Inspiria Science Centre is designed as one the most advanced science centres in Northern Europe and is part of a long-term strategy to make knowledge the most important asset of the stfold Region. This is not only reflected in the activities of the science centre, but also in the architectural aspiration, as the architecture is conceived and designed as a communications platform to create regional interest in the natural sciences and national interest in the region.
To support the long-term strategy, the 40,000 students of the stfold Region will annually be offered a free field trip to Inspiria Science Centre which is expected to attract more than 100,000 visitors every year. By visiting the science centre the visitors, mainly school trips, families and tourists, can acquire knowledge through play by means of 70 interactive exhibitions, public workshops and the most advanced planetarium in Northern Europe.
By rethinking the framework for future learning environments, Inspiria Science Ce ntre combines communication and architecture into an inspiring and eventful whole, which provides new spaces for learning and supports the idea of sustainability as a window of opportunity to enhance the quality of life for both people and the environment. The science centre is therefore designed as a passive house with a close contact to nature, by which the architecture and the science centres focus on energy, the environment and health merge into a single narrative.
The narrative permeates the buildings basic form, where natures cycle, cyclical repetitions and spiral forms blend with the technology cycle, expressed through the universal power of the circular basic form. The goal has thus been to create a striking building, which in itself constitutes an identity-laden branding of Inspiria Science Centre by uniting the activities of the science centre into a single concept.