Copenhagen brick

In Copenhagen major buildings in brick survive from the early 17th century, or earlier, but the most prominent are from the 19th and early 20th century. 

There are a range of styles or fashions in these brick buildings and high-quality brickwork can be seen on all types of buildings from major industrial buildings to churches and from some of the most impressive early social housing through to apartment buildings for the wealthy …. but the important points are more general: brick is a durable building material - so in Europe and Africa and the Middle East huge Roman constructions in brick survive after 2,000 years - and bricks have been used throughout the World so brick is a common building material.  

And brick as a building material is relatively cheap so what is important with brickwork is the imagination of the architects and builders and the skills of the brick makers and brick layers in using a simple material. 

Walk around Copenhagen … the buildings around Israels Plads or along H C Andersens Boulevard are a good place to start … and you realise what a huge force of skilled artisans there were in the city to achieve such an extensive and impressive rebuilding and expansion of the city after 1870.

 

Copenhagen brickwork

all in the detail

 

 

Copenhagen is the city of amazing design and of amazing architectural details and much of that detail, carefully thought through and carefully executed, is on historic buildings.

Much that I admire about modern architecture is to do with broad concepts and about clever engineering or about simple and beautiful proportions but rarely is modern architecture about the details or the quality of craftsmanship. 

Of course there are exceptions … like the National Bank by Arne Jacobsen ... but generally modern architecture, even in this city, is no longer about craftsmanship.

I don’t mean by that craftsmanship in any quaint or nostalgic sense - an image of the old and experienced master at his work bench - but in broader terms of workmanship combined with a complete understanding of the materials being used and the techniques employed but combined with genuine pride in the finished work and - even more difficult to define - work executed with imagination and panache or bravado … about making something that will last and creating something that people will appreciate and enjoy for years or decades or centuries ahead.

That's not the sort of design that looks good on the bottom line of the annual accounts but, more crucial, it is as an investment.

 

Nordhavn … coming together

 

The trip out to Nordhavn to go to Finders Keepers was a good opportunity to have another look around the new district as most of the apartment blocks are finished and most now occupied and the hard-landscaping is going in now that the heavy construction traffic has left. 

My impression, watching the area go up over the last couple of years, has been that this was a bit of a cladding free-for-all. A sort of me me me look at me approach to designing the buildings but actually it is beginning to come together a bit more as a district. A supermarket, a wine bar and a coffee place had all opened since I was last here. The old harbour buildings have been restored and businesses are moving in as well as residents.

Some of the streets are narrower and more tightly built up than along the harbour below Islands Brygge or in the south harbour area but actually that might be an advantage in protecting the streets from the worst of the weather in the winter … after all this is the North Harbour.

It looked as if many of the Danes visiting Finders Keepers were also taking this as a first opportunity to explore the newest area of housing in the city as many were taking photographs and there was a steady stream of people climbing the staircase to the park on the top of the P-hus Lüders multi-storey car park.

 

 

the horizontal, banded brickwork is good ... an interesting take on decorative brickwork from the 19th and early 20th century throughout the city ... a stripped down version that gives the building some texture and a strong tone that sits well with the deep rust-coloured Corten steel used throughout the district for drain covers, rubbish bins and bike stands

 

the graphics for the car park by Rama Studio are fantastic

and the vertical planting is looking good as everything becomes more established

 

Axeltorv

 

 

Hoardings are down and there is now public access to the new square and to the new building at Axeltorv. This major new development, opposite the main entrance to Tivoli, was designed by Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter and is described as ‘five fused circular towers of different heights.’

Round towers are relatively unusual in the city - Rundetaarn or round tower at the west end of Trinitatis Kirke being one prominent example - but the round form of the towers in the new building may have been inspired by its site on one of the bastions of the old defences and the lower part of a medieval, circular, brick tower from the old wall survives nearby at Jarmers Plads.

 

 

 

The new Axeltorv is a stunning building and the facade, with its cladding panels and distinctive fins in the brass alloy tombac, is a visual link with Vesterport - the important office building further west by Povl Baumann and Ole Falkentorp that dates from 1930-1932 - although the tombac will presumably not take on the same green patina as the copper.

 

 

 

Clearly the building has created an important public square between Tivoli and Jerbanegade and public access has been taken high up into the building by a dramatic main staircase and narrower secondary staircases that rise between the towers to an upper court that has mature trees and good, high-quality hard landscaping with cobbles and seats that pick up the circular theme. And this upper space is very dramatic with curved upper links between the towers supported on simple but very tall and elegant columns.

