Archinect - News

Two Scandinavian companies will recycle data center heat for food production

2024-11-22T15:32:00-05:00

A new project aimed at developing a circular economy in Scandinavia will build two large commercial greenhouses that run on waste heat taken from nearby data centers. The projects will be located in Varde, Denmark, and Östersund, Sweden. The project will increase domestic food production. The agreement between WA3RM and the Vinga Group is worth $908 million. It could also set a valuable precedent.

As Dutch academic Marina Otero noted after her win of the 2022 Wheelwright Prize: "The huge scale of the operations of the data industry and its pervasiveness and increasing importance in the contemporary world — coupled with its openness to innovation and concurrent pressures to find better socio-ecological models — creates a fertile environment for experimentation and action."

Take a look inside BIG’s brand new concrete HQ office in Copenhagen

2024-10-28T14:04:00-04:00

Images of BIG’s newly opened waterfront headquarters in Copenhagen have been made public after the relocation was completed earlier this spring.

The office known for its familial atmosphere and daily team meals worked on the project collaboratively through its proprietary integrated LEAPP approach (short for internal Landscape, Engineering, Architecture, Planning, and Product Design).

Image copyright Laurian Ghinitoiu

BIG founder Bjarke Ingels shared: "The idea behind LEAPP is an architecture practice as a renaissance, interdisciplinary body of people and knowledge. [...] Every single aspect of LEAPP has been involved in our HQ, including the planning, the product design, the very complex stacking of the concrete elements."

Image copyright Laurian Ghinitoiu

Inside the Piranesian-inspired minimal concrete structure that's located at the tip of a pier in Nordhavn, a sole rotated totem pole-like column made from six types of stone supports a stacked pastiche of open and solid architectu...

BIG's new adaptive reuse paper arts museum to unfold in northern Denmark

2024-09-24T18:56:00-04:00

A new museum dedicated to paper arts will launch in the North Jutland region of Denmark in the coming years with an adaptive reuse design from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). The concept renderings for the reimagined new home of the six-year-old Museum for Paper Art were unveiled today along with an endorsement from its founder, the psaligrapher Bit Vejle.

Image courtesy BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group

The project converts a former supermarket building by extending its footprint to almost 25,000 square feet and adding a roof canopy resembling a single sheet of folded paper that sweeps down to cover glass-enclosed public areas lining the perimeter.

Image courtesy BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group

Paper and its source combine to drape the structure's interior surfaces and Ingels’ team has said the exterior of the market building also will be covered by a new acoustics-regulating origami-inspired paper art commissioned from local Danish artists in deference to the medium’s importance to the history of the ...

Cobe, Dorte Mandrup, JAJA, and Tegnestuen Vandkunsten to lead new mixed-use housing development at Copenhagen's South Harbor

2024-04-12T13:41:00-04:00

Cobe is joining fellow Danish architecture firms Dorte Mandrup, Tegnestuen Vandkunsten, and JAJA, alongside Sweco engineers, to deliver a new mixed-use residential district in Copenhagen’s South Harbor. The one-million-square-foot design is set to include 1,000 new units of housing (25% of which are considered affordable) designed to help key the Danish building sector's vital green transition.

Each of the buildings will be constructed in line with the Reduction Roadmap initiative, an analog of the Paris Agreement, as well as the Planetary Boundary for Climate Change and a German DGNB platinum certification. Wood will be used as a primary building material throughout the structures, which are connected via canals, bridges, and new green areas.

Rendering courtesy Cobe

Cobe is also under tender to deliver the newly redesigned Danish parliament buildings and public entrance in Copenhagen and has nearby completed another mixed-use housing tract called Paper Island at its Inner Harbor, w...

Henning Larsen debuts Open Detail, a digital biomaterials resource for architects

2024-03-21T18:34:00-04:00

Henning Larsen has unveiled a new tool for designers that allows them access to a database of biogenic materials examples taken from around the world.

