Danish Architects Research Articles

Barriers to implementing adaptable housing: architects’ perceptions in Finland and Denmark

Adaptability is one key aspect in making housing more sustainable. One major approach to adaptability is internal transformability of buildings, i.e. the possibility to make modifications to the spaces and their equipment within the existing building envelope. This aspect is often taken into consideration in the design and implementation of office buildings. However, in housing the situation is different, and internal transformability is very seldom implemented in apartment buildings. There is a lack of studies for the reasons for this. In this article we take a look at the barriers to internal transformability of apartment buildings in two Nordic countries, Finland and Denmark. We compare the situations in both countries, and highlight their similarities and differences. The research is based on interviews of Finnish and Danish architects who have been involved in designing such buildings within the last 20 years. The interviews show that the disinterest of housing developers has been the main barrier to implementing internal transformability. Another important barrier is the developers’ cost-optimization. Secondary barriers were related to lack of solutions in building services that would support internal transformability. Additionally, secondary barriers were related to common construction techniques, regulations, and building conventions. Major barriers were similar in both countries. However, some differences in the secondary and other barriers between the two countries also exist.

Making Radical Change Real: Danish Sustainability, Adaptability, and the Reimagination of Architectural Utopias

ABSTRACT Utopianism faded in the postmodern era as a source of inspiration for architecture, just as it declined as a source of literary and political ideas. Theorists have attempted to create space for its return by reenvisioning its requirements. The discourse of sustainability provides the most promising window, and a combination of environmental, social, and economic concerns has given rise to a generation of Danish architects who claim to be the inheritors of the utopian tradition. This article examines the work of two leading firms, the Bjarke Ingels Group and 3XN, and assesses their work and ambition against recent theoretical horizons. In this light, we critique Bjarke Ingels Group's invocation of utopianism but find in 3XN the hallmarks of architectural utopianism. This inquiry points out just how demanding and elusive sustainability is but, in so doing, reinforces why sustainability is fertile ground for the return of the utopian imagination to the architectural field.

Danish Modernist Architecture and Furniture Design in Passenger Ship Interiors 1935–1965

Since the 1960s Denmark has become internationally renowned for its architecture and design output. The work of Danish modernist architects and designers working on terra firma is very well known, but very little has been written about their influence on the design of merchant ships. This article examines the manifestation of Danish architectural modernism in the interior design of Danish and other Scandinavian-owned passenger ships built between the mid-1930s and the mid-1960s. It explains how the Danish Modern Movement in architecture and design had distinct characteristics from other avant-gardes in visual culture of the early-to-mid twentieth century and argues that its respect for tradition was advantageous when engaging with ship owners, naval architects and shipbuilders. It focuses in particular on ship interiors designed by the architects Kay Fisker, Palle Suenson and Kay Kørbing and shows how their designs became ‘floating ambassadors’ for Danish and Scandinavian modernism more generally.

PRINCIPLES OF FORMATION OF A MULTIFUNCTIONAL CENTERS FOR TRAINING EXTREME SPORTS IN KURSK

The purpose of this paper is to identify the basic principles of formation of a multifunctional complex for extreme sports. It includes a comparative analysis of extreme sports facilities in Kursk as well as a number of previously studied similar projects and existing buildings by Russian and foreign architects. The authors of the paper propose a sports complex that fits into the existing architecture of the city. New technologies have been introduces to implement the design of such complex objects as a wind tunnel, a deep-water diving pool, a large-span indoor skate hall with seats for spectators and overhead light. All these elements have been taken from the projects of well-known architectural firms, such as eXtreme Architects, White Studio, Moko Architects, as well as other foreign projects of Danish and Norwegian architects. The authors also considered some ideas on the reconstruction of industrial facilities, such as a fan depot or a silo tower, which were converted into multifunctional sports complexes. The social, economic and environmental aspects of designing such an object have been taken into consideration. The authors give the regulatory framework including the fire safety requirements, requirements on building maintenance by limited mobility populations (MH), the impact on the environment. Moreover, the authors mention building regulations, which establish requirements to the equipment, inventory and the space of the whole complex. The article examines the importance of building a multifunctional complex for practicing extreme sports, and also confirms the relevance of such sports in Kursk.

