The Bartholin Building Receives the City Architect's Special Prize at Award Ceremony
The Bartholin Building at Aarhus University, which was inaugurated earlier this year after being renovated, has received the City Architect's Special Prize at the Aarhus Architecture Awards.
Five years after the renovation work began on the Bartholin Building at Aarhus University, the building was completed and inaugurated in April 2025.
And now, the more than 50-year-old building, covering over 11,000 square metres, with its new offices, study environments and research laboratories, has won the City Architect's Special Prize at the Aarhus Architecture Prize 2025, awarded on 9 October.
The extensive renovation has been a success, with new high-tech laboratories and an improved study and working environment in "one of the most beloved buildings in Aarhus," as stated about the Bartholin Building during the award ceremony. The assessment states:
The assessment committee noted the high architectural quality: The landscaping, the sculptural spiral staircase and the recessed windows, which, together with the exterior paving and tile decoration, elegantly blur the transition between indoors and outdoors. The renovation of the Bartholin Building is a powerful example of how we can adapt our buildings to meet new needs and desires, thereby ensuring their future use, survival and relevance," it says.
Houses a new laboratory, the only one of its kind in Denmark
The Bartholin Building, which is part of the Department of Biomedicine, now houses Denmark's first and only BSL3 laboratory. It is a sophisticated and secure laboratory where researchers can, among other things, work with dangerous viruses at a far more sophisticated level than before – thereby generating new knowledge and insights into infectious diseases, according to AU Health.
City Architect Anne Mette Boye comments on the Bartholin complex in connection with the award:
“This is where the difficult balance between respect for the existing and the courage to add something new comes into play. This is not a case of cautious restoration, but rather an ambitious and well-considered transformation, where new layers have been added with a deep understanding of the original architecture. It is classic, beautiful architecture that brings cultural heritage to life, and that is exactly what the special award celebrates," says City Architect Anne Mette Boye.
The award ceremony took place during Aarhus Architecture Week, which was launched in 2023 by City Architect Anne Mette Boye. At the awards ceremony, the Aarhus Architecture Prize and the Best Building Prize were also awarded, for which the Bartholin Building was nominated but didn’t win.
Architecture Week takes place at the beginning of October, in which the city's architectural firms, developers and other stakeholders open their doors to visitors.
Many delays
The renovation of the Bartholin Building had been long anticipated. Since work began in 2020, contractors have uncovered lead and asbestos in laboratory equipment, PCB-contaminated concrete, crumbling wall panels, and holes in the concrete deck.
This complicated the renovation and caused delays. According to the Danish Building and Property Agency, the complex was originally scheduled to be ready for use in 2022, but the move-in date was postponed to early 2023 and later again to late 2023. The board then announced that the complex would be ready for takeover in 2024. The Bartholin complex was completed and inaugurated on 24 April 2025.
During the inauguration, Dean of Health Anne-Mette Hvas said that in some aspects, the planning and construction process could be compared to the work of the legendary Greek king Sisyphus, as described by AU Health in a news article.
The Danish Building and Property Agency was the developer, and CUBO Architects designed the project and was the turnkey consultant. Nearly 200 staff members have relocated to the Bartholin Building, and the rent is DKK 3 million per month, according to AU Health.
This text was machine translated and post-edited by Lisa Enevoldsen