In Denmark, we have many beautiful manor houses. Some still function as agricultural producers, but many now offer experiences instead.
Nørre Vosborg is among the latter – a place where people can enjoy unique experiences. Surrounded by nature and architectural history, and with gastronomic experiences, cultural and conference activities close at hand.
From agriculture to experiences
After restoration, conversion and extension by Arkitema, the beautiful Nørre Vosborg manor farm is now an up-to-date hotel, cultural venue and conference centre, with a newly-built hotel wing and new design solutions for all the complex’s many different buildings. The architectural practice of Erik Einar Holm was responsible for the restoration and conversion of the manor house.
The history of Nørre Vosborg stretches back to the original stud and barn buildings constructed in 1532. Today, after surviving various fires, the manor farm is an interesting mixture of 18th-century history and architecture, together with more contemporary alterations from the post-war period 1946-50, and a great many functional alterations since then.
Despite the long chronological span, the many historical layers and the strongly functional division of the complex, the manor's symmetry around a central axis and its structural proportions, in particular that of the two barn buildings, provides an overall impression of a complex with great homogeneity and an intact "sense of place".
It has therefore been a pleasant but demanding balancing act to adapt these varied buildings from different eras to entirely new purposes, with the pig sties becoming a central kitchen and the machine shed transformed into a concert hall!
New building for hotel accommodation
The new hotel wing, designed by Arkitema, matches the largest of the complex's buildings in terms of volume. Despite its size and location, however, it does not compete for attention with the historical courtyard area and the main axis of the complex.
To lower the impact of the hotel wing and avoid an imbalance in the historical structure, we have chosen to use alternative materials in relation to the stud buildings' dominant red brick and thatched roofs.
The choice fell upon wood, which satisfied the relevant criteria, and which was also an unpretentious material beside the frugal red-brick buildings. Wood pervades the entire building, even the roof, which is clad with
planks of radial-sawn Siberian larch, laid in a clapboard pattern.
The hotel is characterised by a roof without dormer windows. We have lifted and opened the clapboard pattern, thereby enabling the creation of a belt in the roof surface which integrates the openings necessary for habitation in the roof storey.
By locating the openings to the terraces in this half-open belt, we managed to diminish and dissolve the visual impression of 'holes' in the otherwise homogenous roof surface.
Through its location, the hotel wing creates a new spatial link with the North Wing's "forgotten" 18th-century north side. The newly-created courtyard area forms a well-defined rectangular space which, in contrast to the existing courtyard area, will be closed on the west by the Tenant Wing – the former residential block for the brickworks’ employees.
In connection with the inauguration on Friday 4 April 2008, Arkitema, Erik Einar Holm architects and Realea will be exhibiting placards showing the work of restoration, conversion and extension at Nørre Vosborg.
Data
Address: Nørre Vosborg, Vembvej, Vemb
Client: Realea
Size: Hotel wing, 118m², with 37 double rooms
You can read more about Nørre Vosborg at: www.nrvosborg.dk