Sikke et spild / What a waste

When we talk about waste and recycling, we tend to think about items that have come to the end of their first use and that are then collected, sorted and either found a new owner where they are reused or they are broken down or processed to produce reusable materials … so glass from a bottle bank or newspapers and magazines used to make new paper.

But this exhibition is about the material left over from the manufacturing process after the factory has cut out or cut off what it needs.

In this age of carefully-calculated profit margins, something like, for instance, metal tubing from the steel mills will come in a standard length and anything shorter will actually cost more for less as that processing adds to the time and cost of production. Manufacturers will then cut what they need from a standard length and the off cut - still basically new material - can be sold on as “new waste” to a company that can make use of those smaller pieces.

This exhibition has been developed with THE UPCYCL - an association with bases in Aarhus and Copenhagen - that puts together manufacturers with new waste and companies that can use that waste.

Det Kongelige Akademi / the Royal Academy, now has a Materialebutikken or Materials Shop where students can select New Waste material supplied by members of THE UPCYCL for design projects.

The exhibition includes stools from Anno Studio that are made from off-cuts of steel tubing that are left over from the manufacture of industrial trolleys by Ravendo A/S; the Rhomeparket flooring system from WhyNature made from the waste from the primary production from Wiking Gulve and a shelving system from Studio Mathias Falkenstrøm based on leftover materials from JEVI, Ravendo & VTI.

It is easy to miss the exhibition as it is in the City Gallery at the Architecture Center …. the exhibition space that is under the main staircase that takes visitors up from the bookshop to the main exhibition galleries.

Sikke st spild / What a waste
7 June 2023 - 29 October 2023

Dansk Arkitektur Center / Danish Architecture Center
Bryghuspladsen 10
1473 København K

THE UPCYCL
New Waste materialebørs / New Waste material exchange

 

materials from Materialsbutikken at Det Kongelige Akademi

a new metro line across Amager

Reports in newspapers this week suggest that politicians at city hall have agreed on a new route for the next new line to be added to the metro system in Copenhagen.

Identified as the M5 line in previous plans, it is to run from the central railway station to serve Amager and Refshaleøen and the controversial new island of Lynetteholm.

Back in the Autumn of 2020, several options were published by Metroselskabet - the company that runs the metro - as they explored possible ways to extend the metro on from Orientkaj on Nordhavn to the new island of Lynetteholm and then, from there, down to Refshaeløen.

In a tight arc, the new line would have continued across Amager with major interchanges with the existing metro lines at Amagerbro and Islands Brygge before going under the harbour to the central railway station. It was also suggested, in the report, that there was also the possibility to extend the line on from the central station to serve the inner area of Nørrebro and the main hospital.

Two years ago, the priorities were to provide a metro service for the cruise ship terminal on Nordhavn and to serve the proposed housing on Lynneteholm along with an alternative route to reach the centre of the city from Amager that would relieve pressure on the original metro line from the airport and from Ørestad through Christianshavn to Kongens Nytorv that is now close to maximum capacity.

An obvious problem with those schemes was that there was a great gap in the middle where the new island might or might not be constructed ... the loop would only be fully operational when the two stations on Lynetteholm were open and it's housing completed and, current estimates suggest that will be sometime after 2070.

In addition, in order to work at optimal efficiency, any new line should have it's own service centre for it's own trains .... comparable to the service area at Metrovej in Ørestad for the original metro lines and Metro Service between Otto Busses Vej and Vasbygade for trains from the Cityringen.

In this, the most recent proposal for a new metro line from the central railway station, the line would take a wider curve across Amager to serve extensive areas of housing - both new developments and the revitalisation of older housing - where the only public transport is the bus services.

A new metro line from the central station would go under the harbour to a new station at Bryggebroen, at the south end of Islands Brygge, and then on to the existing metro station at DR Byen - rather than the original plan for an interchange at Islands Brygge metro station - and then to a new station on Amagerbrogade - further south than the interchange at the Amagerbro shopping centre proposed in earlier plans - and then on to an interchange at Lergravsparken - where passengers could change trains to get out to the airport. This new route would then continue north, close to the line of earlier route, to Prags Boulevard and Refshaleøen.

An area where the trains from this metro line could be serviced would be constructed out on the island of Prøvestenen.

This new metro line could be completed by 2035 but could then be extended on to Lynetteholm - if and when the island is finished - and, at the city end, the line could be extended on from the central station to inner Nørrebro and Rigshospitalet.

This is an important example of just how plans for major infrastructure projects have to evolve as other problems or other demands come to the fore or as the economic situation dictates.

 

Bispeengbuen - a new plan

Yesterday, an article in the Danish newspaper Politken reported that planners and politicians in Copenhagen might have come to a decision on the fate of Bispeengbuen - the section of elevated motorway that runs down the border between Frederiksberg and the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen.

One of several major schemes to improve the road system in the city in the late 1960s and 1970s, Bispeengbuen was planned to reduce delays for traffic coming into the city from suburbs to the north west.

At the south end of the elevated section, at Borups Plads, traffic, heading into the city, drops back down to street level and continues first down Ågade and then on down Åboulevard to the lakes and, if it is through traffic, then on, past the city hall, and down HC Andersens Boulevard to Langebro and across the harbour to Amager.

Between the elevated section and the lakes, the road follows the line of a river that, from the late 16th century, had flowed through low-lying meadows - the Bispeeng or Bishop's Meadow - and brought fresh water in to the lakes. In 1897, the river was dropped down into a covered culvert and it still flows underground below the present traffic.

From the start, the elevated section was controversial as it cuts past and close to apartment buildings on either side - close to windows at second-floor level - and the area underneath is gloomy and generally oppressive. Traffic is fast moving and generates a fair bit of noise and it forms a distinct barrier between the districts on either side.

