(image courtesy © MIR)
by Ron Bernthal
Along the western coast of Greenland lies the massive glacier Sermeq Kujalleq. For more than 250 years, glaciologists have studied the ancient glacier and its daily production of immense amounts of ice, and it remains an ideal spot for scientific observation of climate change. Architect Dorte Mandrup has designed the new Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat to blend in with the impressive landscape while offering local residents, tourists, and climate researchers the ultimate vantage point from which to absorb the historic atmosphere of the Icefjord. The Icefjord Centre will tell a story of ice, of human history and evolution on both a local and global scale.
The Copenhagen-based firm Dorte Mandrup Architects won the international competition to design the Icefjord Centre in Ilulissat in the summer of 2016. The competition was launched by the Government of Greenland, the Municipality of Qaasuitup and Realdania (a private association in Denmark which supports projects in architecture and planning) with the aim of creating a local and international meeting place by the Icefjord. With an area of 254,000 square-miles, Qaasuitsup Municipality is the world’s largest and most northerly municipality. Qaasuitsup means ‘place with polar darkness’. The principal city is Ilulissat and the municipality comprises eight towns and 31 settlements with a total of about 18,000 inhabitants. Located 155 miles north of the Arctic circle, the Icefjord Centre opened in 2021 among some of the world’s most dramatic and distinctive scenery.
Groundbreaking for the Ilulissat Icefjord Centre took place in summer 2019. Four months later inclining windowpanes and 52 unique steel frames were rising above an inland lake. This aerodynamic structure is now visible in the landscape, where it is designed to minimize snow build-up while framing the views towards the fjord. The curved bulding was created by geometrical different steel frames, creating a double-curved roof. The framework of the building is covered by a gently sloping, curved wooden boardwalk. The venue is also the starting point of the World Heritage Trail and acts as a gathering point, with an informal seating area, and a viewing platform that offers a stunning, undisturbed view of the Sermermiut Valley and the Icefjord. The cost of the Ilulissat Icefjord Centre was approximately 108 million Danish Krone ($17 million USD).
Between the mountain ridges of the Icefjord flows Sermeq Kujalleq, the world’s fastest glacier. Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. Sermeq Kujalleq is one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world. It annually calves over 35 km3 of ice, i.e. 10% of the production of all Greenland calf ice, and more than any other glacier outside Antarctica. Studied for over 250 years, it has helped to develop the world’s understanding of climate change and icecap glaciology. The combination of a huge ice-sheet and the dramatic sounds of a fast-moving glacial ice-stream calving into a fjord covered by icebergs makes for a dramatic and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon.
On their way out through the fjord, icebergs can rise up to thousands of feet of cold, beautifully shaped white icebergs. The unique natural terrain of mountains, sea, and the dramatic movement of the icebergs from ice cap to sea has made the Ililussat Icefjord a magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site. Scientists have been following the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier where, unfortunately, global warming is most evident. Here, the Greenlandic inland ice drains into the oceans with increasing speed every year. With the opening of the Ililussat Icefjord Centre in spring, 2021, the story of this region and its icefjord is being told to Greenland residents, tourists and researchers from all over the world.
“The establishment of regional visitor centers is one of the cornerstones in Greenland’s new tourism strategy,” said Jess Svane, Greenland’s Minister of Industry, Energy and Research. “Dorte Mandrup’s beautiful and discreet building is created with great respect for, and in unity with, the surroundings and we look forward to seeing it grow up by the Icefjord in the years to come. This will contribute to strengthening the development of Ilulissat and Greenland in general.”
Ililussat Icefjord Centre (image Dorte Mandrup)
In 2004, the icefjord at Ilulissat was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its unique glaciological conditions and attractive nature. During the past 4,400 years, people have lived with the icefjord, which contains large numbers of fish and marine mammals. Fishing is still an important activity in the area, but the icefjord is now also a meeting place for the world’s climate scientists, for government leaders who want to put climate change on the agenda, and for tourists who are attracted to this rare and dramatic place. The UNESCO-protected Icefjord area carries over 4,000 years of cultural heritage and is essential for understanding the climate crisis.
“The Icefjord Centre offers a refuge in the dramatic landscape and aims to become a natural gathering point from which you can experience the infinite, non-human scale of the Arctic wilderness, the transition between darkness and light, the midnight sun, and the Northern lights dancing across the sky,” said Dorte Mandrup.For information about visiting Greenland go to the VisitGreenland website.
(photo Ron Bernthal)