Vulnerabilities and resilience in Danish housing stock: A comparative study of architectural answers to climate change in Danish housing in relation to other oceanic climates

Climate change will affect the same climate zones relatively similarly. When considering how to design residential architecture for future climates it is therefore relevant to understand how residential architecture can adapt within the specific climate zone. Denmark is placed within the oceanic climate zone and shares many of the same problems that countries in similar climates do. However, the architectural responses have developed radically different. Denmark has been building heating efficient housing for the last decade, which have lately caused increased overheating problems and surging energy demands for cooling. This paper compares the architecture of different oceanic zones with Danish architecture. The strategies for adapting to climate change represents a broad variety. Western European tradition has itself created varied methods for coping with the climatic struggles their societies meet. Danish architecture has for centuries been focused on heavy robust constructions that would withstand the large amount of precipitation and wind that is predominant in the country. In Holland flood danger has been a constant threat to society, which has led both to defensive and reactive measures in the form of dykes and amphibious housing. On the other side of the globe, New Zealand’s traditional architecture has adapted to similar problems but with a much lighter construction, leading to architecture that is resilient to lateral forces like wind and earthquakes. While lacking the thermal properties of northern European houses the New Zealand homes show a remarkable flexibility and mobility through simple timber-frame constructions. The vulnerabilities in the Danish building stock is due to an unwillingness to invest in adaptive measures. It might be necessary to integrate a flexible building style to future sustainable housing and build up a different expectation for how a house is used. In the face of climate change, architecture need to be adapted to the problems apparent on the building site and draw on experiences from other cultures that might have faced similar problems in the past. Danish architects might likewise use the non-rocky ground for water retention through planting and landscaping strategies in relation to architecture.

The Centelles’ Palace of Oliva: The Recovery of Architectural Heritage through Its Plundering

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Danish architects Egil Fischer and Vilhelm Lauritzen carried out a rigorous graphic documentary study of one of the most important late-Gothic—Renaissance palaces in the Kingdom of Valencia, the Centelles’ Palace of Oliva, with the aim of later taking many of its architectural elements to Denmark. After numerous complaints, the Palace was declared a National Monument in 1920 and the exportation of its pieces was suspended. In 1932, due to heavy rain, a part of the Palace collapsed. The Spanish Civil War increased the deterioration of the Palace, and after some attempts to retrieve it, the remains of the Palace were demolished in the 1950s, and all traces of this large building disappeared with them. Thanks to the graphic documentation carried out by Danish architects, today we are able to know and study this Palace of great cultural and patrimonial interest, which has now almost completely disappeared. The work carried out by these architects, far from destroying the Palace, has helped to preserve it through this graphic legacy which allows us to carry out a highly detailed graphical restoration of many of its elements, as well as a hypothetical physical restitution of them.

Jørgen Bo y Vilhelm Wohlert. Louisiana y la tradición moderna

Este artículo recorre la trayectoria de los arquitectos daneses Jørgen Bo (Copenhague, 1919-1999) y Vilhelm Wohlert (Copenhague, 1920-2007) caracterizada por la fidelidad a la herencia material de la cultura constructiva danesa y analiza el Pabellón para Niels Bohr en Tisvilde (1956-1957) y el Museo de Arte Moderno Louisiana en Humlebæk (1956-1958). La progresiva asimilación y reinterpretación del Movimiento Moderno en Dinamarca cristaliza en una modernidad radicada en la reivindicación de las raíces culturales, donde la integración paisajística y la honestidad material forjan una obra que revela la herencia cultural danesa. La tradición material de la escuela del bygmester de Jensen Klint guiará la rigurosa obra de Bo y Wohlert. A partir de los documentos originales de los arquitectos y de las conversaciones con el profesor danés Vilhelm Wohlert, el artículo reivindica la vigencia de una obra donde la expresividad se reduce a la mínima expresión y el refinamiento constructivo a la máxima expresión.

Restitución gráfica de la sala 12 del Palacio Condal de Oliva a partir del legado gráfico de Fischer y Lauritzem

<p>El Palacio Condal de Oliva, declarado Monumento Nacional en 1920, hoy casi desaparecido, fue un referente de la arquitectura tardogótica valenciana. El objetivo del presente artículo consiste es la restitución gráfica de una de sus salas nobles, la Sala 12.</p><p>Partiendo de la documentación gráfica levantada por los arquitectos daneses Fischer y Lauritzem entre 1219 y 1920 se ha procedido a redefinir y dibujar cada uno de los elementos singulares que la componían, así como todo el conjunto siguiendo una rigurosa metodología gráfica, con la finalidad de poder visualizar y entender este espacio arquitectónico.</p><p>El resultado final es una exhaustiva restitución gráfica de la Sala mediante una completa definición geométrica a partir de la cual se puede profundizar en el análisis y comprensión del conjunto arquitectónico, para posteriores estudios, así como la difusión de este monumento de un alto valor histórico y patrimonial.</p>

