The last city quarter

2011

Based on Camillo Sittes’ sympathetic understanding of humanistic urban planning, the aim of this entry is to create a neighbourhood that is self-reliant. From past urban planning, where the primary focus was property speculation, capital and commercial potential, The team wants to plan an artificially natural neighbourhood, with the ability to develop into a self-regulating district, with a minimum of top-down intervention, external resources and municipal interference. Urban spaces coupled with process-oriented development practices must finally reject static models in favour of a renewable, local and natural strategy. In short, a city in balance, where the regulated and the unregulated may clash, where unknown stories will be told and teach us new things, and where sensible new opportunities arise in the city.

2012-2016…
The team had a first contract for an overall vision and the strategic master plan for the whole 100ha strategic area of Europan competition. The master plan has been approved. Their plans propose to develop Denmark’s first climate adapted neighbourhood, which transforms Saint Kjeld’s Quarter into Copenhagen’s greenest neighbourhood. The comprehensive urban development project seeks to demonstrate how the city can be arranged so rainwater can be managed in the streets in a more natural and effective way. Their project offers a wide range of pragmatic strategies to meet the many expectations in the area. As a key principle the architects reclaim 20% of the street area by optimizing the infrastructure and parking lots according to current standard. The area counts potentially 50,000 square meters and is to be used for new urban space development. It is also an important parameter not to compromise the city’s existing functions. In the large urban spaces, such as Saint Kjeld’s Square and Tåsinge Square the team has put a great effort into creating new kinds of urban experiences founded in the city’s and nature’s changeability. A gigantic floating ring sprays a cooling rain mist out on the hot summer days, hundreds of plant species secures an attractive nature all year round and a hilly terrain invites you to play and stay. The project introduces bicycle paths that act as storm water channels, water towers, green roofs, urban gardens, green houses and canals that carry water out from the neighbourhood to the harbour. And simultaneously give rise to greater biological diversity in the city.
The label “Climate-resilient St. Kjeld” has been inaugurated in December 2014.
A first square – Tåsinge Plads – was realized without the help of the team. The municipality thought they are too “green” to detail it. The big square of St. Kjelds and the main blue/green corridor along Bryggervangen are currently under a prequalified competition. The team is prequalified, and is now competing against 3-4 other teams. They are lead architect of the team, and have hydraulic and traffic engineers as well as a process consultant. Also, they are doing a sketch proposal for one of the other streets, called Tåsingegade.