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The winners of the architectural competition to design the House of Fairytales, a new home for H.C. Andersen's stories, were announced Wednesday.
They were Russian-Swiss artist Rodion Kitaev from Basel, British designer Leith Kerr from London and Norwegian Trans Border Studio from Oslo.
The contest garnered the most interest of any architectural contest ever held in Denmark and 475 proposals from 57 countries were judged.
The design winners were announced specially on April 2, the anniversary of H.C. Andersen's birthday, and will serve as inspiration as work begins on the new tourist attraction.
Russian-Swiss artist Rodion Kitaev presented an idea based on four main elements -- a tower, a garden, a maze and a food court that the judges deemed both simple and inspirational.
British designer Leith Kerr's "Paper Cutting House" imagined a house seemingly clipped from paper sitting in a green garden, while the Norwegian Trans Border Studio's proposal "Hortus Conclusus" included an enclosed patio, art colonnade and a new garden.
The idea behind all of the proposals has been to augment Andersen's childhood home in Odense and create a new urban attraction in the Andersen's hometown.
The triple digit budget for the attraction is already included in the government's tourism strategy. As planned, the new House of Fairytales will be located in downtown Odense, Denmark's third largest city on Funen Island, and is scheduled to open in 2018.
The house has made it all the way to the official tourism strategy of the Danish government, and it will therefore help draw international tourists further into the universe of the world famous Danish author.
At the international idea competition, an astounding amount 475 proposals from 57 countries was evaluated by the jury.
This is the most attention an architectonic project has ever received on Danish soil.
Among the many proposals, the jury has selected the three that best suit the very ambitious program of the idea competition.
They will serve as primary inspiration in the further work of formulating the program for the coming project competition.
As part of the government's tourism growth strategy, House of Fairytales is the latest addition to the projects in Odense that are to attract more tourists and create more jobs on the island of Funen.
The strategy also includes increased cooperation between the Ministry of Business and Growth, the City of Copenhagen and the City of Odense.
A Hans Christian Andersen visitors centre is to be established, aimed at international tourists and located near the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, when the fairytale house in Odense is to be built in the coming years.
