square meter ‘sky curtain’ surrounding the main auditorium.

The designer and artist behind the artwork, Danish Astrid Krogh, was given a huge project, when she was asked to design the artwork. Besides being a characterization of the building itself, the sky curtain should also meet the needs for an acoustic solution and a shielding effect.

“The curtain will be integrated like big scale textile watercolour paintings on all glass panels, classrooms, workspaces etc. facing the main auditorium. The idea of a curtain is to make it possible to have a flexible solution, as it consists of a transparent layer, which preserves visibility, but still protects against insights. An additional velvet layer gives the option of blacking out the space as well as adding acoustic qualities,” says Astrid Krogh.

Gigantic dimensions

Since the artwork is integrated in the building, Astrid Krogh has had a close collaboration with the Danish architects from Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter who have designed the building. All curtains can be pulled in and out depending on needs, and bearing in mind the purpose of the room Astrid Krogh says that it has been important to find a way to make sure the curtain was not too eye-catching in spite of the gigantic dimensions. Furthermore, people in the main auditorium will still have clear view to the sky outside of the building because of the transparency.

Astrid Krogh has finished the design work, and at the moment she is waiting for a test curtain to be finished in China. Then she will leave for Beijing to make sure the curtain is as expected before the actual artwork is put into production.

The fabric will be produced by the Danish manufacturer of design textiles Kvadrat and afterwards it will be sewn in China. Astrid Krogh will go to China when the artwork is ready to be hung up – in time for the grand opening of the new building in September.