 

 

 

But … and there is a big but … although the building and the square attract and pull the visitor through, it seems curiously not site specific. It is a virtuoso design but it fits unhappily with the street to its north and the buildings to its east where the older buildings have just been sliced off and there is a grim alleyway between the old and the new with views into back courtyards that were and are not meant to be seen. Yes, it is boring and safe to respect and retain street frontages and building heights but to break through them so dramatically here, on this site, undermines rather than pulls together what is already a confusing, crowded and visually distracting and fragmented townscape between the city hall and the main railway station.

Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter

Copenhagen Contemporary

 

 

This independent art institute was established in 2015 and from June 2016 has occupied space in redundant warehouses on Papirøen - Paper Island - where paper for printing newspapers was stored. This will provide a venue for exhibiting art and installations and performance and light shows until the end of 2017 when work starts on new buildings here.

The gallery has a wine bar and a store and with evening opening and with the attraction of the food halls in the same warehouses this has become a very popular destination for tourists and for local people particularly since the completion last summer of the new bridge over the harbour.

There is a full programme of exhibitions and events through to the end of the year.

Artbar as a venue for meeting will continue through Cph Art Week from 26th August through to 2nd September.

Copenhagen Contemporary

TÅRN - a Knippelsbro guide

 

 

For the reopening of the bridge tower, the team behind the restoration work have produced a combined guide and magazine. Narrower pages attached to the cover have a good selection of historic drawings, old photographs and information about the building of the bridge and its operation.

Inside is like a good art magazine with a selection of newspaper cuttings about the bridge and some interesting photographs of odd objects found as work on the restoration progressed but there is also a review of the art installation Between the Towers by Randi Jørgensen and Katrine Malinivsky at Arken; what appears to be a declaration of love for the Eiffel Tower; an essay about the symbolism of towers through time and much more.

Really at Kvadrat

 

Sometimes you come across a design or a product that had not been on the radar - but it stops you in your tracks. It's like driving along a road and suddenly there is an amazing view and you can’t help yourself and just go wow.

Well it was a bit like that on seeing Really at Kvadrat at Klubiensvej in Nordhavn on Thursday.

In part, this was because I had seen nothing on the internet about Really so, for once, this was the impact of something that appeared to be very new and came out of the blue ........ or maybe it just shows that I’m not going through the design magazines with enough care or attention because Really was shown in Milan.

Probably the best way to start is to quote the introduction in a catalogue from Really:

“Responding to the urgent global issue of waste, Really upcycles textiles to create materials that challenge the design and architectural industries to rethink their use of resources and to design their products with a circular economy in mind.”

 
 

 

The result is new Acoustic Textile Felt and Solid Textile Board - a new building board. These are made from end-of-life textiles - for instance, worn-out bedding from large laundry companies - and the process does not use toxic chemicals or water or dyes. At the end of their own useful life the felt and boards can be “re-granulated” to feed the start of a new product so hence that concept of circular design.

Solid Boards come in different gauges and can be cut and put together for furniture with many of the same techniques as plywood. Thicker boards even have the same impression of layers as plywood with white cotton used for the core layer and coloured outer layers in Cotton White, Cotton Blue, Wool Slate and Wool Natural and that can be more obvious when several thinner layers are combined to form a heavier or thicker gauge of  board ... for instance for table tops. 

Boards can be cut, drilled or milled, sanded and planed, laser cut and glued. Surface treatments are also similar to the finishes for plywood with lacquer, oil or wax.

In the display at Kvadrat, a number of bold benches and tables designed by Max Lamb were shown along with a mood board collection of samples and ideas that, in a good way, reminded me of lino cutting … not the prints but the tangible qualities of the linoleum itself with all the various options you have for depth and sharpness of cut that reveal the layers down from the smooth matt surface and also because the boards themselves have some of that warmth and softness of colour that is a distinct characteristic of simple linoleum.

reallycph.com

 

industrial buildings on Refshaleøen and Prøvestenen

 
 
 

view of Refshaleøen from the south - presumably from the 1950s before more land was claimed and the huge sheds were constructed to the east

 

Comparing maps of Copenhagen from the 18th century or the 19th century with modern maps, you can see just how much of the city is built on land claimed from the sea. These interventions with extensive engineering works started in the late 16th and the early 17th century as naval dockyards were constructed on either side of Borgen - the royal castle that is now the parliament building but was then an imposing fortified building on an island just off shore from the wharves of the town along Gammel Strand. 

