Connecting Ørsta

TEAM DATA

Team representative: Jens Nyboe Andersen (DK) – landscape architect; Associates: Karl Johan Baggins (DK) – landscape architect; Maria Crammond (DK) – architect

Kronprinsessegade 10, 3 tv, 1306 Copenhagen – Danmark
+45 405 04 948 – jensnyboeandersen@gmail.com

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^{J. Nyboe Andersen, M. Crammond & K. J. Baggins}

INTERVIEW
^{Click on the images to enlarge}

1. How did you form the team for the competition?

We know each other from the School of Architecture and University of Copenhagen. We have worked together in teams across offices and on our own, besides our jobs, during competitions.
When Europan 13 was launched, we were working for different offices across Copenhagen. We created a workstation in Jens’s apartment and spent a lot of weekends together coming up with our proposal for the competition.

2. How do you define the main issue of your project, and how did you answer on this session main topic: Adaptability through Self-Organization, Sharing and/or Project (Process)?

We had long discussion about the main topic, the adaptable city in relation to the site, Ørsta. But we did not make it control our design process. We wanted to do what we thought would be the right thing for Ørsta. By that our proposal answered the main issue by itself.
Three main connections – the Urban Connection, the Park Connection and the Educational Connection – define and strengthen the center of the town, tying together what today appear as divided islands with different programs. Besides, a Harbour Promenade binds the connections together and crosswise; functioning as an Add-On to the existing quay, it is the physical link between Ørsta center and the sea.

3. How did this issue and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?

Ørsta has through its evolution ‘mutated’ from a town based on the harbour industry and the important connection to the sea to a town that turns its back to the sea and has no real use for the old industrial areas that make up the existing harbour front. So the issue meets the site mutation really well as the town has to adapt and find a new way of exploiting the great potential of its ‘forgotten’ harbour front.

4. Have you treated this issue previously? What were the reference projects that inspired yours?

We think that adaptability as a topic is something that comes up in most of our work processes. Often when you develop a new site, you do so because it has to adapt to new issues.
The physical issues of Ørsta are not new to us since we have worked with similar projects in our professional work. We were not inspired by one specific project, but by many! It is hard to mention one that has had a bigger influence than others.

5. Today –at the era of economic crisis and sustainability– the urban-architectural project should reconsider its production method in time; how did you integrate this issue in your project?

In Copenhagen it is hard to talk about a crisis at this point – yet, we all graduated in a time were the economical crisis could be felt, and this has shaped the way we think about architecture and urban design.
Sustainability wise we have worked with Ørsta in a pragmatic way –we do not suggest to demolish and rebuild, but rather reuse and acknowledge the excellent frames that make up the towns spatial qualities.
Sustainability often gets challenged when it comes to economy. So when implementing our proposal for Ørsta it is important to have realistic ideas on how to actually succeed in building the project in a sustainable way.

6. Is it the first time you have been awarded a prize at Europan? How could this help you in your professional career?

Yes, it is the first time we have been awarded at Europan. It is a unique possibility for us to work on our own and shape a project from the very beginning and we are certain that we can learn a lot from the upcoming process. We have already had a great response from colleagues and friends in the professional field in Copenhagen and are all exited to see where this project can lead us to.