5:30 am Copenhagen (Public Holiday)
Waking up slightly confused as to what time of day it was and where I was, I head out the door to gain my bearings and experience the city at its quietest moment. I head east towards the old city centre and am struck by how inviting the narrow, vacant streets appear. For over an hour, I wander the streets salivating over brick details and fluid forms created by the tiled roofs.
8:00 am Superkilen by BIG
Qianyi suggests a quick trip to BIG’s Superkilen. After a short bus trip we arrive at a large, empty red square scattered with concrete bollards and decaying public furniture. The harsh Scandinavian winters have taken their toll on the once brightly coloured public intervention. A little disheartened, we continue along the long park which quickly changes mood – morphing from a large, exposed site into a playful artificial hill. Within moments, we are joined by two young boys on scooters immediately put the space to use. They race up the hill, swerving in and out of the painted laneways. Our initial scepticism of the success of the process recesses as boys once again race to the top of the hill and line up for another run.
11:00 am Henning Larsen Architects practice visit
Amalia Gonzales generously takes time out of her public holiday to show the group around Henning Larsen Architects. The office of over 200 architects works predominately in the cultural and educational realm and has recently attempted to distinguish itself by establishing a large environmental research and development arm. The specialized sustainability team contains engineers, architects and PHD researchers. The team has managed to create a large urban scale microclimate that is 7 degrees cooler then surrounding environment for a 3 million squaremeter financial district in Saudi Arabia.
3:00 pm Across the bridge to Malmö
We are greeted in Sweden by passport control and sniffer dogs, it appears that the passport free zone has been recoiled.
3:30 pm BO01 housing development site visit
It has been almost 10 years since I last visited Malmö and the city feels completely different. Now fresh and energetic, the city appears to have made the successful transition from a labour to knowledge and real-estate based economy. Part of that success we are told is due to the BO01 waterfront housing development. Eva from Jan Gehl’s office, who work on the original masterplan and who is now a resident, generously offered to show us around the former port. Putting aside Calatrava’s phallic twisting torso towerm the contrast between the yesterday’ss experience of Copenhagen’s Ørestad could not be more dramatic.
At BO01, the traditional large plot development has been dissolved into finegrain row house typology with larger buildings located strategically to create windbreaks. The rigid grid has been broken, resulting in a range of sheltered courtyard spaces. As we walk through the development, kids play in the streets, people garden and service crews go about their work.
4:00 pm Malmö Eastern Cemetery
A quick run around the Malmö Eastern Cemetery stuns us all. The design shifts the traditionally morbid landscape from a public utility to civic amenity.
4:30 pm World Maritime University by Terroir + Kim Utzon
The Australian project architect meets us on site for a guided tour of the new addition to the World Maritina University. The new foyer sits at the intersection of the city grid and the old port responding to the shifted axis with a folded facade. The addition allows occupants to view and engage with the existing building in ways rarely afforded to a pedestrian.
6:30 Dinner in Malmö
One of the best meals of the trip! Thanks Dulux.
Chris Gilbert, Archier