Architect(s) : BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group | JDS Architects
Address : Amager Strandvej 11-13, COPENHAGEN, Denmark
Latitude/Longitude : 55.66539528585915,12.6341294343196
Photographs : Iwan Baan | Mads Hilmer | Paolo Rosselli
Text description provided by the architects. Maritime Youth House is located on the island of Amager, in Copenhagen. In 2002, PLOT (BIG + JDS) was invited to design a new building for two user groups with different requirements: a sailing club that needed most of the site to moor their boats and a youth center that wanted outdoor space for the kids to play. The geotechnical report revealed pollution on the site with 2/3 of the building budget allocated to moving the topsoil from the site to a landfill.
BIG turned the conflicting user needs and the pollution at the site into a key driver for the design: by covering the site with a wavy wooden landscape, the polluted soil could stay where it was (and the funds could instead be spent on the building and amenities), the underside of the deck could be used for boat storage while the kids could run around and play on top of it.
The interior of the building is very low key: the front room oriented towards the coastline, is used as a common room where most of center’s daily activities take place. It utilizes a higher level of materials and detailing than the workshop and storage areas.
The floor in the workshop is a standard grey concrete whereas the commons area has a polished Aalborg white concrete with white aggregate. The presence of hard surfaces used on the interior is meant to contrast the wooden exterior, an inversion of what is commonly done. This is meant to reflect the dominance of outdoor activities of the youth house.
Area : 2000 m²
Partner in Charge : Bjarke Ingels
Project Architect : Thomas Christoffersen
Project Leader : Finn Nørkjær
Project Team : Annette Jensen, Bo Benzon, Marc Jay, Jørn Jensen, Henrik Juhl Nielsen, Henning Stüben, Mads H. Lund, Nina Ter-Borch, Xavier Pavia Pages, Jesper Wichmann
Collaborators : Julien de Smedt / PLOT, Birch & Krogboe A/S, Jesper Gudman
Contributed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group
