H. C. Andersen’s Garden

H.C. Andersen’s garden is a sensory oasis in the city, with a playful character that appeals to both children and adults. The garden beautifully complements the experience of the H. C. Andersen House but also stands as an independent landscape project.

Winner of the Danish Landscape Award

H. C. Andersen’s garden and House are located in the heart of Odense. The project is an essential part of the major transformation of the city center that has taken place in recent years. Where the former Thomas B. Thriges Street once cut through the city, it is now closed and replaced by a light rail system. The garden functions as both a museum garden, an urban space, and a local recreational park – a new central and sensory oasis in the city. The garden and museum are an integral part of the city’s structure, closely connected to the historic streets surrounding Andersen’s birthplace. The project is the winner of the Danish Landscape Award 2023.

The city’s materiality is reinterpreted in the garden. Familiar materials such as Nordic granite cobblestones, gravel paths, and trimmed hedges closely tie the garden to the urban environment. Visitors are invited from the city into a different world – a truly special and magical garden space. The five entrances from the surrounding streets are all open and inviting. They encourage citizens to pass through, explore, or take a break and enjoy the unique atmosphere of the garden.

Buildings and landscape are interwoven

In the world of H. C. Andersen’s fairy tales there is a constant coexistence of opposites, as well as an equal relationship between humanity, its surroundings, and nature. Based on this universe, H. C. Andersen’s House and garden feature a strong interaction between building and landscape. Two-thirds of the museum is located underground to allow for as much green urban space as possible. The remaining third appears as light wooden pavilions, naturally placed among the garden spaces and integrated into its narrative. Large parts of the city garden are thus built on decks, where the building and the garden are woven together into a cohesive whole. Boundaries between indoors and outdoors, built and grown, above and below, reality and fantasy are blurred, creating an enchanting sequence of spaces that set the stage for the complex and ambiguous world of H. C. Andersen’s stories. Visitors to the garden are offered a vivid sensory experience and a pause from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Hedges frame the story

The hedge is used as a metaphorical element, both dividing, framing, and creating coherence between the building and the landscape. The trimmed hedge symbolizes something ordinary and familiar, and through its precise form, it establishes a marked spatial boundary. In the project, the hedges are exaggerated, deformed, stretched, and transformed to capture the complex and multifaceted world of H. C. Andersen’s stories. The hedges create enclosures, openings, and spatial sequences, orchestrating a series of unique sensory experiences and viewpoints that invite visitors to explore.

As an integral part of the project, solutions were implemented to address the challenges posed by heavy rain events caused by climate change.