There has been an ambitious plan to drop the road and its traffic down into a tunnel with the river brought back up to the surface as the main feature of a new linear park. The full and very ambitious plan - for ambitious read expensive - was to extend the tunnel on to take all through traffic underground, to Amager on the south side of the harbour.

There has been talk of a less expensive plan to demolish the elevated section, to bring all traffic back down to street level, which would be cheaper but would not reduce the traffic and would leave the heavy traffic on HC Andersens Boulevard as a barrier between the city centre and the densely-populated inner suburb of Vesterbro.

This latest scheme, a slightly curious compromise, is to demolish half the elevated section. That's not half the length but one side of the elevated section. There are three lanes and a hard shoulder in each direction and the north-bound and city bound sides are on independent structures. With one side removed, traffic in both directions would be on the remaining side but presumably speed limits would be reduced - so, possibly, reducing traffic noise - and the demolished side would be replaced by green areas although it would still be under the shadow of the surviving lanes.

It was suggested in the article that this is considered to have the least impact on the environment for the greatest gain ... the impact of both demolition and new construction are now assessed for any construction project.

There is already a relatively short and narrow section of park on the west side of the highway, just south of Borups Plads, and that is surprisingly quiet - despite alongside the road.

On both sides of the road, housing is densely laid out with very little public green space so it would seem that both the city of Copenhagen and the city of Frederiksberg are keen to proceed. Presumably they feel half the park is better than none although I'm not sure you could argue that half an elevated highway is anywhere near as good as no elevated motorway.

The situation is further complicated because the highway is owned and controlled by the state - as it is part of the national road system - so they would have to approve any work and police in the city may also be in a position to veto plans if they feel that it will have too much of an impact on the movement of traffic through the area.

update - Bispeengbuen - 14 January 2020
update - a road tunnel below Åboulevard - 15 January 2020

note:
Given the brouhaha over each new proposal to demolish the elevated section of the motorway, it is only 700 metres overall from the railway bridge to Borups Plads and it takes the traffic over just two major intersections - at Nordre Fasanvej and Borups Allé -  where otherwise there would be cross roads with traffic lights. I'm not implying that the impact of the road is negligible - it has a huge impact on the area - but, back in the 1960s, planners clearly had no idea how many problems and how much expense they were pushing forward half a century with a scheme that, to them, must have seemed rational.

My assumption has been that the motorway was constructed, under pressure from the car and road lobby, as part of a tarmac version of the Finger Plan of the 1940s.

The famous Finger Plan was an attempt to provide control over the expansion of the city, and was based on what were then the relatively-new suburban railway lines that run out from the centre. New housing was to be built close to railway stations and with areas of green between the developments along each railway line .... hence the resemblance to a hand with the city centre as the palm and the railway lines as outstretched fingers.

Then, through the 1950s and 1960s, the number of private cars in Copenhagen increased dramatically and deliveries of goods by road also increased as commercial traffic by rail declined.

I don't know who the traffic planners were in Copenhagen in the 1950s and 1960s but, looking back, they barely appreciated old building or existing communities, and, presumably, looked to LA and, possibly, to the Romania of Nicolae Ceaușescu for inspiration. Their ultimate aim, in their professional lives, seems have been to design a perfect motorway intersection where traffic flowed without any delays.

They wanted to build a motorway down the lakes and when that was thwarted they proposed a massive motorway system that was to be one block back from the outer shore of the lakes - sweeping away the inner districts of Østerbro and Nørrebro - and with new apartment buildings along the edge of the lake - between their new motorway and the lake - that would have formed a series of semi-circular amphitheatres looking across the lakes to the old city. The whole of the inner half of Vesterbro, including the meat market area, and the area of the railway station would have become an enormous interchange of motorways where the only purpose was to keep traffic moving.

We have to be grateful that few of those road schemes were realised but there is also a clear lesson that, however amazing and visionary a major plan for new infrastructure may appear, it can, in solving an immediate problem, create huge problems for future generations to sort out.

approaching the elevated motorway from the south
the motorway from Ågade on the east side
the motorway crossing Borups Allé

the river close to the lakes at Åboulevard but now in a culvert below the road

Bispeengbuen under construction showing how it cut a swathe through the existing neighbourhood - city archive 50675

the earlier proposal to bury the road in a tunnel and bring the river back up to the surface as the main feature of a new linear park

small area of park on the west side of the road

clapping for Lynetteholm stops

Work on dredging in the entrance to the harbour, for the construction of the man-made island of Lynetteholm, has been stopped because further reports are now required on the environmental impact of dredging polluted sludge from the site and taking it down the coast to the bay at Køge to dump.

There is growing criticism of the new island and it has become a contentious issue in both parliament and in the press because criticisms or, at the very least least concern, from the Swedish government about the construction work and the island itself was not revealed when a construction act for the work was debated and passed in the Danish parliament.

work to start on dredging for the construction of Lynetteholm January 2022

note:
When I wrote about Lynetteholm in the New Year, I had to confess then that I was not sure what the Danish term klapning meant or rather what it means specifically in this context when clearing the sea bed of sludge by dredging.

The word used in all newspaper articles was klapning but dictionaries and Google always gave me clapping as the English translation but neither word was used in general articles on dredging.

Finally I tracked down the answer.

