Ordrupgaard Museum

The Ordrupgaard Museum in Copenhagen is the permanent home of some of Denmark's most important 19th and 20th century artworks. Originally built in the early 1900's, the museum has recently been expanded with the construction of an impressive new complex of galleries and public spaces designed by the acclaimed architect, Zaha Hadid.

The new construction is itself a piece of art, featuring awe-inspiring galleries and circulation areas with sloping walls and ceilings. The lighting combines natural light and views to the outside with a series of Selux M100 Recessed fixtures. The fixtures were configured with Opal glass lens and staggered lamps on overlapping gear trays to deliver uniform, linear slashes of light that complement and reinforce the geometry of the building's striking design. Where long linear spaces were created by the architect, the fixture runs are long, effectively creating continuous lines of light that follow the linear and curving facades and walls. Less linear spaces are provided with shorter runs of light, spaced and arranged to complement the irregular shapes of each space.

With both artworks and architecture on display, the combined effect of the natural and electric lighting was a major consideration in the full scope of the overall design. Arup Lighting used the M100 Recessed fixtures to provide diffuse lighting, keeping contrasts to a minimum to better focus the attention of the visitor on the overall ambience of the exhibits. Selux worked closely with the architect and lighting designer to ensure that their fixtures integrated into and followed the unique geometry of the building. When fixtures were recessed into concrete, Selux provided the housings of the fixtures in advance so that the construction could proceed with perfect detailing and integration of lighting within the building. All fixtures were specified with exact cut lengths to achieve slashes of light that were artfully deployed to complement the architecture. In the ramped passage linking the foyer and the cafe, M100 fixtures were custom recessed into the floor, uniformly uplighting the walls and creating the impression of a ramp emerging naturally from the landscape.