Kim Gladstone Herlev, director of Denmark’s only science centre, has talked about the institution’s future following its landmark DKK880m (US$126m, €118.3m, £100.3m) redevelopment, revealing grand aims to be among the world’s top five science centres worldwide.

The Experimentarium, which opened in the town of Hellerup in 1991, reopened to the public on 26 January after a complete redevelopment made more challenging by a 2015 fire that gutted the historic building.

The science centre, which adopts a hands-on approach for visitors, now has two additional floors on top of the 110-year-old building – the foundations of the city’s old Tuborg beer bottling plant – with an iconic spiralling copper staircase at its heart.

“We built on top of the history so to speak, the history of science in fact because the brewing process is science,” said Herlev, speaking to Attractions Management. “It has the same footprint on the ground but it’s twice the size it was before.

“It’s always been a challenge to be in a building originally intended for different purposes. We became a huge success in Denmark. Everyone knows the Experimentarium and because of that we saw the opportunity to do really something amazing here.”

Not resting on its laurels, the Experimentarium – which has installed 16 new exhibitions – has ambitious future plans in terms of future development and its position on the world stage.

“At Easter we will open our rooftop where you can be outside doing open-air science experiments,” said Herlev. “In January 2018 we will open the first floor, which will be a science city for kids aged one to five years old. We do not have many museums that cater specifically to children in Denmark so this is a very exciting thing for our country.

“Our aim is to be among the five best science centres in the world within the next few years,” he continued. “Compared to Europe the Experimentarium is different from a lot of other science centres. We’re able to show things that have never been shown in this context before. It’s a very exciting time for Denmark.”