When sludge is dredged up to clear a channel or, as here, to form a stable base for constructing a man-made island, the sand and mud can be loaded onto large open barges or ships and they sail down the coast where, over a designated site, they open large flaps on the underside of the hull to release the sludge. Those flaps can be opened and closed several times to dislodge everything .... hence clapping. Obvious now I know.

looking out from Nordhavn to the Sound
at the centre of the view is Trekroner Fortet - the Three Crowns Fortress - built in the 1780s to guard the entrance to the harbour

the new island will fill the whole horizon beyond the fort with just a narrow channel for boats to enter and leave the inner harbour

by 2070, when building work on the island is set to be completed, this view will be filled by the skyline of new housing for 35,000 people

 

construction work has started for the new IKEA store in Copenhagen

Work has started on the construction of a new IKEA store on Kalvebod Brygge in Copenhagen - the main road running out of the centre and heading to the south west along the north side of the harbour.

The project, designed by Dorte Mandrup, was put on hold by IKEA for well over a year but parts of the concrete frame and the upper floors are now in place so you can see that it will be a substantial building.

The store will have a large garden across the roof that will continue a raised and landscaped walkway, started over ten years ago. When finished, there will be areas of garden above street level for over a kilometre from the SEB bank building by Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitektfirma at Bernstorffsgade through to the new Cactus building by Bjarke Ingels - beyond the IKEA building on the west side of the bridge from Dybbølsbro Station to Fisketorvet - and then on to the new railway control tower at Otto Busses Vej.

The roof over the IKEA store has been described as a green lounge and there will be good views from here over the railway lines to Vesterbro to the north and to the city to the east.

Tall and thin concrete columns will support the canopy or bridge taking the garden over the top of Dybbølsbro and this strong vertical emphasis is taken across the main front of the store - on the front towards the railway - and around the pavilions that rise above the garden level.

This is a challenging site between the new Hotel Cabinn to the east and Dybbølsbro to the west - the high-level bridge that crosses from Vesterbro and the suburban railway station to the north to the shopping centre of Fisketorvet and the harbour to the south.

The site is about 65 metres deep and 240 metres from east to west - from the hotel to the bridge with a high raised bank across the south side that is the retaining wall for an exit slipway from Kalvebod Brygge and, to the north, on the other side of Carsten Niebuhrs Gade, are the tracks of the railway running in and out of the main station.

Dorte Mandrup

note: south to the top

left - the west end of the new store
centre - the slip road down to Kalvebod Brygge across the south side of the site
right - down the slip road and the buildings between Kalvebod Brygge and the harbour

friends and former colleagues accuse me of being uncritical of everything and anything if it’s Danish so, to redress the balance, I bring them here to Kalvebod Brygge to show them that Danish architects and planners can get it wrong …. very very wrong

 
 

below - the proposed IKEA store from the north with the bridge from Dybbøsbro station on the right and the Cactus building by Bjarke Ingels on the right edge and Hotel Cabinn on the left.
in the foreground is Carsten Niebuhrs Gade - between the main railway line and the IKEA site - and with the new bus station that is proposed for the strip of land against the railway.
Fisketorvet, with its distinct concave entrance, is beyond and the new metro station will be at the south-west end of Fisketorvet so to the far right
beyond the harbour is Amager

 

a new bus station to be built on Carsten Niebuhrs Gade

 

In March, Vejdirektoratet / the Danish Road Directorate, confirmed that a new terminal for long-distance buses will be built on the narrow strip of land between Carsten Niebuhrs Gade and the railway lines.

The land is about 500 metres long but only 20 or 25 metres deep from the edge of the road to the boundary fence of the railway so the buses will pull in and park at an angle.

The terminal will open in the Spring of 2023 and will replace bus stops closer to the main railway station that are along the pavement on Ingerslevsgade - the road on the inside curve of the railway tracks.

At Carsten Niebuhrs Gade, there will be 15 stands for buses with waiting facilities for passengers, including toilets and a kiosk, and there will be space for 200 bicycles to be left at the lower level and a lift up to the bridge to transfer to the suburban railway station at Dybbølsbro to the north or to a new metro station at the west end of Fisketorvet - the shopping centre to the south.

A report by the engineering consultants MOE from August 2019, showed details for traffic flow in and out of the bus terminal from Kalvebod Brygge with necessary road markings and lane markings at all the junctions. The bus terminal will deal with 195 buses a day and approximately 1.4 million passengers a year.

When completed, the terminal will be handed over to the city but will be run by the transport company Movia.

Vejdirektoratet
MOVIA

view along Carsten Niebuhrs Gade - looking east from under Dybbølsbro towards the new Hotel Cabinn.
the site for the new bus station and buildings along the railway are to the left and the site of the new IKEA store is to the right. The blank grey rectangle in front of the hotel is the end of the raised walkway waiting to be linked on to the garden across the roof of the IKEA store

Kalvebod Brygge to the top and the railway terrain to the bottom with Tivoli Congress Center, the bridges over Arni Magnussons Gade and Hotel Cabinn to the left and then the site where work on the new IKEA store has restarted and with the bridge from Dybbølsbro station to the Fisketorvet shopping centre on the right
the new bus station will be between the railway and Carsten Niebuhrs Gade

 

it’s 50 years since the last trams ran through the city

Today is an interesting anniversary because it's now fifty years since the tram service in Copenhagen was shut down with the last trams running through the city on 22 April 1972.

The first trams in the city were horse drawn but electric trams were brought in from the 1890s and the first tram routes were established by private companies but in 1911 the city took over the operation of the tram system.

New trams, tram terminals and street furniture for the tram service were then designed by the city architects department.

At one stage the length of the tram routes through and around the city was just under 100 kilometres in total.

an unbuilt tram station for Rådhuspladsen March 2020
Bien at Trianglen July 2018

horse-drawn trams on Kongens Nytorv in 1913
Copenhagen City Archive reference 51787

a tram on Amager in 1966

 

tram designed for the city in 1910 by Knud V Engelhardt (1882-1931) - Denmark’s first industrial designer

 

Dansehallerne to move to Kedelhuset / The Boiler House in Carlsbergbyen

A major industrial building - part of the old Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen - is to become an international centre for dance.