The firm debuted its new Open Detail resource at the AEC Hackathon in Copenhagen. Together with collaborators Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA), Ramboll, Speckle, and Chevrant, the entry took home first place for the 'Best Mashup Project' at the Hackathon.

Now, their aim is to "foster a shift towards low-carbon architecture" by making such "tangible" biogenic design solutions more easily accessible to the public and practitioners as an open-source repository and knowledge-sharing platform.

The searchable Open Detail will allow users to contribute and download material details in either 2D or 3D format once actualized. Henning Larsen says this is "only the beginning" for Open Detail, adding that the project's off...

Cobe opens The Opera Park island in Copenhagen's inner harbor

2023-11-21T17:52:00-05:00

Cobe has completed work on a new outdoor concert space for Copenhagen they say will lend a rich cultural and green balance to the outcrop of new development in the city’s inner harbor area that has been reproduced in abundance over the past two decades.

The artificial island space is dubbed The Opera Park and was constructed on a 231,000-square-foot plot adjacent to the Royal Danish Opera House. It serves as its visual counterpoint and is accessed via a landscaped bridge connector covered by a glass walkway.

The Opera Park. Image: Francisco Tirado

Cobe’s Founder, Dan Stubbergaard, says: “The Opera Park is a place where nature comes first amidst Copenhagen’s bustling urban development. With its six gardens, winding paths, and carefully crafted viewpoints, the project seizes elements of Copenhagen’s historical, romantic gardens to tackle today’s challenges such as decline in biodiversity and water management. As you stroll through the park, you get the feeling of having left the city ...

3XN shares new Copenhagen Children's Hospital images ahead of 2026 opening

2023-08-16T13:57:00-04:00

3XN has shared photos of their nearly complete Copenhagen Children’s Hospital project in the Danish capital.

Spanning 58,000 square meters (about 624,300 square feet), the design will yield a total of 219 beds for children, teens, and pregnant women, 15 operating rooms, 57 ambulatory care suites for children and adolescents, another 30 for adults, 14 delivery rooms, and a nuclear diagnostics center.

Once it opens early next year, the hospital will have a capacity for 900 persons in addition to 1,200 staff. The firm says its design is meant to harness the power of play as a palliative measure and will be completed at a cost of $350 million for its client, the Capital Region of Denmark.

Image: 3XN

Formed by two asterisk-shaped volumes meant to evoke the image of a pair of widespread hands connected together at the wrist plate, the bays inside the individual "fingers" in the design are bookended by winter gardens at the tips and share a central core reserved for family lounge...

3XN tops out a modular timber office park for two robotics companies

2023-05-05T14:57:00-04:00

3XN is celebrating the topping out of Cobot Hub, a timber office park that will serve as the new joining home of robotics companies Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots A/S (MiR) in Odense, Denmark.

Photo by Rasmus Hjortshøj

The approximately 215,000-square-foot campus was designed to enhance collaboration and employee well-being while offering specialized environments that foster robotics research and development. It features open office layouts, along with common areas and amenity spaces where employees can interact informally. Increased visibility and transparency throughout the spaces that encourage social interaction were prioritized.

Photo by Rasmus Hjortshøj

Cobot Hub is composed of flexible, cubic modules that are tailored to the needs of the two companies. This approach allows the building to be scaled up or down according to future needs as certain parts of the structure and materials can be reshaped and reused. It is also primarily made of wood, allowing the...

Henning Larsen's latest K-12 design provides a lesson in bio-based construction

2023-03-08T12:34:00-05:00

Henning Larsen has released details of its newest K-12 project in the Danish village of Rønde.

The project worked to add an ultragreen extension to the village’s existing Feldballe School that offers carbon sequestering while incorporating plans for its future disassembly and reuse as components in other constructions.

Photography by Rasmus Hjortshøj - COAST

Using straw, seagrass, and locally-sourced timber as its base palette of materials, the design will eventually have a carbon output equivalent to -3kg of CO2e per square meter per year following Danish standards.