Stonecutters Bridge, Hong Kong: the reference scheme

This paper describes the concept design for Stonecutters Bridge, Hong Kong – the winning scheme in the international design competition held by the Highways Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The design was prepared by the competition winners, a team from Halcrow Group Ltd., Flint & Neill Partnership, the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute and Danish architects Dissing+Weitling. The concept design became the reference scheme for the development of the project.

Bridge crossing of the River Nidelva, Trondheim, Norway

A new bridge over the River Nidelva in Trondheim, Norway, is part of a new ring road on the city’s northern coast which relieves the city centre of heavy traffic. The bridge design – developed and completed by COWI in co-operation with Danish architects Dissing and Weitling – was selected through a design competition tendered out by the Norwegian Road Administration, Vegvesenet Midt. A convincing scheme was submitted for the design competition and the contract was eventually awarded to the team to bring forward the tender design into the detailed design phase. This paper presents the as-built bridge with emphasis on selected key items and special solutions with respect to the entry’s outlined objectives, which helped to win the design competition. Attention is given to how the objectives and corresponding solutions found their expression in the final detailed design. The paper also describes how special technology has been implemented and how the engineering process has been able to bring life to the aesthetic objectives.

Danish and British architects at work: a micro‐study of architectural encounters after the Second World War

Invoking a statement by the cultural geographer David Livingstone – that location is essential to knowing – this paper focuses on Danish school architecture during the 1950s and 1960s and the interplay between local geography and developments and discussions on the national and international scene. Through exhibitions and study tours and international encounters, certain school buildings became icons as places to visit and as spaces to cite and copy, and specific ways of thinking about the ‘child‐centred school’ became institutionalised. In particular, British experiences and contacts with the couple Mary Crowley and David Medd became of importance to the Danes. This was no coincidence and the paper demonstrates that transnational architectural relations were closely linked to a cultural re‐mapping in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Putting education in its place: mapping the observations of Danish and English architects on 1950s school design

During the years following the Second World War, there were efforts in several European countries to grasp the opportunity to re‐imagine school created through the need to rebuild on a mass scale. This article examines in detail an episode in the exchange of knowledge between English and Danish architects and educators during a period of intensive activity. Through a micro‐study of documents that have survived in archives in both countries, the study tour is revealed as a key agent of exchange and as such a mapping of sites of specific interest in two countries is discussed. The origins of English–Danish exchanges are explored in the context of the rise of the modernist movement and its relationship with progressive education. A prosopographical perspective is used to understand the complexities of the social and professional relationships underpinning these exchanges. This is pursued through a detailed discussion of the meetings and site visits made during the study tours in Denmark and England during 1954. Finally, the impact of the various exchanges is assessed.

New Terminal Building, Billund Airport, Denmark

Billund Airport located in Jutland, is the second largest commercial airport in Denmark. The airport was established in 1964 in collaboration between a Danish toy manufacturer - and the county, town and parish councils. Steady growth in traffic from 50 000 passengers in 1965 to around 1.6 million in 1995 has been met by many extensions of the existing passenger and cargo facilities south of the single runway. In the mid-1990’s the Management decided to establish a new passenger terminal north of the runway and in 1997 five teams of Danish and international architects and engineers were selected to submit their proposal for the new terminal, based on the Owner’s detailed requirements. In the competition phase, a number of alterations to the Owner’s tender programme were introduced in order to improve the logistics in the passenger handling and in the baggage handling. The design presented in this article met all the fundamental requirements of the Owner. The detail design phase started in January 1999, the construction on site started in October 1999 and the inauguration was in May 2002.

Architectural pieces in stone in the collection of the British School at Athens

The 29 pieces are described and illustrated. Apart from the Ionic capital fragment excavated by the School at Kynosarges, they probably come from a collection made in the nineteenth century by George Finlay, as older Turkish buildings in Athens were demolished. Most are of minor importance, but parallels are adduced from Corinthian capitals in Athens and Corinth. Later capitals belonged to a Turkish house recorded by Danish architects in 1835 and 1851.