Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Copenhagen | Maritime Youth House by Bjarke Ingels

I came here not knowing the name of the building. Just with a google map off the Mimoa blog and some transportation direction. This architectural gem is surprisingly hidden in the depths of the Copenhagen suburbs off the tourist trails.
From Mimoa:

"To save budget the architects covered the entire site with a wooden deck (1600m2), so wasn’t necessary to clean the site first. The building is shared by two clients, a sail club and a youth house. The youth house needed outdoor space for the kids to play; the sail club needed most of the site to park their boats. The design is the literal results of negotiations between the two contradictory demands. Where the deck rises it allows for boat storage and, at the same time, becomes an exciting play area for the kids. The common room for daily activities is located in the front house, the workshop and storage is in the back corner building. In contrast to the wooden exterior decks the floor in the community space is white concrete and a standard grey concrete in the workshop and storage area. This is meant to reflect the dominance of the outdoor activities; the wooden deck is the actual "room" of the Maritime Youth House."




This is a fun architecture piece where people and kids can freely run up and down the roofs. A cheap (apparently), and inspiring way to make architecture more fun and human. This building piece catapulted is architect to fame.

One-floor house (youth center + sailing center).

Under the narrow parts of the wooden roof is the canoe storage.

... my faithful travelling friend.