Situated on the harbourside, the Arctic Cultural Centre is a landmark both from town and seen from ships approaching Hammerfest. During the winter the building is illuminated by changing coloured light and in summertime the inner red wooden walls can be seen through the building's outer glazed walls. The right angled and straight lined building is large compared to the otherwise smaller scale of the surrounding built environment dating from the post war reconstruction era. It is organised in two distinct parts connected by a spacious foyer with skylights and glazed end walls that go through the building from Strandgata to the harbourside.

The solid northerly end of the building has two large performance spaces, one for cinema and one for professional music, dance and theatre. The cantilevered southerly part contains the centre's administration and the town's school for music, dance, fine art and crafts. The main entrance is in the space created by the cantilever and here there are steps and platforms forming an outdoor amphitheatre, which is both part of the centre and the town's public realm.