The exhibition Nordic Urban Spaces at the Nordic Embassies Berlin shows Nordic architecture and urban planning. The exhibition is open until 28 September.
Like good Scandinavian design, the urban design projects of the “Nordic Urban Spaces” exhibition in Berlin stand out for their restrained, striking forms and pragmatic approaches. They are not functional buildings. Their planners have accepted the challenge of creating added value beyond pure utility, be it in terms of design, function, ecology, energy or participation. A simple example of this is the “Cykelslangen”, a 230 meter long and four meter wide bicycle ramp that opened in 2014. The slender, steel bridge winds its way through Copenhagen harbour. The construction of the Copenhagen office Dissing+Weitling architecture enables cyclists to quickly cross the Fisketorvet shopping centre area without coming into conflict with pedestrians.
In addition to the experience of having the ramp completely to oneself, it offers cyclists a spectacular view over the harbour. It lies between the modern building facades and above the water surface as an iconic design element.
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Best-Practice
Videos projected onto a wall convey the contents of the project much more impressively than the sparsely described photos, plans and diagrams on blackboards. Thanks to headphones, they allow us to immerse ourselves in the image videos, some of which are very atmospheric and well explained. Too bad, more of this would have benefited the exhibition in order to grasp the essence of the plans more quickly. As a current collection of Scandinavian best-practice examples, the project show is definitely worth a visit.
In cooperation with the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning of the TU Berlin, the Nordic Embassies in Berlin are showing 41 projects of different scales until 28 September: urban planning, parks and riverside promenades, bridges, public buildings, housing construction and underground stations are among them. But there are also examples of participation and ecological initiatives for adults and children. What they have in common is that most of the concepts in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland have already been implemented or are still to be implemented.
Important Facts:
Where: Nordic Embassies, Rauchstraße 1, 10787 Berlin, Germany
When: 6 June to 28 September 2018, Monday to Friday 10-19.00 h, Saturday and Sunday 11-16.00 h
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Two Rotterdam based offices jvantspijker and Felixx will design the new redevelopment plan of an industrial seaside area in Reykjavic, Iceland. The firms have won the first prize through an invited two-stage competition. The plan consists of 110.000 square meters of mixed use program, including four hundred new dwellings.
The location is tightly embedded within a port and transshipment area, a residential area and a large nature reserve. The competition is one of the first focus areas of a large long-term masterplan set up by the municipality of Reykjavic. The overarching plan commits to redevelopment, densification and sustainability.
The firms jvantspijker (planning and architecture) and Felixx (landscape architecture) used the ambition of densification to reconnect the urban area of Reykjavic to the surrounding Icelandic landscape.
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The design presents itself as a community by the sea, where community making and local identity is the central theme. The plan is therefore approached from the urban vision of “Making City”, with clear key themes as good connectivity, streets, integrated parking solutions, diversity and ecology. The existing buildings are carefully deployed as identity carriers, the existing infrastructure is transformed into an urban fabric that makes room for the central square along the water as new “place to be”.
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The municipality of Reykjavik and developer Hömlur, the initiators of the project, will proceed as soon as possible in collaboration with the winners, with the commitment to start as early as 2015 with the implementation of the plan. The coming period will be used by the designers and clients to discuss the next steps in the development process.
The winning design team is led by origin Icelandic urban designer Orri Steinarsson. Renderings and plans by felixx and jvantspijker.