Then, in the 1620s, Christianshavn was built up in the water between the castle and the island of Amager to the south - closing in almost 2 kilometres of the sea between the old city and the island - and the naval yards were moved to that side of the harbour … to the sea-ward side of Christianshavn. 

At first these naval facilities were little more than sheltered moorings that were enclosed and protected by outer defences but over the subsequent decades and in the next century islands were formed inside the defences and permanent buildings were constructed … many of which survive.

Commercial wharves and large buildings for industry and utilities - the first power stations, railway yards, gas works, pumping stations and sewage works of the city - were nearly all built on land claimed from the sea. The harbour below Langebro is still a wide and impressive channel of water but nowhere near as wide as the original bay before coal yards, a meat market and then a power station were all built on new land out from the natural shore line.

And this process - pushing the shore line outwards or constructing new islands - includes all of what is now Refshaleøen at the top north end of Amager.

Then, inevitably, over years or decades, an industry or the economy changes and even large companies fail or move on and away - in the case of the great concrete sheds for the Burmeister and Wain shipyards at Refshaleøen, they were in full use for only around 30 years - and then buildings fall into disuse or are demolished and the landscape becomes marginal … or what is now described as 'post industrial.' Refshaleøen is post industrial and has been in a sort of limbo for twenty years.

But surely there are good reasons that any city needs this sort of open space … a place for paint balling or go karts and boat yards and scrap yards? ... but, unfortunately, it's politicians who define marginal but developers who identity and define potential.

And Refshaleøen is only two or three kilometres from the centre of the city so it’s too valuable to be left marginal for long but, in terms of future use, the remaining buildings - the vestiges of the industry that was here - are pretty amazing and with a lot of imagination - and a fair bit of investment - they can be given new roles.

Just as long as it is not too sanitised. Scruffy and lively can be good. Surely the worthy citizens of Copenhagen need scruffy sometimes?

 
 

BIG’s Bakke

OK … I could hardly wander around Kløvermarken and Refshaleoen with a camera in bright clear Spring sunlight and not take more photographs of the new waste incinerator designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group.

The steam released from the chimney shows that it is up and running although the building is not completely finished and, as yet, there is no sign of the promised smoke rings or the ski slope that will run down from the top.

I still have some reservations about the size of this building so close to the historic city centre but actually the scale - along with not trying to hide or disguise it - is really the point here because you just can’t hide something this big. The only alternative would have been to banish it to some distant fringe of the city but that would defeat the need to reduce the impact and cost of transporting and dealing with the waste that the city produces. 

And making it bold and impressive and - hopefully - fun then that makes the proximity and, to be honest, the cost possibly more acceptable. It is a huge investment by the city but they have ended up with a pretty amazing chunk of engineering and if it’s covered in trees and snow and if you can ski down from the top then maybe the citizens can at least see it as their BIG BFG ... even if they don’t all love it.

Amager Bakke

 

Prismen

 

On the walk across to look at the new Pelican storage building the light was good for taking photographs of the Prismen sports and culture centre that is just to the south - on the opposite side of Prags Boulevard.

Designed by Dorte Mandrup, the sports hall opened in 2006. 

This part of the city lacked sports facilities and the hall covers a large space for a variety of community activites and although its envelope of polycarbonate panels might look like an out-of-town shopping shed from the outside - the inside has amazing natural light and it feels more like a large public square that happens to be covered.

The shape and volume is deceptively simple so, although it looks like a large wedge, there is a complex relationship with buildings to the east with two traditional Copenhagen apartment buildings of U shape - both around three sides of a courtyard - and with a short street between them so the slope of the roof runs up to four high gable ends and the building closes off two courtyards and a short street. The plan is also a wedge shape that tapers in on the north and south side and forms interesting triangular public spaces towards Prags Boulevardand to Holmbladsgade to the south.

PRISMEN, Holmbladsgade 71

 

Pelican Storage

In the Wasteland exhibition at the Danish Architecture Centre about the pioneering work of the Lendager group on up cycling building materials there were separate sections on their research on reusing glass or timber or brick and so on and in each section, as well as discussing broad ideas, they focused on a building that illustrates in a more tangible way what they have achieved already or what they are doing with ongoing projects.

For their work on up cycling concrete they showed drawings and plans and a section of shuttering they are using for a new self-storage facility for Pelican where work is now well in hand.

The new unit is at Prags Boulevard, less than 2 kilometres from DAC, so it seemed like a good idea to show photographs of the building itself. 

