Sjakket Youth Club is situated in Copenhagens Nordvest neighborhood, densely populated with old industrial buildings and contemporary housing. In , when BIG and JDS were hired to convert the building, the area was mainly populated by lower income households and immigrant families. BIG decided to refurbish the factory without gentrifying its raw beauty and alienating its original occupants.
Located in Copenhagen’s Nordhavn neighborhood, BIG’s new HQ building recently topped out its -storey structure. The new HQ is architecturally anchored in Copenhagen harbor’s heritage of warehouses and factories. The small footprint at the end of the pier became the main design dilemma: how to organize a single work environment for all of us when we would have to be split between a minimum of four levels. In a counterintuitive decision, we split all the floors in half and doubled the amount of levels.
Oslo Science City aspires to be a good example of a holistic approach to planning, where efficient land use and densification go hand in hand with increasing the amount of biomass in the area. Environmentally friendly buildings, climate adaptation with the help of nature-based solutions, incl. a new green and densely vegetated corridor through OSC, extensive tree planting throughout the entire neighborhood, emission-free mobility, energy efficiency and circular principles will characterize all development in Oslo Science City.
The design of the new Travel Center will work with the buildings integrated solar cell system on the vast roof surface to harvest the suns energy, with the capability of covering nearly % of the project’s energy demand. The indoor climate will be managed through natural ventilation, and heating through underfloor heating, and the potential use of floor cooling and rainwater recycling. Conditions will be improved for public transport in the city, providing a natural flow for bicycles and pedestrians, as well as passengers switching between modes of transport. These benefits along with charging stations and places for micro-mobility will reduce citizen’s reliance on cars.
In the words of BIG Founder & Creative Director, Bjarke Ingels: “Designing a home for a family is like painting a portrait. A portrait’s success lies not only in the artists’ ability to express themselves – but rather in their ability to capture the expressions, character, personality, or even the soul of those being portrayed. As an architectural portrait, the home is about creating a framework for interests and needs, wishes and dreams, requirements and criteria – in short – the life the family wants to live.”