The Crafts College in Horsens

The Crafts College in Horsens unites beauty, durability, and community in anarchitectural concept that equally values the site’s character, material aesthetics, and social structures. The housing complex is located on DSB’s former freight rail grounds and is anchored in the area’s industrial history with clear references to its structures and cultural heritage.

Beauty arises from the robust material choices and artisanal detailing, where classical building techniques and ornamentation are given new roles in both architecture and landscape. The tactility of the facades, the reused brick, and the carefully articulated transitions between the buildings and the blue–green campus underline the project’s tactile and honest expression.

Durability is evident in the climate-adapted stormwater management, where the landscape’s main feature – the Blue Campus – functions as a central rainwater basin. Here, surface water is delayed and purified, while bridges, decks, and stairs ensure access and create new connections between public and private spaces. In terms of materials, robust, low-maintenance solutions in wood, brick, and concrete are prioritised.

Socially, the student housing is organized around workshops, a community house, and green residential clusters. The stormwater landscape serves as the focal point of the community – a sensorial meeting place for informal encounters and larger events. In this way, the student housing offers not only residences but also anactive, professional, and social environment for the craftsmen of the future.