Kedelhuset - The Boiler House - was designed by Carl Harild (1868-1932) and was completed in 1928 to supply steam and hot water for the brewery. 

Carl Harild had been a pupil of Hack Kampmann and he succeeded Kampmann as architect at both the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotekk and at Carlsberg Brewery on Kampmann's death in 1920.

The Boiler House is a massive and impressive building at the centre of the brewery site. It is faced in red brick with a series of deep arches at the street level, with tall narrow windows at the main level and small square windows above that. Perhaps the most striking feature of the exterior are four large chimneys for the boilers on the south side.

Both Kampmann and Harild were proponents of the architectural style that is known as Nordic Classicism and features of classical architecture are obvious in the Boiler House with the careful use of symmetry and a plain stripped-back style with little decoration but architecture that relied on strong features and the use of classical forms such as lunettes and well-proportioned panelled doors and windows that are regularly divided with simple glazing bars and plain glass.

It is the interior of the building that is most dramatic with bold engineering for what is, after all, is an industrial space. There are huge concrete arches in pairs that support an impressive roof with raised  lantern with glazing for top lighting down the length of the main space.

Boilers and pipework have been stripped out and the space of the main hall is now to be adapted to be a new centre for dance and performing arts for Dansehallerne. The building will include a large performance space with different possible configurations of seating as well as rehearsal areas and meeting rooms to create flexible space that can be used for performances, dance festivals, talks and training.

Dansehallerne is a national and international organisation for dance and choreography that was established in 2012 when Dansens Hus and Dansescenen merged. They were based on the Carlsberg site, at Tap E  - opposite the Boiler House - but moved from there in 2017 when development of the brewery site started and they are currently based on HC Andersens Boulevard.

Mikkelsen Arkitekter AS are the architects for this major project that has financial support from the AP Møller Foundation.

 an introduction to the historic buildings

Mikkelsen Arkitekter AS
Dansehallerne

Space Saga at the Danish Architecture Center

Space Saga - a new exhibition about recent research into how people could live on the moon - has just opened at the Danish Architecture Centre and in time for the start of the school winter holiday.

There are certainly plenty of things to occupy children and trigger their imaginations - including a chance to build a moon module in Lego - but intriguing and complicated concepts are also explored that apply more widely to life down here on earth ….. so, for instance, on how light or lack of light effects our sleep patterns, and with a direct impact on our mental and physical health, and important questions are raised about the food we need rather the food we want and the importance of smell and taste in our lives.

With space exploration, there is the stress of very real isolation or, rather, isolation with a few other people in a tightly-confined space so this exhibition is, in part, about how humans have been such a successful animal because we find the ways that help us adapt to even the most extreme and hostile environments.

At the centre of the exhibition is the Lunark module from SAGA Space Architects that was built to help understand how people could survive if a long-term or even a permanent settlement was established on the moon.

In 2020, Sebastian Aristotelis and Karl-Johan Sørensen took the pod to Moriusaq -a bay over 1,000 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland - where, for 60 days, it was a base for them to investigate the “psychological effects associated with isolation” in an extreme and hostile environment.

The form of the pod, with interlocked and hinged panels, was inspired by Japanese origami so it could be collapsed down for transport but, unfolded, held within a light aluminium frame and anchored down, it formed a stable structure.

I would not survive for long in such a confined space … I find it difficult to cope with small spaces so I need to look out at sky and light at regular intervals and I tend to pace up and down at regular intervals as I work. On top of that, I suffer badly from SAD during long winter nights so would certainly have failed any profiling tests for selection for this trial although, on the plus side, and for reasons I’ve never been able to fathom, I have never suffered from travel sickness or jet lag so maybe not a complete non starter.

When you look inside the pod, it’s clear that it was designed primarily as a tightly-organised lab in which to work because there is no real space for anything else. There is a small table or workbench on each side, that can be folded back, and with two chairs and a very small stove on the floor - cooking was basic so about boiling a kettle for hot water to rehydrate dried food - and, above on each side, there are cramped bunks buried into the thick insulation panels. In the small lobby of the entrance, or what is euphemistically called the airlock, there is a toilet and that is about it.

The mission was the subject of a series of programmes - Eksperimentet: 60 dage på månen - that were broadcast in June 2021 but can still be viewed on the DR tv channel (in Danish).

A Space Saga
Danish Architecture Centre
from 12 February to 4 September 2022

 
 

Inderhavnsbroen / the inner harbour bridge

Inderhavnsbroen - the inner harbour bridge for pedestrians and bikes that crosses from Nyhavn to Christianshavn - opened in the summer of 2016.

It provides an important and fast link between the old city, on the west side of the harbour, and Christianshavn, Christiania, Holmen and the opera house on the east side of the harbour.

Until the completion of the bridge, the simple way to cross the harbour was to use the ferry between the Skuespilhuset - the National Theatre - and the opera house - a distance of about 600 metres door to door by foot and boat.

To walk or to ride a bike from the theatre to the opera house without using the ferry meant going down to Knippelsbro and then back up to Holmen - a distance of just over 3 kilometres.

With the Inner Harbour Bridge and the new three-way Transgravsbroen, it is still 1,500 metres from the door of the theatre to the door of the opera house.

By car it was even further. When I first moved to Copenhagen, cars could not drive over the bridge from Christianshavn to Holmen so the route meant driving over to Amager and then across the north side Kløvermarken and up to the causeway at Minebådsgraven and from there to Holmen and the Opera House ..... a distance of well over 6 kilometres.

