© Jens Lindhe

The 8 House in Copenhagen, Denmark, which allows its residents to bike all the way from the street up to its 10th level penthouses, receives the 2012 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture that recognizes achievements that elevate the general quality of the architectural practice. The 8 House which entails 650,000 ft² is honored by the jury panel for the buildings distinctive design and ability to contribute to the city and its surroundings.

“The 8 House masterfully recreates the horizontal social connectivity and interaction of the streets of a village neighborhood through a series of delightful accessible ramps in a mixed use, multifamily housing project. The skillful shaping of the mass of the facility provides an invigorating sculptural form while creating the ramped “pedestrian” street system and providing full depth dwelling units which are filled with light and views. People really ‘live” in this newly created neighborhood with shopping, restaurants, an art gallery, office facilities, childcare, educational facilities and the sound of children playing. This is a complex and exemplary project of a new typology”. 2012 Institute Honor Awards for Architecture Jury. More after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Karres en Brands Landschapsarchitecten + Polyform Arkitekter

Karres en Brands Landschapsarchitecten + Polyform Arkitekter recently won the international competition for redesigning the Museum Garden of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, with their entry ‘SMK tilbage i Parken’ (‘SMK back in the park’). The project will be realized in collaboration with Svava Riesto, Oluf Jørgensen Ingeniører and Via Trafik. The design is based on the concept of connecting the museum garden with the neighbouring park Østre Anlæg, where, in the current situation, it turns its back on. By doing so, the SMK will be embedded into the park and the Museum Garden becomes the new entrance area for both the SMK and Østre Anlæg. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

exterior

The Rigshospital is well-defined by Fælledparken and Amorparken at it’s boundaries, and due to these park areas, the hospital campus exudes a unique ‘green’ potential. The buildings serve as an intermediary between the dense urban fabric on Blegdamsvej and the open natural areas to the north of the site. This interconnectedness strongly influenced the concept and form of this scheme by the team of COWI, WHITE Arkitekter, DEVE Architecture, LAND+ Landskabsarkitekter and Lyngkilde, leading to what could eventually become a hospital nestled within a lush, green, natural environment within the bustling urban center of Copenhagen. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

© Ty Stange

Architect: KBP.EU (a collaboration between POLYFORM arkitekter and Karres En Brands)
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Project Team: Thomas Kock, Jonas Sangberg, Nikolaj Frølund Thomsen (POLYFORM), Bart Brands, Charlotte
Ernst, Joost de Natris (KARRES EN BRANDS)
Collaborators: Oluf Jørgensen ingeniører and Ulrike Brandi Licht
Client: Københavns Ejendomme
Total cost: 19 million Danish crones – 2.55 million Euros
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 1,000 sqm
Photographs: Ty Stange

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Courtesy of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter

A team consisting of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter, Leth & Gori Architects, Marianne Levinsen Landscape with Henrik Larsen and Jørgen Nielsen engineers have won the competition for Marthagården day care centre in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen.

The project includes the renovation and transformation of two existing buildings and an extension facilitating groups of children and workshops. Furthermore the project offers a remodeling of the exterior landscape and playground. More information and complete architect’s description after the break. read more »

© Adam Mørk

Architects: Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Client: Nykredit
Landscape Architect: SLA
Project Year: 2010
Project Area: 6,850 sqm
Photographs: Adam Mørk

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© Stamers Kontor

Architects: LASC studio
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Stamers Kontor

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© Dragor Luft

Architect: BIG and Topotek 1
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels
Project Leader: Nanna Gyldholm Møller, Mikkel Marcker Stubgaard
Team: Ondrej Tichy, Jonas Lehmann, Rune Hansen, Jan Borgstrøm, Lacin Karaoz, Jonas Barre, Nicklas Antoni Rasch, Gabrielle Nadeau, Jennifer Dahm Petersen, Richard Howis, Fan Zhang
Collaborators: Topotek 1, Superflex, Help Pr & Communication, Lemming & Eriksson
Client: Copenhagen Municipality, Realdania
Status: 1st Prize, Completion Summer 2011
Size: 4.3 ha
Photographs: BIG, Dragor Luft, Topotek 1 read more »

This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Copenhagen. This is our first stop in Europe, and admittedly the selection was not completely unbiased. While studying at the Danish Building Research Institute a few years ago I couldn’t help but fall in love with Copenhagen’s architecture. The Danish attention to detail is absolutely stunning. Besides the wonderful historic architecture, Copenhagen is filled with contemporary architecture of the highest quality. Remarkably, you rarely find the new clashing with the old. More often than not, the contemporary architecture in Copenhagen actually heightens the experience of the historic buildings and streets. Last week our readers suggested so many great buildings I decided to double the usual number of buildings to 24. This still did not come close to including all the suggestions or even some of my favorites, so we will be looking to expand on this list in the near future. Once again thanks to all our readers for your help. As the list is incomplete please add your favorites in the comment section below.

The Architecture City Guide: Copenhagen list and corresponding map after the break.