Photography by Rasmus Hjortshøj - COAST

A passive ventilation system helps to further reduce the consumption of energy on a daily basis. Solar panels have been installed on the timber roof, adding a further capacity for carbon independence. Compressed straw panels contained by wooden cassettes form the exterior of the walls, which are then completed with a clay plaster support coatin...

Upcycled skyscraper earns 3XN a spot on Fast Company's 'world’s most innovative companies' list

2023-03-03T10:55:00-05:00

Copenhagen-based 3XN has been included in Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies 2023 list. The 50-company-strong list is described by Fast Company as the “definitive chronicle of the novel ideas transforming business and society,” ranging from ChatGPT creator OpenAI to the art collective Mschf.

Sitting at number 32 on the list, 3XN was included “for upcycling an aging skyscraper into a modern office building,” referencing their recently completed Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, Australia. The 46-story tower has set a high-profile precedent for adaptive reuse and upcycling in tall buildings, with 65% of the original 1976 structure retained including 95% of its core.

Image credit: Phil Noller

“[Quay Quarter Tower] proves that even something as massive as an outdated office tower can be upcycled into something beautiful and relevant,” Fast Company said. “As a growing number of towers age in cities around the world 3XN’s innovative design presents a vision for how to implement a replica...

Denmark is moving forward with a controversial man-made storm barrier in Copenhagen

2023-01-13T14:54:00-05:00

In January 2022, a team of developers, architects and environmental consultants began work on a 50-year project that — if completed — will become one of Denmark's most ambitious and controversial infrastructure schemes to date: A 271-acre man-made peninsula devised to shield its capital, Copenhagen, from rising sea levels. But the multi-million dollar environmental project has drawn vocal criticism — primarily, and somewhat ironically, from those concerned about the climate.

Despite its intent, Copenhageners have lodged multiple unsuccessful attempts at halting Lynetteholm’s construction in the European Parliament and national assembly. The design calls for a linear wall shielding 35,000 new homes that can be bolstered as necessary in what is called a “process landscape.” Environmentalist opponents have answered back with claims of “maladaptation.” It will eventually join a currently under-development modular floating habitation from the Danish studio MAST that will take shape in segments over the coming decade.

Inside Snøhetta and WERK’s ‘lantern’ maritime center in Esbjerg, Denmark

2023-01-12T11:00:00-05:00

Snøhetta and WERK Arkitekter have completed a new maritime center in Esbjerg, Denmark. The circular timber center, dubbed “The Lantern,” houses multiple watersport clubs, boat storage, training facilities, a large workshop, and social functions, and is described by its designers as “a new landmark lighting up the Danish west coast.”

Image credit: wichmann+bendtsen photography

Having won a competition for the scheme’s design in 2019, Snøhetta and WERK used the building to pay homage to the maritime tradition and significance of Esbjerg’s port by translating the geometry and craftsmanship of local boats. The rhythm and repetition of the building’s facade are inspired by wooden boat construction, with a rippling motif inspired by the effect of throwing a stone into water. In addition to reflecting the water’s energy, the changes in the angle of facade panels create varying shadows inspired by the shapes of kayaks.

Image credit: wichmann+bendtsen photography

The wooden rhythm continues on...

Henning Larsen unveils its new design for a 'modern monument' in Copenhagen

2022-10-07T12:34:00-04:00

Henning Larsen has announced their recent commission to design a new church in Copenhagen — the Danish capital’s first in over 30 years.

Set amongst a clearing of trees in a forested area, the Ørestad Church is designed to be a communal gathering nexus that "offers solace" to parishioners and is "untouched by the bustle of the city," according to Global Design Director Jacob Kurek.

Rendering by VividVision. Courtesy of Henning Larsen.

Made of wood and wood shingle, the 18,837-square-foot (1,750-square-meter) church is said to reflect the open landscape and expressive architecture found in Ørestad.

A linear arrangement of clustered volumes aims to reference the treeline of a forest when approached from the adjacent Amager Fælled, a nature reserve in Copenhagen.

Image courtesy Henning Larsen.

Rendering by VividVision. Courtesy of Henning Larsen.