Inderhavnsbroen was designed by the English engineers Flint & Neill who are now a subsidiary of the Danish engineering group COWI.

It has been nicknamed the Kissing Bridge because of the unusual way that it opens and closes to let large ships move up and down the harbour.

read more

Inderhavnsbroen from the south …. Havngade and then Nyhavn are to the left and on the right is Nordatlantens Brygge - the warehouse on the east or Christianshavn side of the harbour
the cranes are for new apartment buildings on Papirøen

 
 

the bridge from the east or Christianshavn side looking up Nyhavn towards Kongens Nytorv

the bridge from the east with Nyhavn beyond with the centre sections open for a ship to come through

 

work to start on dredging for the construction of Lynetteholm

At the end of 2021, the Danish Parliament passed a Construction Act for Lynetteholm and work on the new, man-made island across the entrance to the harbour will start later this month with extensive dredging that will remove sludge across the sea bed to form a stable base for the next stage when landfill will be brought in to create the island.

That sediment - estimated to be around 2.5 million tonnes across the sea bed - is described as "slightly polluted" so, presumably, that means that there is contamination from the harbour, contamination from shipping entering and leaving the harbour and pollution from the old ship yards on Refshaleøen.

‘Sludge’ will be taken south by barge to be dumped in the bay off the town of Køge. The Danish word used in the local press for this is 'klapning' or clapping but I'm not sure if that is the process or the term for the sludge. A recent article talked about the 'clapping area'.

read more

from Langelinie looking east - out to the Sound

at the centre is Trekroner Fortet - the Three Crowns Fortress - built in the 1780s to guard the entrance to the harbour
to the far left is the massive warehouse of UNICEF out at Nordhavn and the three white buildings are the cruise ship terminal
to the right the buildings are at the north end of Refshaleøen

the new island will fill the whole horizon with just a channel in front of the cruise ship terminals for boats entering and leaving the inner harbour

 

Copenhagen, Amager and Saltholmen in the middle of the 19th century showing shallow marshes and mud flats in the bay south of the harbour and the map has the depth of the main channels in the Sound

 

still threatened with demolition?

the Palads cinema building alongside the railway trench at Vesterport suburban rail station (above) and proposal from BIG for the Palads site (below)

With the pandemic hanging over the city, much of day-to-day life seems to have been put on hold although building work - particularly on the site of the old Carlsberg brewery on the west side of the city - seems to have continued.

Decisions about two very different buildings appear to have been suspended but for very different reasons.

The first is the Palads cinema, close to Vesterport suburban railway station and alongside the railway trench. It dates from the early 20th century although it is probably best known for it's bright colours when the exterior was painted in 1989 in a scheme by Poul Gernes in dark pastels but primarily in pinks and deep sky blue.

The building itself has been altered extensively over the years, so cannot claim to be of great architectural significance so there have been two applications to demolish with two separate schemes for redevelopment of this prime site - one with the railway trench built over and with a large group of towers, including a new hotel, and the other scheme by BIG - the Bjarke Ingels Group - with a cinema below ground and with a huge glass tower of offices and apartments above that would be as high as the SAS Royal Hotel nearby.

Both schemes mean the total demolition the existing building in order to develop the whole site but both seem to have underestimated just how many people in the city feel that the present cinema should be kept. They have fond and happy memories of coming to the cinema and restaurants here that, for many, go back decades and, for some, back through several generations.

The second building that is, apparently, awaiting a final decision about its survival, is very different.

It is an apartment tower on Amager that is immediately north of the south campus of the university and is part of a large development by the Bach Group.

Before work was completed, it was discovered that there were serious problems with the concrete of the foundations and then suggestions that there were also problems with the concrete structure above ground.

The developers have claimed that the concrete can be reinforced but since then there have been no further reports in the newspapers so, presumably, a final decision - to demolish or to reinforce the tower and complete the fitting out - is still to be resolved.

is the redevelopment of Vesterport still on track?
another scheme for the cinema site

update:
22 March 2022. An article yesterday, on the Byrummonitor site, stated that the sale of the tower to a large Swedish property group has been cancelled by mutual agreement. The article also said that remedial work on the foundations of the tower were completed last year.

 

Njals Tårn from the west

Langebro in new colours

Langebro - the main road bridge from the city centre to Amager - is hung with scaffolding as the ironwork is repainted.

Langebro was designed by Kaj Gottlob (1887-1976) and was opened in 1954. There are three wide arches with the outer in brick and the central opening arch in iron to cross the harbour - here well over 100 metres across. It carries a wide deck - about 33 metres wide - with three lanes of fast-moving traffic in each direction and bike lanes and footpaths on both sides.

With the construction of the BLOX building, the elegant silhouette of the bridge and the copper-clad bridge tower has been lost when seen from the south. The iron railings and the gantry towers were white or grey white but were recently basically dirt and rust …. hence the need to repaint.

The new colour scheme has pale grey-blue paint for the gantries; very dark blue for the railings, and a deep steel grey for the ironwork of the central arch below the bridge deck. This goes some way to restore a stronger upper edge to the bridge when seen from the quay and is a phenomenal improvement.

Are there drawings or records that show the original colours? - Gottlob certainly used strong colours in many of his buildings and for his furniture and interior designs- or was this an inspired choice by the city engineers?

To give greater strength to the railings, without using heavier ironwork, there are, inner and outer lines of rails that are staggered.

note:
the scaffolding that, in effect, hooked over the top of the railings with heavy concrete blocks on the pavement to counterbalance platforms hanging out over the water.

the old ….

and the new

 

Bygningspræmiering / Copenhagen Building Awards 2021

Bygningspræmiering -The Copenhagen Building Award - was established in 1903 and, each year, is granted to buildings that have made an outstanding contributed to the 'physical framework' of the city and reflect the importance of good architecture in the life of the city.

