Havenstad is an post-industrial area right along the harbor, which used to be dominated by a variety of factories and shipping docks. Due to post-industrialization and industries relocating to outside the city center, the area has been left as available space for development. Over the past decade or so, there has been a lot of new construction occurring in the area. The coolest part about it though is that architects have been able to maintain some of the landscape that dominated the area. For example, a pair of old silos was converted into apartment buildings. The interior remains hollow, however the have built apartments on the exterior. Projects like this were really neat to see and look at in attempt to find the original structure. There are a lot of other completely new buildings in the area, but these few “special” ones make it very unique.
Sluseholmen is entirely of Dutch design. It is a planned settlement with man-made canals and blocks, which make the area more appealing. The individual blocks of apartments are also really interesting. In designing the project, the planners hired over 25 architects to design different facades for the apartment fronts. In this way, the area definitely has a “new” feel, but it is not boring because all the buildings add variety.
Lastly, we went over to Orestad, which is designed to be the new center of Scandinavia – not only for its central location but also the number of people who live in the area. The whole area is broken up into four sections. The two newest ones consist of a variety of apartment buildings, office spaces, the largest shopping mall in Scandinavia, and the metro line running straight through the middle. There is definitely a huge difference from this section of the city and the center. Personally, I think the area works really well conceptually (it feels like you are walking in a model), however it lacks a sense of friendliness and desire to be outside; this gives the whole area a dull and cold feel even though there are a lot of people living there. I did really appreciate seeing it though mainly because I keep hearing about all the modern architecture in Denmark and really had yet to see any of it. It was also interesting to know how the harbor front has changed for the better over the past years and how people are really trying to make it a more people-friendly and lively place. Even though it isn’t ideal now, I think in the not so distant future things in the area will definitely improve – especially now that planners are aware of some of the problem areas.
The best part about the whole field study though was when we went into the mall. We were led up to the top floor so that we could see a view over the whole area, which was interesting – mainly because you could see the contrast between the “new” area and the older suburb, which neighbors it. Our professor then surprised us with cinnamon pastries! They were absolutely huge and amazing! It definitely rejuvenated the rest of us for the remainder of the field study. For little things like this, in addition to his crazy knowledge about Copenhagen, I really love my history professor, Carsten.
After the field study, I headed back to DIS with a couple of friends in an attempt finish my Danish paper as well as continue to make some adjustments to my marketing paper. I would say that I was somewhat productive – although it could have been better.
After some time spent at DIS, I simply decided to head home to try to continue working on my own. I usually find this a more productive means of my time than getting more easily distracted when I sit with friends – of course I appreciate that at time too.
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