The design's inverted facade creates an "urban shelf" activated by seating niches, gaming areas, and a book exchange that was included as the...

Nordic architects' open letter reignites scorching Autodesk criticism

2022-09-21T15:47:00-04:00

Some of Northern Europe’s leading architecture firms have signed an open letter lamenting the lack of “serious development” laden in Autodesk’s proprietary design software, an aging suite of tools the authors claim is asking usurious prices despite neglecting years of industry-wide complaints.

The letter addressed to Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost was written by the Association of Consulting Architects in Norway (AiN), the Association of Finnish Architects’ Offices (ATL), the Association of Architectural Firms in Iceland (SAMARK), and the Danish Association of Architectural Firms — each the largest professional architectural bodies in their respective Nordic home countries and representing more than 14,000 architects combined. Its contents included pointed criticisms of the multi-user license system, the incompatibility and lagging interoperability of Autodesk products to each other and to modern computing systems, and continual price gouging.

Their invective offers an update to a 202...

BIG unveils new education complex master plan overlooking the North Sea

2022-08-27T09:00:00-04:00

BIG has just released details for a new project called Masterplan Esbjerg Strand in Denmark they say will host a “completely new education platform that will rethink the traditional education system and campus in the country.”

The initiative will entail the creation of a 90,500-square-meter (974,000-square-foot) multi-use green roof structure sited along the Jutland coastline and placed on an elevated platform 7 meters (23 feet) above the ground to gird against the effects of sea level rise.

Image courtesy of BIG

The firm shares: “As part of an ambitious vision plan Esbjerg of the Future Vision 2025, the city will grow its population and become an attractive educational city; have skilled labor for all; become a sustainable energy monopoly; a digital hub of Northern Europe; become a strong tourist destination on the Wadden Sea with optimal conditions for entrepreneurs.”

Image courtesy of BIG

BIG recently completed its nearby Marsk Watchtower project and will look to further enhance th...

BIG's newest museum project is a timely testament to the outsider in Danish society

2022-06-30T14:45:00-04:00

The latest museum project from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is now officially open following a weekend ceremony for the new FLUGT Refugee Museum in Oksbøl, Denmark.

With Queen Margrethe looking on, Ingels and his team were on hand to inaugurate the new institution, which is meant as a platform for stories of the immigrant experience in Danish society.

Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj

Located on the site of one of Denmark’s largest post-World War II German refugee camps, BIG’s design reworked an existing historic hospital structure into a 1,600-square-meter (17,220-square-foot) space, split into two buildings, that are connected by a single curved Corten steel volume to create a welcoming entryway into the exhibition areas.

Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj

Its north wing maintains the original circulation of the hospital layout, utilizing the introduction of three stabilizing cross-sections to increase gallery space in the new exhibition areas. In the new sout...

Take a look inside Kengo Kuma's newly-opened Hans Christian Andersen Museum

2022-04-14T15:34:00-04:00

One of Denmark’s most highly publicized cultural projects has now officially begun its public operation after being previously inaugurated in a soft opening last June.

Set amongst a massive new public park that opened earlier in the fall, Kengo Kuma and Associates’ design for the new H.C.Andersen Hus museum in Odense is a “fantasy world” of interconnected circular forms which give shape to the museum’s more than 60,000 square feet of education centers and subterranean exhibition space.

Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj - COAST

Visitors can experience the physical dualities endemic in the architecture and inspired by classic Andersen tales like The Tinderbox and The Little Mermaid. After entering through an extension of the writer’s adjacent birth home, they begin their journey on the timber-clad upper level and descend into an unraveling underground labyrinth containing a “unique artistic experience” designed by Event Communications dotted with evocative commissi...

LEGO Group's new campus officially opens at headquarters in Billund, Denmark

2022-04-12T14:33:00-04:00

Following five years of construction and planning, the LEGO Group is celebrating the official opening of the new corporate campus at its headquarters in Billund, Denmark. Designed by C.F. Møller Architects, LEGO Campus spans 54,000 square meters (581,000 square feet) and accommodates approximately 2,000 employees.