It is important that these buildings reflect the special character of of the city and contribute to the quality of its built environment.

For the building awards there are four categories:

A: nybyggeri / new building
B: omdannelse / restoration
C: renovation of apartments in a building that had another purpose
D: bymiljø / urban environment

For 2021, the Committee assessing the award: 

Culture and Leisure Committee
Nicolai Bo Andersen and Rosa Siri Lund, experts appointed by the Academic Architects' Association
Lisa Sørensen, expert appointed by IDA / Ingeniørforeningen Danmark
Camilla van Deurs, City Architect, Technical and Environmental Administration
Mette Haugaard Jeppesen, architect, Technical and Environmental Administration

Here are the buildings and engineering projects that have been short listed for the award in 2021 and they show just how diverse the built environment of the city is and all would be more than worthy winners.

Until 20 April, the public can vote for a public winner through the web site of the City Kommune and the overall winners of Building Awards will be announced on 27 April 2021 

The Award-Winning City, Hans Helge Madsen and Otto Käszner
The Danish Architectural Press 2003

Bygningspræmiering
the public vote

 

Amager Bakke, Vindmøllevej 6, 2300 København S
architect: BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group
engineers: MOE

category: nybyggeri / new building

 

 

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Charlottetårnet / The Charlotte Tower, Hjørringgade 35, 2100 København Ø
architect: Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter A/S
engineers: COWI A/S

category: nybyggeri / new building

 

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Cityringen / Metro Inner Ring
architects: Arup
engineers: COWI Systra

category: nybyggeri / new building and bymiljø / urban environment

 

 

 

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Enghaveparken - Klimapark / Climate Park, Enghaveparken, 1761 København V
architects: TREDJE NATUR and Platant
engineer: COWI

category: bymiljø / urban environment


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Frihedsmuseet / The Freedom Museum, Churchillparken 6, 2100 København Ø
architects: Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter
engineers: EKJ Rådgivende Ingeniører A/S, DEM Dansk and Energi Management A/S

category: nybyggeri / new building


Københavns Museum / Copenhagen Museum, Stormgade 18, 1555 København V 
architects:  Rørbæk og Møller Arkitekter A/S, LETH & GORI. Udstillingsarkitekt / exhibition architects: JAC studios
engineer: Hundsbæk & Henriksen A/S

category: omdannelse / restoration


Klostergårdens plejehjem og Seniorbofællesskabet Sankt Joseph /
The Cloister nursing home and the Seniour Community of Sankt Joseph,
Strandvejen 91, 2100 København Ø
architects: RUBOW arkitekter A/S
engineer: Sweco Danmark A/S

category: omdannelse / restoration








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Lille Langebro / Little Langebro, Vestervoldgade Langebrogade, København K
architects: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
engineer: Buro Happold Engineering

category: nybyggeri / new building

 

 

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Nørrebro Bibliotek / Nørrebro Library, Nørrebrogade 208, 2200 København N
architects: Keingart Space_Activators
engineer: Alfa Ingeniører A/S (For Ason Entreprenører)

category: omdannelse / restoration


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image created using Google Earth

Træhus i Sydhavnen / Wooden House in Sydhavnen, HF Havebyen Mozart 74, 2450 København SV
architects: Peter Kjær
engineer: Ole Vanggaard, Tommi Haferbier

category:  nybyggeri / new building

 

Halmtorvet - a new storm drain

Sønder Boulevard - the wide street running out to the south east through Vesterbro from the west side of the main railway station - is now partly blocked with high hoardings like those that were used around main sites for engineering work when the metro was constructed. However, this site is not for the metro but for major engineering work to construct a massive storm drain.

It is part of a scheme for rain-storm mitigation for Frederiksberg and, when completed, it will be about 1.25 kilometres long to take storm water from Sankt Jørgens Sø out to the harbour with an outlet just east of the Copenhagen Island Hotel on Kalvebod Brygge … close to the swimming area in the harbour at Fisketorvet.

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Svanemølleværket is to be a new museum of technology

It has been confirmed that Svanemølleværket power station will be decommissioned by 2023.

After the building is passed to the control of By&Havn - the port authority of Copenhagen - it will be converted to be a new museum of technology with the collections of Danmarks Tekniske Museum in Helsingør moved here to the old works. Dorte Mandrup has been appointed architect for the project.

This was announced provisionally in February 2019 but the final decision has been delayed by the pandemic.

Swan Mill Works was the last major design by the architect Louis Hygom (1879-1950). Work began in 1947 and the massive building was completed in 1953. The power station is constructed in reinforced concrete but is faced with brick.

Originally the power station was coal fired but in 1985 it was converted to gas to produce area heating from its six boilers and five turbines. 

The works is dramatic and monumental in scale. Hygom, who also designed later parts of HC Ørestedsværket - the power station at the south end of the harbour - was an architect of the  Neoclassist school in the early decades of the 20th century and the design is not only rational and functional but it has striking and even beautiful proportions.

The challenge in this next stage will be to keep to a minimum changes to the fenestration and restrict the insertion of new windows and doors.

HC Ørestedsværket

Danmarks Tekniske Museum
Dorte Mandrup

 
 
 

the if or when and the how much and why of new islands and tunnels under the sea

This week, politicians in Copenhagen have to agree a budget for the city for the next financial period and the main item on their agenda will, presumably, be discussions about moving to the next stage their ambitious plans to construct a large new island across the entrance to the harbour …. a major engineering project that has been agreed in principle by both the national government and by the city and agreed across most political parties.

