Silvia's blog: researching through architecture: Going all outside!

Sunday, 15 December 2013

Going all outside!

But it's not necessary needed a closed spaced to stay together, neither a room, nor an integrated communal space inside the building. We have to think outside the box and this is what the studio Tegnestuen vandkunsten did in 2003 with the Copenhagen Harbor Housing Project, in Denmark.

The project consists in 120 apartments, and again we can find here the mix of private and social housing apartments. Fact that can only help to support a social connection and to break social barriers. Among the requests of the client there was boosting the development of this parto of the harbor and to make everything easier the site hasn't needed to be paid.

SOURCE: http://architecturelab.net/2009/11/copenhagen-harbor-housing-project-by-tegnestuen-vandkunsten/#lightbox/14/

So the key of this project has been designing and building the compound as an artificial island and so invading the canal. In this way the arroach to the sea is not passive at all. The buildings are located plumb to the canal so that the spaces between them are invaded by water. Almost each part of the buildings is prefabricated concrete at which a balcony system in steel is attached to reach every apartment.

But the the very interesting thing for me is the fact that they designed these spaces thinking to make people live them not in a passive way but in an active way. So the ground floor facing the canal is completely porous and free to pass through and people can stay in this space and enjoy it and the view. People can swim, fish and kayaking and even have a barbeque and parties. This space is completely open for anyone so this makes it more interesting, like if it was a meeting space, a square, and this obviously attract people.
In this way people living in these compound don't need to meet in a closed room to stay together but can just go outside their house and live nature and open space and be more connected to life. Saying this, therefore, I'm coming back to my introduction about town squares and saying that what really make people meet and connect with others is the space around them and these connections are possible just when there is a grid supporting them. The key is trying to not interrupt this grid.