Axeltorv in Næstved

Location: Næstved, Denmark
Client: Municipality of Næstved
Team: Stig L. Andersson, Lisbeth Westergaard, Malin Blomqvist, Svava Riesto, Jens Åke Jensen
Design phase: 2005
Area: 4.500 m2

Other projects where SLA is working with preservation aspects

SLA’s proposal for the renovation of Axeltorv in Næstved springs from both the town’s history and the every-day here and now. Axeltorv is arranged as one continuous, level floor with a slope, as it was in the Middle Ages. Everything can happen here.

The city space changes character depending on whether it is raining, windy, cloudy or sunny. Depending on where one finds oneself in the space, it will be experienced differently.

As well as the rain, the square contains a water-feature that builds on the one already there. The fountain is a circle of water-jets that merge at a point at right-angles to the centre of the circle. The water fills the square with flickering light and the sound of well-being.

The sound from the surfacing when you walk over it will follow the visual impression, and you experience a square with intimacy and material sensation.

Chosen areas in the stone surfacing are lightly milled so that there is an almost unnoticeable change of nuance between rough, worked, and smooth, unworked surfaces. The areas will thus react differently to precipitation, light and movement. Their visibility will depend on the angle at which the light strikes the square. When it rains, a thin film of water lies in the milled tracks and shines, as against the unmilled tracks that remain matt.