The long tradition of working both experimentally and traditional with ceramics comes together in Denmark’s CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art a couple of hours from Copenhagen. As it grew out of its old dowager house, a contemporary extension, mostly underground to preserve the historic site, opened in 2015, by Kjaer & Richter collaborating with architect Niels Frithiof Truelsen, landscape by Wad and Henry Jensen A/S engineers. The results are an additional 1 500 m2 space for the museum and unobstructed views of the Lillebaelt sound from the sculpture park where a smaller glass and tile clad pavilion surfaces, snuck into the sloping ground, its façade partly made of artisanal tiles from Petersen Tegl.

The museum was originally founded by a group of ceramicists and is located in an area with a rich history in ceramics and brickwork. Less known than the famous Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, CLAY Museum offers a fresh take on how to experience contemporary creativity and heritage, with architecture and landscaping that merge function harmoniously with nature and a historic site.