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Courtesy of Flickr CC License / La Citta Vita

We have heard your cries, and we are finally taking our Architecture City Guide international. We like the new bottom-up approach, and we will be sticking with that for format as we branch out. So we need your help. To make the City Guides more engaging we are asking for your input on which designs should comprise our weekly list of 12. In order for this to work we will need you, our readers, to suggest a few of your favorite modern/contemporary buildings for the upcoming city guide in the comment section below. Along with your suggestions we ask that you provide a link to an image you took of the building that we can use, the address of the building, and the architect. (The image must be from a site that has a Creative Common License cache like Flickr or Wikimedia. We cannot use images that are copyrighted unless they are yours and you give us permission.) From that we will select the top 12 most recommended buildings. Hopefully this method will help bring to our attention smaller well done projects that only locals truly know. With that in mind we do not showcase private single-family residences for obvious reasons. Additionally, we try to only show completed projects.

This week we are headed to Copenhagen, Denmark.

Example:
The Black Diamond (Royal Danish Library)/ Schmidt Hammer Lassen
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la-citta-vita/4764743684
Søren Kierkegaards Plads 1, 1219 Copenhagen, Denmark

© JDS Architects

Architects: JDS Architects
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 900 sqm
Photographs: JDS Architects

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© Iwan Baan

Architects: SeARCH bv
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Client: Novo Nordisk
Design Team: Bjarne Mastenbroek, Kathrin Hanf met Remco Wieringa en Paul Stavert, Geurt Holdijk, Laura Alvarez, Elke Demyttenaere, David Gianotten
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Iwan Baan

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© Adam Mørk

Architects: 3XN Architects
Location: Copenhagen, Denmak
Client: Bella Center A/S
Engineering: Rambøll
Project area: 42,000 sqm
Project year: 2011
Photographs: Adam Mørk

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Courtesy of WE architecture

Copenhagen-based WE architecture shared with us their proposal for the urban plan of Rødovre Syd in Denmark. More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »

Brewer's Square / © Entasis

Carlsberg Group hereby announces an international design competition to transform the New Carlsberg Brewhouse into an exciting, must-see Brand and Experience Centre, attracting 500,000 visitors each year.

The aim is to create a world-class attraction with a broad appeal to visitors who wish to be challenged, engaged and entertained by one of the world’s strongest brands. The main focus is on the transformation on the Brewhouse and the Elephant Gate but should also describe how Carlsberg Group can re-enforce, strengthen and further develop its presence in the Carlsberg site.

The design competition is launched on April 5th 2011 and Carlsberg welcomes proposals from all over the world. Following a pre-qualification stage, 4-6 selected teams within the fields of brand experience and development, visitor attraction and architecture will be invited to submit their proposals. The winner will be announced in spring 2012.

For more information, visit the competition’s official website.

Ben van Berkel's New Amsterdam Pavilion in New York. Photographed by Richard Koek.

This weekend on April 2nd, Ben van Berkel of UNStudio will be presenting a lecture during the Smart Geometries 2011 Copenhagen – an event that focuses on the role of digital parametrics in architectural experimentation and design strategies.  van Berkel, an avid believer in computational design, will focus on his firm’s projects, such as the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, the Raffles City mixed use development in Hangzhou and the Star Place Luxury Shopping Plaza in Kaohsiung, to illustrate their application of smart geometries.  ”"Parametric design is in itself not so interesting. It needs meaning. We need to combine the possibilities of the virtual with how we discipline the real in a new way,” explains van Berkel.   With digital modeling allowing for greater innovation, creativity and experimentation, van Berkel explains how such technologies improve communication on projects to such an extent that design and construction can be much more compact, accelerated and efficient.  “In the 90s we were fascinated with the potential of these emerging techniques and their ability to control geometry. However our interest was never solely focussed on the geometry, nor on the computational techniques themselves. Our interest lay largely in the possibility to carry out spatial experiments and to see how the resulting structures could actually be constructed,” states van Berkel.  For more information about the lecture, check out the Smart Geometries website.

© MAPT

Architects: MAPT
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Project year: 2011
Photographs: MAPT

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Copenhagen-based architectural office MAPT is behind the concept and development of the first interactive bench; one that invites you to play, move and experience the urban space in a dynamic way. The bench that changes color and pattern as people pass by has sprung up in Copenhagen’s “Islands Brygge.” The design became possible with the collaboration with designer Sune Petersen.

Read on for more about The Playful Bench after the break. read more »

Courtesy of BIG

BIG + realities:united + AKT + Topotek 1 & Man Made Land is selected to design the new Waste-to-Energy Plant that doubles as a ski slope for Copenhagen’s citizens and its many visitors by 2016.

Located in an industrial area near the city center the new Waste-to-Energy plant will be an exemplary model in the field of waste management and energy production, as well as an architectural landmark in the cityscape of Copenhagen. The project is the single largest environmental initiative in Denmark with a budget of 3,5 Billion DKK, and replaces the adjacent 40 year old Amagerfor- braending plant, integrating the latest technologies in waste treatment and environmental performance.

The shortlisted offices included Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Dominique Perrault Architecture, 3xN, Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects & Gottlieb Paludan Architects who were selected to compete out of 36 international proposals in Fall 2010. The winning team is announced by an unanimous judge panel.

More images and complete architect’s description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Site A/S

Site A/S Architects has recently completed a project proposal, Aqua P, which looks to form a solution for the flooding and parking problems in Copenhagen. For more renderings, process diagrams and a description from Site A/S continue after the break.
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