On the southwest coast of Greenland, the city of Nuuk is one of the world’s northernmost capitals. And although the tundra climate brings cold, long, and snowy winters, it’s the wind — not the temperature — that makes for particularly gruelling conditions. Then there’s the northern latitude’s seasonal lack of sunlight, which makes year-round outdoor life much harder to embrace. For Danish multi-disciplinary architects BIOSIS, however, the challenge of accommodating the region’s wind and sun proved to be the genesis for the design of a striking new apartment complex that celebrates local culture and climate.

Situated in Entreprenørdalen, a formerly industrial area on the edge of the small, 20,000-person city, the Nuukullak 10 apartment complex is perched on the ridge of a mountain. As in much of the city, it’s a site where the northern winds can be harsh and sudden. The design process began by carefully studying on-site wind patterns and daylight hours to map out a local micro-climate, with the five-storey building’s form sculpted into a horseshoe shape to create a sheltered inner courtyard with a year-round children’s playscape and a social gathering space.

Each of the building’s 45 suites also has a southeast-facing balcony, maximizing residents’ ability to enjoy the warm daylight hours. At street level, meanwhile, a 270-square-metre café welcomes pedestrians and cyclists. Like all of the building’s at-grade entries, its glazed façade is slightly tucked into the body of the building, making for a sheltered environment. Upstairs, the apartments — layouts range from one to four bedrooms — feature minimalist finishes and expansive south-facing bay windows.

While the strategy of contouring the building’s frontage towards the southeast is rooted in embracing the limited sunlight, it also allowed BIOSIS — who specialize working in arctic and sub-arctic climates like Greenland — to largely avoid interfering with the mountainous terrain to the north. “Our aim is always to minimize the impact and preserve and respect the natural terrain, habitat, and biotopes by, for example, keeping blasting to a minimum. By keeping the rocky features in the design, the building becomes a harmonious extension of its natural environment,” says BIOSIS co-founder Morten Vedelsbøl.

For all the site-specific sensitivity, however, Nuukullak 10’s weathering steel façade still asserts an eye-catching presence. Combining solid surfaces with perforated balcony guards — which are designed to offer privacy while welcoming in light — the subtle interplay of textures introduces variety within a rigorously unified materials palette. For the architects, the inspiration came from the hues of Greenland’s resilient vegetation and natural rock formations. “We were inspired by the natural conditions of the site in terms of textures and colours and have chosen the Corten steel due to its robust properties and its ability to shift expression, weather naturally and patinate during the seasons in harmony with snow or the beautiful nuances and textures found in the bedrock and vegetation on the site,” says Vedelsbøl.