Ragnarock Museum of Pop, Rock & Youth Culture, Roskilde – MVRDV + COBE

The Ragnarock Museet for pop, rock & ungdomskultur is a Danish museum dedicated to “pop, rock and youth culture” located in Roskilde, a town about 20 miles west of Copenhagen also known as the site of the famous Roskilde annual music festival.

Located on the site of a former cement plant, the museum is housed in an iconic golden building, jointly designed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV and Denmark’s COBE Architects.
With a floor area of 33,000 square feet, the museum focuses on popular music, from the 1950s to the present, intended as a means of communication and socialization between people of different cultures and social backgrounds. The permanent exhibition of the museum is composed of objects, graphics, memorabilia, documents, and immersive installations.

Along with exhibition galleries, the Ragnarock Museum contains an auditorium and a cafeteria. The museum is open from Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 AM to 5 PM (on Wednesday from 10 AM to 10 PM).

Ragnarock museum, exterior view at night, photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

Ragnarock: the golden museum of rock by MVRDV and COBE

On April 29, 2016, the Crown Prince of Denmark Frederik inaugurated the new Ragnarock Museum in Roskilde, a town near Copenhagen well-known as the location of the famous Roskilde music festival.

The golden shape of the museum stands out in the middle of Musicon, a new district dedicated to creative business, arts, and culture, located in the former premises of a disused cement factory.
The museum is the core of a planned 11,000-square-meter /118,000-square-foot complex, entitled Rock Magnet, which will also include a public high school and the headquarters of the Roskilde festival.

Ragnarock museum, exterior view, photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

A scale model of the Rock Magnet complex with the Ragnarock Museum in the middle

Volumetric scheme of the Rock Magnet, with the school, the museum, and the Roskilde festival headquarters

Elevation drawings of the Rock Magnet complex

The project of the Ragnarock Museum is the winning proposal by Rotterdam-based architectural firm MVRDV and Copenhagen-based one COBE in an international design competition held in 2011, and jointly developed thereafter.

From the outside, the museum is marked by two elements: an “extremely cantilevered” shape and a quite brave golden anodized aluminum studded facade. The architects intended to clearly identify the museum while at the same time creating a dynamic relationship with the industrial buildings around which, despite being rather crude in their appearance, are a perfect backdrop for an area dedicated to alternative youth culture, informal creativity, and innovative music.

Ragnarock museum, exterior view, photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

Detail of the studded facade made in anodized aluminum,  photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

This “red carpet” welcomes visitors as they were all “rock stars”,  photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

Axonometric view of the museum with its three floors

Passing the entrance door, those who visit the Ragnarock are overwhelmed by the color red. Red is everywhere: ceiling, walls, floor, everything is painted or electroplated in a vividly bright red tint to recall “a guitar case’s soft velvet inside”.

Render view of the competition project by MVRDV

Entrance hall, photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

Interior view of the ground level just after the entrance hall, photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

The overall experience is quite surprising and dynamic, though not for mousy characters, indeed: “Ragnarock is the translation of rock music into architecture; the energy, the defiance, the statement. Loud and in your face!” Jacob van Rijs from MVRDV says.

The museum, on a total floor area of 3,100 square meters / 33,000 square feet distributed on three levels, includes exhibition spaces, an auditorium, administration offices, and, of course, a bar.

Section drawings of the museum and the complex

The museum cloakroom, photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

The auditorium on the upper floor, photo © Ossip van Duivenbode

Ragnarock Museum Roskilde
Design team:
Architects: MVRDV and COBE Arkitekter
Landscape architect: LIW Planning (DK)

Ragnarock museum, exterior view, photo Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

The red-colored entrance lobby of the museum, photo Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST 

Interior view, the bar-cafeteria, photo Søren Solkær

All images courtesy of Ragnarock
Cover image: exterior view, photo Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST