Outdoor service

 

The church seems to have been moved outdoor here to attract new customers in Ørestaden. It is of course nice with some life in the new areas, but I don't think many of the local residents were attending this service on this Saturday.

 

Where to put the bicycle...or not

 

Yesterday I showed you one parking solution for the bicycles of Copenhagen. This is another one, albeit probably not an approved one. Placing you bike where everyone has to squeeze pass it with prams, shopping backs and the like, will certainly earn you some nasty remarks.

 

Stacking the bicycles

 

Parking is a problem in Copenhagen, not only for cars but for bicycles as well. This is one, maybe impractical solution from Ørestaden.

 

Tilting

 

The modern constructions in Ørestaden are nice to photograph as you can always find a new angle to catch. This one is from the Figure-8 building by BIG, and I've tried to catch the slanting lines so that they're horizontal instead.

 

Walking on water

Wherever new buildings rise in Copenhagen, canals and ponds are sure to follow. We like water in our cities in Denmark, maybe because we're used to having water around us all the time from an early age. Denmark is after all a country with a couple of thousands islands, and there's nowhere that is further away from the sea than an hours drive at most.

A matter of taste

The new residences in Ørestaden in Copenhagen divides people. To some it´s great with something different, to others it´s horrible. Taste is so difficult to discuss, but as long as there´s something for all people, and that is the case in Copenhagen, why go to such great lengths to discuss what's good taste and what isn't? People who live here love it, and if they don´t, I'm sure they'll be able to find something else.

Nature at the gate

If you live in the southern part of Ørestaden in Copenhagen, this is view you can get on a daily basis. Nature is literally at the gate, as Vestamager unfolds before your eyes.

Nature is just around the corner

This might not be true nature as defined by an area left alone by man, but it sure feels, smells and look the part. Just south of the newly developed area of Ørestaden in Copenhagen on the island of Amager is an area called Vestamager. With wide-open fields, meadows and small clusters of trees and bushes this reclaimed land is a popular area to go to if you need something green and unkempt around you.

How to find colours in February

If you're looking for colours in your photographs in Copenhagen in February, like I did last February, you have to be creative. This glass panel was part of a piece of art in Ørestaden, the newly developed area on Amager. The art is called the Island of Love (Kærlighedsøen in Danish) and features a pavilion with this glass roof and a column with 12 women.

Cubes of Black and Blue

The neighbour of yesterday's post is another rather controversial building. It's a building that cost about 5.5 billion DKR (3/4 of billion Euros), which was 34% above the budget. It is of course DR Byen, the Danish Broadcast City. Apart from the money it cost 300 employees their job in an effort to plug the hole in the budget, and the General Manager, the Chairman and several members of the board of directors had to leave too.

It's a great building, designed with the sole purpose of making radio, television and multimedia productions. The main building looks very good in it's black and white. The blue cube next to it is the new concert hall for DR, a much acclaimed hall for broadcasting concerts that can seat an audience of 1800 in terraces all around the orchestra like an amphitheatre. I haven't been inside, but in the pictures I've seen it looks spectacular.

This building was overpriced for sure and cost a lot of jobs and goodwill to DR, and worse still; cuts in the programming, but my overall impression of the buildings is positive, even though I haven't been invited inside yet:-)

Living in an Aquarium

Balconies, V-house

As told yesterday the neighbor to the Mountain is another building by architects BIG; VM Husene (VM Houses). This one is a bit more typical for the style that is being used in Copenhagen at this time. It's mainly glass and steel, and lots of both. Finished in 2005 the two buildings, called V-house and M-house after their shape, have 221 apartments. All apartments in the V-house has a distinctive balcony shaped like a V, much like a ship's prow.

The Aquarium, M-house.
The Mountain as a reflection

Steel and glass, M-house

This building is one that I could never live in, mainly because of the glass walls. I would feel like I was living in an aquarium and that my whole life was wide open to every by-passer and neighbor. I must confess that I like my privacy too much to become the newest member of a public zoo. I do like the balconies though.

V-house