Funding the Kulturhus Bunker, Nordea
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14 October 2025

95 million Danish kroner will transform the Bunker into a lively and contemporary community center

by The Imperfect City: Embracing the Imperfectness of Buildings and People to Create a Good City for Everyone Discover the project
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95 million Danish kroner will transform the Bunker into a lively and contemporary community center
The employees at FO in Aarhus and ImperfectCity could hardly contain their excitement when the message came in that the Nordea Foundation had agreed to a donation of 95 million Danish kroner for the renovation of the former journalism school in Nordbyen.

The dream of transforming the brutalist concrete building into a modern community center with space for people with diversity can now be realized; a cultural and social gathering place for approximately 10,000 future residents in the area, Margrethebjerg.

The urban development project ImperfectCity unfolds in Kulturhus Bunkeren, and project manager Vibeke Jensen is excited about being able to realize the visions of a community house with space for many different people and activities:

"It is fantastic that the Kulturhus Bunkeren can now be renovated as part of the innovative urban development program, which will solve several of our urban challenges and include vulnerable young people" says Vibeke Jensen, who is also chairman of the Ovartaci Museum, which is also an active and important part of the Kulturhus Bunkeren.

Anne Thorø Nielsen, headmaster of FO-Aarhus, which owns the building, is also looking forward to realizing the visions:

"We dream of creating a place that will be a setting for culture, communities, associations and leisure activities, and which will become a central player in the future district."

The former journalism school from 1972, known for its brutalist architecture, was originally threatened with demolition. But now the building is being reused and transformed during a comprehensive renovation into a modern cultural center with a social economic café, workshops, concert and meeting room, as well as space for communal dining, reading groups and much more.