“Next Level” ARoS Museum extension by Schmidt Hammer Lassen & James Turrell

The ARoS Art Museum’s ambitious €40 million expansion plan, entitled Next Level, was presented in 2015 and now the design of what will be the largest museum art project by world-renowned American artist James Turrell has been revealed.

The new extension to the Danish museum will contain several new facilities, including a 13,000 square-foot subterranean gallery and the gigantic semi-subterranean art installation The Dome.

Next Level, rendered aerial view of the expansion (bottom) with the ARoS museum (top), and site plan, images Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

“Next Level” goes further along the museum’s route towards the merge of art and architecture into a whole civic and artistic experience, which was opened in 2011 with the creation of Your Rainbow Panorama, the luminous ring conceived by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson permanently installed on the building rooftop to add a new physical and artistic dimension to the museum.

Through “Next Level”, the designers of ARoS, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, who have established a continuous relationship with the Danish museum (and with its visionary Director Erlend G. Høyersten), further define the architectural concept of the museum building, which bridges between the Aarhus river and the city’s Music Hall.

The new 54,000 square-foot extension, conceived by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects in collaboration with James Turrell, will allow visitors to make a journey in a completely new dimension: an experience in color and light extending along a 394-foot long sequence of underground galleries and exhibition spaces up to a large domed hall, 130 feet across.

“The Dome” will emerge 9 meters above the ground, while only a subtle ridge in the landscape will reveal the presence of the underground galleries.

Next Level, internal renderings and longitudinal section showing the relationship between underground corridor and galleries and The Dome, images Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

James Turrell is one of the world’s leading artists; his installation of light and colors are permanent on view in over 26 countries. Turrel’s large-scale installations embrace the audience and transport them into a boundary-less metaphysical space where physical and spiritual dimensions merge.

Next Level, which will open for the public in 2020, will be his largest project on display in a museum.

James Turrell, Ganzfeld

James Turrell at Aros Museum Denmark; Photo by Morten Fauerby © 2015

James Turrell, Rising Sun