The IBC Innovation Factory Is a Creative Learning Environment Built In a Former Paint Factory

The <a href="http://www.ibc.dk/" target="_blank">International Business College's</a> newest facility is built inside an old paint plant. The revamped GORI paint factory is now home to the <a href="http://shl.dk/eng/#/home/about-architecture/ibc-innovation-factory/description" target="_blank">IBC Innovation Factory</a>, a creative learning environment for the students and faculty of the IBC. Originally the paint factory was planned as an innovative space that could support positive exchange between workers, and in the same spirt the new college facility has been designed to encourage learning with the help of the senses. Designed by <a href="http://shl.dk" target="_blank">Schmidt Hammer Lassen</a>, the Kolding, Denmark education center features the six natural elements of fire, water, greenery, light, sound and air.

Originally built in 1978, the GORI paint factory was considered innovative and set new standards for manufacturing facilities.

It was the first factory plant in Denmark to unite production and management in one large room, allowing visual connection between the two.

It also featured decorated paint tanks by the French artist Jean Dewasne, ping-pong tables and badminton courts for the employees to use.

Using the same spirit of innovative design, Schmidt Hammer Lassen renovated the factory into a creative learning environment for the <a href="http://www.ibc.dk/" target="_blank">International Business College</a> in Kolding.

<a href="http://shl.dk" target="_blank">Schmidt Hammer Lassen</a> used six natural elements — fire, water, greenery, light, sound and air — as inspiration for the new educational facility.

The factory hall was revamped with an indoor landscape built with large beams of Douglas pine wood, gardens, large skylights, and a variety of learning spaces.

The 12,800-square-meter space includes an auditorium, open areas study, an amphitheatre, and closed podiums for group work or quiet study time.

Students and teachers enjoy green plants, the sound of trickling water, and birds in aviaries, which makes it feel as though they were outside, even though they are in.