Concrete from the old paint factory that was on the site has been crushed and reused following demolition. There were some old workshops on the site so new workshops have been incorporated into the new building on the ground level and there is space on the site for 600 square metres of urban garden where locals will be able to grow vegetables.

Lendager on the Pelican building

 

section at the Wasteland exhibition on up cycling concrete with various samples of aggregate and crushed concrete; trial pieces for the design of the panels for the new building with a full-scale section of the panelling and a model of the self-storage building

shuttering for the large panels of concrete have a stylised pattern of tree branches ... the photograph from below, before the fronts of the entrance and doors to workshops have been inserted, shows the hefty layer of insulation behind the panels because, of course, temperature control to avoid condensation is crucial for a self-storage unit

a new hotel and restaurant in the centre of Copenhagen

Work is moving forward fast to convert a de-commissioned mid century electricity sub station in the centre of the city into a new restaurant and luxury hotel.

The massive concrete building on Bremerholm - opposite the Magasin department store - has a monumental facade of bronze slats that was designed by Hans Hansen from the city architects office and completed in 1963.

Acquired by the Kähler Group, the hotel will be called the Hotel Hermann K after the potter Hermann Kähler who established the ceramic factory in Næstved in 1839. The hotel will be part of the Brøchner group that includes SP34 and the Hotel Astoria at the central railway station.

A massive new doorway has been cut through the front and inside there is a high and dramatic entrance area.

the towers of Brøndby Strand

Significant problems have been identified in five of the tower blocks at Brøndby Strand.

These iconic apartment buildings are 16 storeys high and were designed by Svend Høgsbro and Thorvald Dreyer. They are about 12 kilometres from the centre of Copenhagen and are a striking sight from the train as it follows the the bay on the coastal line down to Køge. 

Built between 1968 and 1974 and, as was common at the time, fittings and structural materials in the towers contain Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) that are now known to be toxic - so possibly electrical equipment, cable insulation, thermal insulation, floor finishes and even oil-based paint would have to be removed to comply with current building standards and health regulations. The towers also need repairs to concrete that has degraded and, given the age of the buildings, services and fittings do not match current building standards or tenants expectations and would also have to be upgraded.

There appear to be no technical solution for removing PCBs that are viable financially with remedial works estimated to be almost four times the cost of rehousing the 196 families that live here and then demolishing the apartments.

 

Boliger til Folket - Housing for People

A small but important exhibition of photographs of housing estates that were built in Denmark in the 1940s and 1950s has just opened in the central library in Copenhagen. 

The exhibition was funded by Realdania, Grundejernes Investringsfond and Landsbyggefonden with the Department of Culture and continues at the central library in Copenhagen until 26 March 2017

read more

 

the house of Arne Jacobsen and a rare opening to the public

In 2005 Realdania purchased the house in Gotfred Rodes Vej that Arne Jacobsen designed and had built for himself and his young family in 1929. The house has been restored and many features returned to the original arrangement. The house is normally occupied by tenants so access for the public is rare but the villa was opened for two days on the 11th and 12th of February.

Gotfred Rodes Vej 2

The Infinite Happiness

 

The Infinite Happiness, by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine, is a fascinating film profile of the 8House  - the large block of apartments in Copenhagen designed by Bjarke Ingels.  It is in their Living Architecture series and looks at the building by talking to people who live and work there … so the best people to understand and appreciate or criticise the architecture. The film was screened recently by Arch Daily and the series has been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

open-uri20161124-20276-1cirogl.jpg
 

progress on the Amager incinerator .....

 

Work to complete the Amager incinerator is progressing … this photograph was taken today in the late afternoon as I walked back across the new bridge over the harbour. External facing seems to be complete and the single stack is in place but wonder how the gizmo for blowing smoke rings is coming on.

 

Copenhagen Metro

Work on the new Metro line in Copenhagen is progressing and the stations are being completed. The Danish paper Berlingske has just published a set of 25 photographs of some of the tunnels and of the new station at Frederiksberg. It looks as if the overall design of the stations will be close to that of the existing metro stations with a large, long, top-lit space above the platforms with the tracks on either side and steel escalators up inset from the walls. The big difference seems to be that where the present stations are lined with raw concrete, Frederiksberg Metro Station appears to have walls lined with stone or tile in a soft buff colour ... so giving the station a slightly warmer tone but retaining the strong, clean and functional feel of the spaces. The long  tiles are laid as vertical bands rather than laid with a brick pattern of overlapping courses. 

Nu får metroen personlighed Berlingske 3 December 2016