A police academy with five acoustic challenges under one roof
How Erik Arkitekter designed a 20,000m² training facility in Vejle where every space performs acoustically.
The common hall at Vejle Police Academy, where Rockfon Sonar with a hidden grid absorbs sound across a high-ceilinged space with constant foot traffic.
Three buildings, one teaching environment
Denmark's new police academy in Vejle covers 20,000m² across three buildings: two existing structures that were renovated and one new 9,500m² building between them.
The Danish Building Authority commissioned the project, with the National Police as the end customer. Architect Erik Arkitekter approached the layout as "three pearls on a string", three different building types connected through a consistent design language running north to south.
The academy combines theoretical and practical training under one roof. Classrooms, training rooms for physical exercises and ball games, a large atrium with a canteen and shared living areas, and 100 dormitory rooms for officers in training.
That mix of functions, all under one teaching brief, made acoustic design a central part of the project from the start.
Five space types, five acoustic requirements
A classroom needs sound absorption and speech clarity. A common atrium needs to handle the noise of hundreds of students at once without reverberation building up. A training room hosting ball games needs ceilings tough enough to withstand impact while still controlling echo. A dormitory needs quiet. And service areas need ceilings that can be cleaned regularly.
No single ceiling solution covers all of those requirements. To meet the acoustic brief across the whole academy, each type of space needed a different specification.
Project info
Project name
Police Academy Vejle
Location
Vejle, Denmark
Architecture
Photography
Svend Christensen
Download images
Natural daylight flowing into the common hall, with Rockfon Sonar keeping the open space acoustically comfortable.
Rockfon Color-all in sunny yellow, giving the room a distinct character that doubles as wayfinding.
Rockfon Boxer in the training room, robust enough to handle ball impacts while controlling echo during exercises.
A different solution for each need
In the central atrium and common areas, Rockfon Sonar with a hidden grid keeps the ceiling clean and uninterrupted while absorbing sound across the open space. The classrooms use the same product with a partially hidden grid, keeping the design language consistent and the acoustics suited to teaching.
The training rooms needed more. With officers running drills and ball games taking place regularly, Rockfon Boxer was installed for its impact resistance, robust enough to handle repeated hits while still controlling echo.
In the meeting rooms, Rockfon Color-all in sunny yellow covers walls and ceilings, giving the rooms a clear identity that doubles as wayfinding.
Service areas use Rockfon CleanSpace Pro for hygiene and cleanability, with Rockfon VertiQ wall panels extending acoustic absorption beyond the ceiling where needed.
Rockfon Sonar in the auditorium, providing the speech clarity and sound absorption a lecture environment depends on.
Rockfon ceiling tiles in the shower area. Acoustic absorption with humidity resistance and cleanability.
Rockfon CleanSpace Pro in the industrial kitchen, combining acoustic performance with hygiene and cleanability.
Built for every kind of learning
The Vejle police academy welcomes students into a building where the acoustic environment supports both theoretical study and practical training. Every type of space performs to its specific brief, all within a consistent visual design language.
Also designing an education or training facility where very different activities happen under one roof? Get in touch, and together we'll find the right product for every space.
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