Initial plans set the new island immediately beyond and close to the Trekroner Fort - built in the late 18th century to guard the entrance to the harbour - but the most recent drawings published show that it will now be further out into the Sound and will cover a larger area of about 3 square kilometres. There will be a large park along the eastern edge - planned to be larger than the well used and popular Fælledparken on the north side of the city - with homes on the island for 35,000 people and work there for at least 12,000 people although some assessments have suggested that as many as 20,000 new jobs will be created.

But the new  island is not simply the next version of Nordhavn - just larger and further out - but it is also an integral part of an expansion of traffic infrastructure on this side of the city and there will be extensive flood defences on the east or outer side of the island that faces out across the open Sound …. defences that will be an important part of the protection against storm surges that could flood the inner harbour as the climate changes and as sea levels rise.

The name for the new island - Lynetteholm - was, In part, inspired by the shape with a broad curve to the east side - the side facing out across the Sound - and is from the Danish version of the French word lunette and that has been combined with the Norse word holm for a low island that was usually in a river or estuary and was often meadow.

However, Lynette is not a new name in this area of the outer harbour because it was the name of a curved outer fortress built in the Sound in the 1760s that, with large guns set up there, was an important part of outer defences that protected the entrance to the harbour.

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① road link and tunnel to Nordhavn - north of Svanemølle and south of Hellerup
② tunnel to link Nordhavn to Lynetteholm and then on to the bridge to Sweden
③ alternative route for a traffic tunnel below the coast road of Amager
④ route for tunnel from Nordhavn to Sjællandsbroen - bridge over the harbour

⑤ if the elevated motorway at Bispeengbuen is demolished then there is a plan
to construct a road tunnel from Fuglebakken to Amager - including a tunnel
under Åboulevard and under HC Andersens Boulevard and on under the
harbour and possibly as far as Artilerivej

 

the end of the line for now but from here does the metro go north or east?

60 metres beyond the platform at Orientkaj - this is the end of the line for now

In March 2020, a new section of the metro in Copenhagen opened …. the north end of the new M4 line with new stations beyond Østerport at Nordhavn and Orientkaj.

From Østerport, trains for Orientkaj follow the existing M3 track - the metro inner ring north towards Trianglen - but 500 Metres from Østerport, below the north end of the lakes, they branch off onto the new line and follow a curve to the east.

The new Nordhavn metro station is just under 2 kilometres from Østerport, below ground on the east or sea side of the suburban railway line so it’s on the east side of the suburban train station at Nordhavn and actually on the east side of the main coast road.

Immediately after the metro station at Nordhavn, trains rise rapidly up a steep slope and up onto a section of elevated track immediately before the second new metro station at the inner end of the Orientkaj dock.

For now, just beyond the platforms of Orientkaj, the track ends abruptly waiting for the next phase of work.

Maps of the metro - even those from as recently as last Spring - show the next stage of the metro line running on to new stations at Levantkaj, Krydstogtkaj, Nordstrand and then, finally, to Fiskerikaj, at the end of the line … so four new stations that will not only serve new housing that will be constructed in the last phase of building for Nordhavn but would also take passengers out to the terminal for cruise ships at Oceankaj.

That new line, as proposed, would form a large curve - running first east out to the cruise ship terminals and then north and west in a large arc - so it has been nicknamed “Lille Spørdmålstegn” or the Little Question Mark.

But now there is a real and a very large question mark over this whole next stage for the metro because all decisions are on hold waiting to see if a recent proposal to construct a large new island for housing across the entrance to the harbour goes ahead.

Constructing that large artificial island would not be completed until 2070 but it is also entangled with a complicated series of planning decisions that have to be made in the next year:

  • A new tunnel is to be built north of Svanemølle power station for road access to Nordhavn from the north but this could be extended down the east side of Amager, in a tunnel, to the airport and the bridge to Sweden. It would not only be a major eastern bypass for the city but would also provide road access to the new island from the north and south.

  • If the island is constructed across the entrance to the harbour then it would also be part of new storm-surge protection to stop water from the Sound flooding into the inner harbour and flooding the inner city. That flood barrier has not been allocated a budget and, already, some have raised doubts about an island being the best form for storm protection.

  • A large and expensive and relatively new sewage and water treatment plant to the east of Refshaleøen would have to be relocated and again that is not in the budget.

  • Because the island would be built out in to the Sound and because a major road bypassing the city would link to the airport and the Øresundsbroen - the rail and road bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo - an eastern ring road should be seen as part of a wider regional transport policy - including a proposal to build a rail and road link at the north end of the Sound, between Helsingør and Helsinborg - so both regional planning and environmental concerns in Sweden have to be taken into account.

This is becoming one of the most complicated and, certainly, the most contentious infrastructure plan for the city.

new metro stations at Nordhavn and Orientkaj
Lynetteholm
the if, when, how much and why of the new island

 

Forundersøgelse Metrobetjening af Lynetteholm /
Metro Services for Lynnetholm Preliminary Study

If you want to follow and to understand the planning issues that are involved or if you are interested in the engineering problems that will have to be resolved then I would recommend a report from the metro company - Forundersøgelse Metrobetjening af Lynetteholm / Preliminary Investigation of Metro Service to Lynetteholm.

It can be downloaded from their web site and sets out in some detail and with good maps and illustrations, the options and possible routes for extending the metro line on from Ørientkaj.

This is far from a simple matter of drawing lines across a map.

Any new metro lines will have to link into the current service and this means also looking at an opportunity to extend the metro system into parts of the old city that are not served by the current metro lines.

In addition, the current line out to Ørientkaj runs in sections along existing lines and uses existing service facilities but there is now an opportunity to build new depots and to make sure that new services do not have an impact on the running of the existing lines.

