Herning Center of Arts

The Herning Centre of the Arts, known as Heart for short, was designed by Steven Holl and houses a collection of conceptual and experimental art from the 1930s to the present day, with Italian artist Piero Manzoni playing a central role. The 5,600-square-metre, single-storey building stands on the site of a former textile factory in the Danish city of Herning.

Opposite is an old shirt factory, built in the shape of a shirt collar. Its owner employed many artists for a long time, who left their works of art in the factory. These formed the basis for today's Heart collection. The textile and art history of the city of Herning were therefore the primary sources of inspiration for Steven Holl. A fabric theme runs through the entire project, from the shape of the building, which resembles a collection of shirt sleeves when viewed from above, to the exterior walls, into which fabric tarpaulins have been inserted to give the white concrete a fabric-like structure.

Large skylights and glass surfaces made of ecologically sustainable, sandblasted LAMBERTS LINIT^®EcoGlass allow natural daylight to flood into the exhibition rooms. The silky surface structure of the low-iron glass emphasises the museum's elegant exterior. In the dark, a light bar at the bottom of the U-shaped glass creates artistic lighting that shines upwards and outwards, gradually becoming weaker. Translucent thermal insulation was used in the profiled glass to improve heat and sun protection.