Elisio - ARoS Sky Space
Location: Århus, DK
Client: ARoS Aarhus Museum of Art
Team: Stig L. Andersson, Thomas Kock, Flemming Thomsen, Michelle Nielsen-Dharmaratne, Jesper José, Signe Høyer Fredriksen, Salka Kusk, Cecilie Milsted Lind, Martin Søberg, Kim Madsen, Friedemann Rüter
Collaborators: Morten Stræde, Mette Sandbye, Arup
Design phase: 2006
Area: 2.600 m2
Elisio is an urban space project on the roof top of ARoS. Inspired by Dante’s perceptions of heaven in “the Devine Comedy” Elisio completes the narrative of the rise from Hell to Heaven, that the museum is shaped by.
The museum’s roof is transformed into one large urban space dominated by a flow of people. A place where you can meet and communicate with works of art, with each other and with the space. It consists of three related parts: an undulating and illuminated terrain, a bowl-shaped mirror and the sky itself above.
The floor is formed like an undulating open landscape with unconceived possibilities for exhibitions and experiences. From here there there are views to Aarhus, to the sea and space for works of art and people. Changing weather and the time of day determine which experience you take home with you. 255 lighting columns of varying height are placed in a circular pattern inspired by Dante’s ideas of a heaven composed of spheres and by contemporary radar images of space.
The top of the columns form a sinus curve in contrast to the undulating floor. The columns can be lit, moved and positioned in different ways, in order to give the guests the opportunity for numerous varied experiences
The large mirror forms a space for contemplation and offers a unique sensory experience. While its circular opening appears as a fixed form the visual impression changes when the mirror surface reflects the movement of the clouds, the light and the many people who gather in the shell. The mirror shell and sky form a whole, giving the onlooker, isolated from the surroundings, a powerful experience of the celestial dome.
The exterior of the mirror enters in dialogue with the surroundings and mirrors the skyline of the city. Elisio is the culmination of the many artistic, sensory and architectural experiences of the museum.