Offering a playful, inclusive, and collaborative environment, the campus was designed to reflect the company's values of “Imagination, Fun, Creativity, Caring, Learning, and Quality”. A core element of the campus concept is flexibility, which is embodied through “People House,” a concept developed in close collaboration with employees that calls for spaces that allow all employees to network and play during and after working hours.

The “People House” features facilities including a state-of-the-art fitness studio, creative workshop space, a LEGO homestay for visiting employees, a movie theater, an outside park and activity zone, a kitchen for communal cooking, and a heal...

BIG designs ‘folding’ neuroscience center to mimic the cerebral cortex

2022-03-16T10:58:00-04:00

Bjarke Ingels Group has unveiled its design for a neuroscience center in Aarhus, Denmark. Described by the studio as “the first of its kind in the world,” the 19,000-square-meter (200,000-square-foot) facility will be used by Aarhus University Hospital to study and treat physical and mental brain diseases.

Image courtesy of BIG

Spread across six levels, the center’s floor plan “folds” around a collection of atria echoing the folds of the cerebral cortex, creating a series of small clusters and courtyards. The ground floor sees patients and guests enter through a large open atrium at the core of the building, which also contains an interactive public exhibition area, café, and public courtyard.

Image courtesy of BIG

While the building will host several distinct departments including neurology, nuclear medicine, and psychiatry, each with their own unique requirements, the floorplan has been arranged to allow common functions to act as “crossbreeding” elements. In addition to encouragin...

Henning Larsen unveils its second mass timber project for Copenhagen

2021-11-29T12:04:00-05:00

As part of the firm’s continued experimentation with the increasingly popular building method in its hometown, Henning Larsen and Ramboll have unveiled a new design for what will eventually become Copenhagen’s largest mass timber structure.

The new Marmormolen area development scheme follows up on a previous design for a 7,000-person neighborhood called Fælledby that was announced last year.

Image courtesy Henning Larsen © Sora

A closer look at the new plan reveals a staggered-volume building surrounded by similar greenery and connected by a series of green rooftops that express the communion with nature seen in the previous development.

Each volume delineates the use of that particular part of the structure. The eight-story volume is home to the Danish AP pension fund, while the remaining three-story portions offer retail amenities as well as housing for residents overlooking the waterfront in Nordhavn.

Image courtesy Henning Larsen © Sora

The new building presents an exciting expan...

ADEPT completes the new Aarhus School of Architecture

2021-10-13T08:00:00-04:00

Buzz is spreading around Denmark this week following the completion of the design capital’s first-ever purpose-built architectural school in Aarhus, its second-largest city.

Image © ADEPT

The Danish firm ADEPT has converted a 12,500-square-meter (135,000-square-feet) former railyard site at the Aarhus School of Architecture to deliver an innovative approach to learning to one of Europe’s most respected architecture schools.

Image © Rasmus Hjortshoj

The new building offers students the chance to experiment in their own education, collaborating with each other in a cross-disciplinary space that is itself the byproduct of intensive user input and a process that circumvented internal hierarchies of building design and project organization.

Image © Rasmus Hjortshoj

“It is a building that was designed to never be enough in itself,” ADEPT partner Martin Krough said in a statement. “Only through its occupants is it complete."

The terraced structure carries an industria...

Snøhetta completes new extension and landscape for the Ordrupgaard Museum in Denmark

2021-08-16T17:43:00-04:00

Snøhetta has unveiled a new extension and landscape design for the Ordrupgaard Museum in Denmark.

Originally built as a three-winged, neo-classical country mansion during World War I, the museum was expanded by a modern glass and black lava concrete extension in 2005, designed by Zaha Hadid. Snøhetta’s design creates a holistic and continuous path throughout the museum and its surrounding park and gardens, linking Hadid’s intervention with the museum’s original building and permanent collection. This project comprises landscape interventions along with five brand new, subterranean exhibition spaces.

