On Thursday, November 2, 2006 Steven Holl Architects presented T-Husene, the design for a direct commission from City Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. Besides a constructed landscape of 8000 sq. m. T-Husene contains 18,000 sq.m. residential space in 5 towers above 12,500 sq.m. commercial space...
A green folded space with multiple elevations on top of the commercial space is sliced open by the insertion of the five rotated dancing towers. With this project Steven Holl Architects sets a new example for residential typologies based on the concept of urban porosity. Leaving behind the standard typology of residential perimeter blocks, the dancing T's with colored and reflective undersides carve the sky within the green folded space.
Inspired by twilight and the Scandinavian sky, the T-shaped buildings maximize high quality residential floor space with views to the horizon and sunset. Building downwards from the maximum height level, taking into consideration maximum view, each tower will contain 50 apartments in 22 different configurations ranging from 73 sq.m. to 135 sq.m. At the same time, the working environment of the commercial area is improved by the green folded landscape, allowing the nature reserve to flow from the Amager Fælled through Ørestad onto the green square in the east.
Steven Holl says about the design, "We wanted to create a sense of autonomy, individuation, and particularity for each apartment and tower. One of the failures of modern housing comes from the lack of individualization. Concepts should not be based on the mass, but on individuals. We aim for an architecture that is in connection to each human being. Therefore, new typologies need to be created of which the dancing T's are an example."
T-Husene is part of Ørestad, a new-town located less than ten minutes away from historic Copenhagen by metro, close to Scandinavia's main airport and connected directly to Malmo¸ in Sweden. To Steven Holl the beauty of Ørestad is formed by the combination between density, the preservation of nature and the fast metro connection with the existing city. He says, "It is a sharp contrast to the American urban sprawl which is characterised by highways and endless seas of houses."
High quality natural materials and sustainable solutions for future challenges will be an integral part of the project which will break ground in the second half of 2007.
T-Husene is one of the two projects Steven Holl Architects is currently designing in Denmark; the other project is the Herning Center of the Arts.
3 Comments
Some initial descriptive terms: stark, uninviting, harsh, monotonous. Holl describes an architecture which "creates a sense of autonomy, individuation, and particularity for each apartment and tower." These images clearly depict a set of towers lacking these qualities. Imagine trying to tell a friend which tower you lived in if they were standing outside. As far as I can tell the only thing making this easier is the color on the underside of the flat, unnesecarily blank cantilevers. It is true that the individual units show some promise, however modern they may be, but the overall massing shows little in the way of individuation.
Agreed. More broken Modernist dreams of towers in the park. Where's the human dimension?
What a waste. Holl is so talented - why does he insist on re-packaging corb over and over again.
Ørestad is going to look like a junkyard of poorly conceived 90's architecture in 20 years.
hmmm. only pages you have to sign up to? Any other images online?
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