Sømærk
Teglværkshavnen, Copenhagen Harbour
2003 - 2008

House in the harbour

A humanist scale

The site is Teglværkshavnen in the Copenhagen Harbour. Large scale, large building volumes and large spaces between buildings.

Qualities at the water’s edge are: the water! the reflections, the long views and the big skies.

However, the entire district appears unstructured. It is wind-swept and dominated by large commercial headquarters.

Our building complex is designed for this context. We attempt to establish a humanist medium scale among the commercial mastodons. A number of precisely defined building volumes with living units that are designed for living and fit into the large-scale surroundings.

The project is an island which brings residents and the public to the waterfront while emphasizing how the buildings meet the islands.

Spatial hierarchies

Building by and not least on water, calls for consideration for the functional values. This results in clear spatial hierarchies.

Social housing and owner-occupied units

A social housing organization and a developer shared the role as a building client.

Public access to the ‘water garden’

The houses appear to hover on their columns that are in part connected with the ‘mainland’. The harbour is experienced from the large concrete deck, and several smaller basins are more private landscape elements experienced from the building complex.