Not only could a new service out to the new island form important new and fast links across the city but it will have to thread it’s way through and under or over existing infrastructure and any new interchanges will have to work in a rational way with what is happening in the streets and squares above.

For some new interchanges on the system - like at Islands Brygge - there are three or four options for the site of a new station above ground and several options for how connections and platforms will link below ground.

If the construction of Lynetteholm does get approval, the island will not be completed until 2070 so any new lines or new stations would either have to wait until then or new lines might be phased and built so that the line out to stations on the island would be simply the last stage that closed the loop.

Forundersøgelse Metrobetjening af Lynetteholm /
Metro Services for Lynnetholm Preliminary Study

 

If Lynetteholm is given a green light then the new island will influence any future extension of the metro

 
 

Before the construction of a new island was proposed, this was plan for the new M4 line of the metro system.

It shares a long section of track with the metro ring between the central station and Østerport. A short new section of track out to Ørientkaj has just opened and the long south section of the line that will provide a service out to the south harbour and on to the major railway interchange at Ny Ellebjerg is underconstruction but will not open until 2024.

The new stations will have distinct designs that reflect the character of the areas that they serve. The station at Havneholmen is on the south side of the shopping centre at Fisketorvet and work has started on an extensive restoration and upgrading of the centre. It is also close to the site for a new bus station for the city on Carsten Niebuhrs Gade on a site parallel to the railway and on the opposite side of the tracks to the station at Dybbølsbro.

 
 

M4 Blå linje

This option to extend the M4 line to the new island is possibly the most straightforward.

A line out the north coast of Nordhavn might or might not be constructed but the M4 line would be re aligned to go first to a new station at Baltkakaj and then on to the cruise ship terminal and then, when the island was constructed, trains would go in tunnels under the new and constricted entrance channel for the harbour to two new stations on Lyntteholm and then on to Refshaleøen and Klovermarken that are not served by the current metro but will have extensive new areas of development and housing over the next twenty years.

The line could be extended beyond Klovermarken to provide a fast service across the top of Amager and then back under the inner harbour to the central railway station to relieve pressure on the existing metro stations at Christianshavn and Islands Brygge where passenger numbers are close to capacity.

 
 

M5 Lilla linje


This option is more radical.

The metro line out to Nordhavn would be completed as planned but there would be a new and potentially faster service out to Lynetteholm directly from Østerport station with a new long tunnel under the inner harbour.

If Lynetteholm gets approval then the plan is for housing for 35,000 people and work for almost as many so passenger numbers would be large.

From Lynetteholm, the new line would also be extended down to Refshaleøen and on across Amager to the central railway station to form a sweeping curve that forms a large reverse C.

 
 

M5 Vest Orange linje

This option takes the curve of the new metro line the other way so in effect starts on Lynetteholm (or ends on Lynetteholm as the last stage of a phased construction ending in 2070).

It would serve the major regional hospital - the Rigshospitalet on the south side of Fælledparken - and part of the inner area of Nørrebro that are not served by the current metro lines and with a new interchange at Forum where the exhibition centre may be redeveloped and the line will then go on to the central railway station and again across the top of Amager but in this option it will end at Prags Boulevard where there is extensive new housing.

A new metro station at the central railway station may be constructed on the inner, city side of the railway tracks and would be under Bernstorfsgade …. under the very busy street and the bus station between the railway station and Tivoli.

Whichever option is chosen, it looks as if the citizens of Copenhagen can look forward to 40 years or more of engineering works, earth moving and high green hoardings.

 

Parken, the Danish National Stadium, is to be modernised

Parken - the stadium from Øster Allé

Parken, the national stadium, in Østerbro, has a prominent location on the east side of Fælledparken, and is on the site of an earlier stadium - Idrætsparken.

Designed by Gert Andersson, work on the new stadium started in 1990 and it opened in 1992 with a capacity of 38,000.

Record attendance is actually 60,000 people but that was not for a football match but for the Michael Jackson concert in 1997 and the roof was not added for the comfort of players or spectators but for a Eurovision Song Contest.

In the new work under the architects CF Møller, capacity in the stadium will be increased, with the stands rebuilt, and new office buildings will be constructed at three of the four corners.


Kulturministriet - the Danish Ministry of Culture - is in the centre of Copenhagen - in an old merchant’s house on Nybrogade - at the west end of Gammel Strand

With the return of the government to Borgen for the Autumn session, there have been rumours that Kulturministriet - the Ministry of Culture - could be reorganised.

Joy Mogensen, the current Minister of Culture, has a double portfolio for she is also Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs but, in addition, has ministerial responsibility for sport in Denmark.

I know many describe football as an art and fans worship their star players and follow their chosen sport with religious devotion and, maybe - in our post-Coronavirus world - getting crowds back, is the priority now, for managers of football stadiums and managers of theatres, but can religion, culture and sport really be seen as completely easy bedfellows under a single minister?

This spotlights … or maybe floodlights …. a problem that all small or relatively small countries have and that is how you cover everything with a relatively small number of people.

In Denmark, there are around 25 ministerial departments and the ruling party here - currently the Social Democratic Party - has 48 members of parliament out of a total of 179 who are elected to Folketinget - the Danish parliament - so in theory over half of the MPs could be ministers.

In comparison, the Tory Prime Minister in Britain appoints ministers from its 364 members of parliament - out of a total of 650 seats in the Lower House - and they can also bring in as ministers any of the 245 Conservative peers, out of a total of 1,422, in the House of Lords. In theory, that is a much larger gene pool but I would not dare to comment on which ministers from which parliaments in which country can be seen to be better at running things in their respective countries at the moment.