Bjarke Ingels Group recently unveiled the renderings for two hexagonal “Cactus Towers”, as part of a 74,000 square-meter masterplan in Copenhagen that fellow Danish practice Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter is in charge of designing. The project will be built in the Vesterbro district at the Kalvebod... View full entry
Located in Copenhagen’s redeveloped North Harbor (Nordhavn), “The Silo” is, as its name suggests, a former grain silo. Fifty years after its original construction, the structure has been revamped by COBE. Now, the 17-storey silo is a residential apartment building, replete with 38 unique... View full entry
Assembled from containers placed within a scaffolding net, WE Architecture's Jagtevj 69 aims to create alluring public space while simultaneously providing temporary housing for the homeless.The proposal stresses that it's a temporary solution; by creating a variety of different spaces for... View full entry
Krøyers Plads, a five-story housing project in the center of Copenhagen, has just finished construction. The site, previously a “gap” in a continuous row of warehouses, is adjacent to the Copenhagen harbor. Designed by the Danish architects Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects and COBE, the... View full entry
A groundbreaking ceremony has taken place in Copenhagen for Foster + Partners’ headquarters for Ferring Pharmaceuticals.
The 39,000 square metre office is located on the urban fringe of the city in Kastrup, near the international airport, where it is possible to see the Swedish city of Malmö, where Ferring was founded.
The structure is made up of a triangular glass building that appears to float above a stone plinth, which also acts as its first line of defence against floods.
— globalconstructionreview.com
Other recent Foster + Partner stories in the Archinect news:Construction begins on major Foster + Partners project in SwedenApple's spaceship campus, by the numbers (including an estimated $5b price tag)What does a $1 million dollar staircase look like? View full entry
With a floor plan designed around the concept of petals furling outward from a flower's stem the anodized bronze-toned aluminum and glass tower known as Bryggeblomstem ("the Brygge Flower"), has been granted the "Best Residential Building" award by the Copenhagen Municipality. The... View full entry
Copenhagen has become the first city in the world to attempt to monetize its, and others’, data through a city data market.
Traffic snarl-ups, home break-ins, whether it rained or snowed, and how much electricity the city dwellers use each day is among the data to be traded for cash, city officials announced. Interestingly, the city, which is partnering with Hitachi on the project, also wants to incorporate others’ data.
— Network World
"Not all data will have a price tag—some of it will be free, but it will be anonymized anyway."Relatedly, in a recent conversation with Joseph Grima, co-founder of Space Caviar, the architect suggested, "...the home is becoming a factory of data to the point that one could pay one's rent through... View full entry
I’m not so critical about New York, because they have this very firm grid-pattern. Even the newer buildings are lined up on good streets. If you stand in front of the Empire State Building, you can’t really guess how tall it is, because it meets the street in a friendly way. [...] It’s not so important how high the building is, or how much it looks like a perfume bottle, it’s more important how it interacts with the city. — commonedge.org
Related stories in the Archinect news:Jan Gehl's perspective on making "a good urban habitat for homo sapiens"Is Jan Gehl winning his battle to make our cities liveable?How to design that elusive "Perfect Town" View full entry
The City of Copenhagen will pull its investments out of coal, oil and gas companies. The city council have agreed to divest the fossil fuel holdings of the city’s €920 million investment fund
[...]
"Copenhagen decided to ban investments in companies that gain more than 5 percent of their revenue from coal, oil and gas. The criteria apply to companies that engage in prospecting, extracting or refining coal, oil and gas..."
— Cities Today
Good work Danes! For other urban efforts to curb our collective fossil fuel addiction, check out these links:What the Paris Agreement means for architectureBritain's last deep-pit coal mine closes — the end of the industrial revolution?The climate is getting hotter, and we're not... View full entry
No two people, let alone architects, perceive even the most frequented cities in the same way. How do designers experience their cities as locals?Many a listicle have mentioned Copenhagen as one of the most livable cities in the world with the happiest residents. How could that be? “Perhaps [it... View full entry
Eventually, Saint Kjelds will be able to withstand — and even welcome — heavy rainfall and flooding. [...]
More parks like it are being built to purposefully turn into small ponds during heavy rains, allowing them to capture and retain water on site until the drainage system has capacity to handle it.
— citiscope.org
More news on cities' response to climate change:"King tides" give a glimpse of what the (near) future's rising seas will look likeJakarta, already 40% below sea level, is building one of the biggest sea walls on EarthUnchecked climate change will make the Gulf uninhabitable, claims new studyMajor... View full entry
Although Steven Holl Architects' design for Copenhagen harbor's pedestrian bridge linking twin skyscrapers won the city's competition back in 2008 and has already been honored with a 2010 Progressive Architecture Award, the rather tight-lipped global economy delayed its construction. However, the... View full entry
It may not have palm trees or tiki torches, but – if you're in the market for a private island – you should probably check out Flakfortet, some 3.5 miles off the coast of lovely Copenhagen. An artificial island constructed in 1915 as a naval base to protect the city during World War I... View full entry
A pedestrian bridge designed by Olafur Eliasson has opened in Copenhagen, inspired by the Danish-Icelandic artist's childhood in Iceland.
Reminiscent of sailing boats, Cirkelbroen, or circle bridge, is made of five circular platforms in different sizes, each with its own "mast", according to Danish foundation Nordea-fonden [...].
Spanning the Danish capital's Christianshavn canal, the bridge, some 40 meters-long (131 feet), has a section that swings open to allow boats to pass through.
— reuters.com
Olafur Eliasson in the Archinect news:Olafur Eliasson Wants You to Design Utopia (Out of Legos)Olafur Eliasson turns Louisiana MoMA into a 'Riverbed'Olafur Eliasson receives 2014 McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT View full entry
Germany might still be a car-obsessed country, but it's starting to build an Autobahn for bikes. — Fast Company
From the U.S. to Germany, urban planners and major corporations are starting to purposefully design for bicycles instead of individually operated cars. In Munich, a proposed network of two-lane bike paths would radiate out from the city center to the surrounding suburbs, creating 400 miles of... View full entry