The Ordrupgaard Museum is located north of Copenhagen and houses Northern Europe’s most comprehensive collection of French and Danish art from the 19th and early 20th century.

Out of the new exhibition spaces, two create a continuation of Hadid’s extension, and the remaining three are dedicated to one of the museum’s main attractions: its extensive and permanent collection of French im...

All along the (Marsk) Watchtower: BIG unveils images of its new tourist attraction by the North Sea

2021-08-11T14:03:00-04:00

Images of BIG’s new corten steel Marsk Watchtower have been revealed, showcasing a sculptural design that offers users superlative views of the adjacent North Sea coast.

Image by Rasmus Hjortshoj and BIG

Marsk Tower section. Image by BIG

DNA helices inspire the 80-foot-tall observatory located in Denmark’s Wadden Sea National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The tapered structure increases in width as the spiral gradually climbs its way to the top and the 40-foot-wide viewing platform. Two sets of steps totaling 277 connect users to its base, which also contains a built-in elevator for increased accessibility.

Image by Rasmus Hjortshoj and BIG

The tower is meant to lure tourists to the Marsk Camp complex and will now make up the centerpiece of a program that also includes an on-site restaurant. A 250-ton concrete plinth forms the base of the helix-like structure with similarities to the 150-foot-tall Camp Adventure tower installed in the Gisselfeld Klosters Skove forest by Danish s...

UNESCO-UIA names Copenhagen the new World Capital of Architecture for 2023

2021-07-27T13:55:00-04:00

The city of Copenhagen has been officially designated as World Capital of Architecture for 2023 by the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, on the recommendation of the General Assembly of the International Union of Architects (UIA). This decision is in keeping with the partnership agreement established between UNESCO and the UIA in 2018, through which UNESCO designates the host cities of UIA’s World Congress as World Capitals of Architecture.

Copenhagen follows Rio de Janeiro, who was the inaugural holder of the title. The Danish capital will host a series of major events and programs on the theme “Sustainable Futures — Leave No One Behind.” In cooperation with the Danish Association of Architects and various Nordic professional groups, the city will explore how architecture and urban planning can contribute to realizing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Previously on Archinect: UNESCO names Rio de Janeiro as first World Capital of Architecture

After Copenhagen 2023, the next holder will be either Barcelona or Beijing, who are contending to claim the World Capital of Architecture title in 2026. The official decision will be made later this year.

“We are very happy to see the torch of the World Capital of Architecture title pass to Copenhagen from Rio de Janeiro,” said Azoulay. “The inaugural World Capital of Architecture in Rio was a real success, underlining the important role of urban planning, not...

Kengo Kuma turns literary fantasy into an exciting spatial experience with the new Hans Christian Andersen Museum

2021-03-12T15:08:00-05:00

Kengo Kuma & Associates' new design for the Hans Christian Andersen Museum is underway. Pulling reference from Andersen's tales Kuma and his team bring the famed author and his writings to life in an exciting spatial experience. "The museum will provide a unique artistic experience, which combines landscape, architecture, and modern exhibition design, and it will offer new perspectives on one of the most beloved and creative thinkers in world history," shares the museum team.

The firm was selected for the museum project after winning first prize for the international design competition in 2016. Slated to open Summer 2021, visualizations of the project's dreamy outdoor landscapes complement Andersen's fantastical tales. The 60,277 square foot (5,600 square meters) museum site contains a children's house and an underground museum that intertwines with the garden.

Kuma was inspired by the author's fairytale "The Tinderbox" which tells the story of a soldier who learns of a magical un...

ADEPT's Braunstein Taphouse is 'designed for disassembly'

2020-11-11T11:08:00-05:00

A new taphouse, designed by Copenhagen-based ADEPT, at the harbor of Danish city Koege, will welcome the more than 15,000 yearly visitors to the nearby micro-brewery Braunstein and offers activities for the local community.

The Braunstein Taphouse is "designed for disassembly" to make the recycling of building components possible if the structure would need to move to a different site in the future. According to ADEPT, the design allows for the building to be completely reassembled or for certain parts to be used as part of another project.

Mechanical joints were used throughout construction. Moreover, the designers chose to omit paint and grout on primary wall sources. The wooden floors are composed of the waste from a nearby flooring manufacturer. Click-joint polycarbonate members create the roof assembly.

"It was important to us to design the taphouse as a locally anchored building that supports the idea of a new local meeting place, said ADEPT in a statement. "The significant g...

Danish Architecture Center unveils new four-story slide by artist Carsten Höller

2020-06-15T14:48:00-04:00

With the reopening of Danish Architecture Center last week, Copenhagen welcomed a new art attraction: a 40-meter/130-foot-long tube slide spiraling down four stories inside DAC's boxy, OMA-designed BLOX home.

Photo: Kontraframe

Envisioned by German-Belgian artist Carsten Höller, famous for installing similar slides at art institutions around the world, the 15-meter/50-foot-tall DAC Slide is part of the Center's initiative to appeal to a broader audience and extend its range beyond the professional architecture community.

Photo: Kontraframe

"Why don’t we use slides in architecture as a supplement to stairs, elevators and escalators?" Carsten Höller commented on this latest piece. "They are fast, safe and energy-savvy — and they produce a sensation in the user that has been described as 'a kind of voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind, somewhere between delight and madness.'"

Photo: Kontraframe

Installing the enormous 4-ton slide took 21 days and required 13 slide sections, 94 pl...

Denmark opens new 50-hectare nature focused exploratorium

2020-06-15T12:24:00-04:00

Denmark has opened its new exploratorium and "nature arena" called NATURKRAFT (translated Nature Power) where visitors will experience different aspects of nature and how its physical and aesthetic characteristics will shape the sustainable cities and communities of the future.

Designed by Thøgersen&Stouby and SLA, the new landmark sits on a 50-hectare site and cost 300 million Danish kroner to complete. It is expected to attract 280,000 visitors annually.

Naturkraft consists of three interconnected elements: A 600 meter ring wall with 50 hectares of surrounding landscape; an inner adventure park with local biotypes and interactive installations; and a 5500 square meter main building holding exhibits around the importance of nature in modern communities.

"We live in the anthropocene age," said Jens-Erik Thøgersen, Founding Partner of Thøgersen&Stouby in statement. "This means that humans can be regarded as the power of nature that triggers the greatest changes in the earth's climate...

Copenhagen selected as UNESCO World Capital of Architecture 2023

2020-05-11T14:31:00-04:00

Copenhagen will be named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture 2023, in addition to hosting the UIA World Congress of Architects in the same year. The title is a part of a joint initiative by UNESCO and Union of the International Architects (UIA), and is assigned to coincide with UIA’s World Congress, every three years.

According to CMW, Copenhagen won the bid to host the 2023 World Congress of Architects in 2017 after presenting a theme focusing on ‘Sustainable futures – Leave no one behind’.

The focus will be on the role of architecture in sustainable city planning and will seek to promote architecture as a crucial tool to achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The designation as World Capital of Architecture will allow these efforts to be developed further, CMW reports.

Architecture students from the Royal Danish Academy create a "Guide Book Of DIY Chairs"

2020-04-27T21:38:00-04:00

“We decided to treat the situation as an opportunity to reflect, unite and create together with a group of young talented architecture students, who were all crawling the walls due to lock-down and home isolation.” A-A Collective

At a time where the world is closing down and consumerism is on hold, A-A Collective completes a digital based workshop for 80 architecture students at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation - Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape.

Chair by Helene Engehagen

Students and teachers in home isolation around Europe, from a total of 5 different countries, completed the virtual workshop in one week. Students could only build with household work tools and materials available from their local builders merchant.

Chair by Elen Finstad

Due to current restrictions the workshop draws inspiration from the principles of Enzo Mari’s classical Autoprogettazione collection. The students were challenged not only to design a chair, but also to do a manual of their design, allowing other people to “copy” it.

The guidebook, containing a total of 63 different chair designs, can be downloaded for free here.