Thursday/Rāpare
Chiara has identified a harbour swimming pool at Kastrup she would like to go to. Lachie and Chiara lime scooter there. Bill and I bike. We get there first. I swim and then get my camera out for Lachie and Chiara. I meant to take a video of Lachie, but was pleased with this shot for his back flip off the top platform. Wow Lachie !
This is the whole complex.
This is Lachie and Chiara working out their next move.
These are their lime scooters. They left them here as it cost them 50 pounds for their trip, which was about 45 pounds more than they had been planning for. They caught the bus back.
Lachie and Chiara (the two lovebirds). They live together in London at the moment. They are coming out to New Zealand this year, Lachie from November until March and Chiara from December till the end of February. Chiara starts her PhD in ethnography at Harvard University in Boston in September next year. Lachie is thinking about applying to do a PhD in Computer Science at a university in Boston.
These are our bikes, and the Oresund bridge is in the background. This bridge connects Sweden to Denmark (and in part is a tunnel that goes under the ocean). More about that in a later blog, as we hope to fly over it going to Bornholm.
Now we head to BikeCopenhagen in the city for the start of our guided architectural tour on bikes. Here is our tour guide Alice in action.
Here is Lachie on a bike only bridge only. There have been 13 bike bridges built in the last ten years.
Alice tells us of stages in Copenhagen becoming an architectural city. The next two pictures show part of the journey. Built in the 1960's these are low cost housing which was built across the river, in what was then an undeveloped area of the city. They are on the water but they back on to it.
And here are new apartments right next door to the ones above, built in the last 10 years, which are now some of the most expensive in the city. They are built for the views and to let the light in, and have popular restaurants and shops below.
Note also the people on the harbour walls. All harbour water is swimmable. There are nine swimming places like Kastrup Søbad. We saw four of them. I swam in two. Not sure whether it would be wise to swim here on the boat route!
More about cycle bridges. The one we went across has a kink in it (on purpose) - the architect's mark. This is the new Inderhavnsbro cycle bridge (opened this year), which connects the city centre with Holmen and beyond.
Here we have stopped at the kink to take pictures. This lady was one of the 11 on the tour.
This is a power plant that creates electricity from recycled waste metal! Down the side of it is a ski slope! That forms part of the Copenhill mountain activity centre. The plant was designed by BIG in collaboration with SLA Architects.
The Guardian wrote: "Save your ski gear for one of our most anticipated buildings set to complete in a few short months in copenhagen," (It opened in Feb 2019.) This was the message BIG – bjarke ingels group posted on instagram to announce the test of the lower ski slopes of the Amager Resource Centre (ARC) which hosts the Copenhill Urban Mountain. The project is a waste-to-energy plant that responds to Ingels’ philosophy of hedonistic sustainability or the idea of saving the planet while having fun."
The projected winter look.
Then we stopped at a childrens' playcentre. Alice told us how it was designed like a small village, with different areas that were easily recognised by the children so they could know where to go to do different things - very cool. You can see it has different parts in this picture.
She was telling us about all the spaces designed for preschool children in Denmark - how Copenhagen and Denmark were forward thinking in this area architecturally. Later on the web I found this one, which is in Copenhagen. I thought, they did invent Legoland.
And then this one - COBE's Frederiksvej Kindergarten is based on children's drawings. "Each of the small house-like volumes that make up this Copenhagen kindergarten were designed by Danish firm COBE to look like caricatures of homes with peaked roofs as drawn by children. Named after its location, the building is made up of 11 small house-shaped blocks, organised around two winter gardens. Each of these volumes feature a simple peaked roof and seemingly frameless windows. We have worked to create a simple expression, as a caricature of how a child might draw a house," said architect Dan Stubbergaard."The roofline for example, is kept uncluttered by means of hidden drains and precise material connections, and the windows are carefully designed to look frameless. Within the main kindergarten building, house-shaped structures enclose spaces such as kitchenettes, cradles, playrooms and baby-changing facilities."
As we were looking at our one across the canal, a wind gust blew the bike with the basket that you see below, and it nearly tumbled into the harbour. The lady (Ines) who was riding the bike had her phone in the basket, and that did tumbled into the weeds. We were not sure if it was in the water or not? That's Bill on the ground using his long arms to try and find out.
We were all looking
It must be in the water. Lachie got ready. I had the googles from the morning swim.
He lowered himself into the water.
It was in the water and he had found it and handed it to Ines.
Ines was happy. A rockstar for not reacting at all!
She thanked Lachie.
Next we pass through Christiana very quickly. We are not allowed to take photos. About Christiana from Wikipedia:
"Christiania has been a source of controversy since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. Its cannabis trade was tolerated by authorities until 2004. Since then, relations between Christiania and Danish authorities have been strained. Since the beginning of the 2010s, the situation has been somewhat normalized and Danish law is now enforced in Christiania. After bitter negotiations that temporarily resulted in the area being sealed off to the public, in June 2011, the residents of Christiania agreed to collectively set up a fund to formally purchase the land at below market prices. The community made its first payment in July 2012, officially becoming legal landowners."
Here is where it is in Copenhagen.
It is now a tourist attraction, as well as home for ~900 people.
It is colourful.
And another shot.
Then back to Alice on Tour. This was a public gym facility built ten years ago, on a very low budget. Han Var Ingen Vinder wanted sports playing facilities in the area he lived. So he raised funds and built what was needed. This reminded me of the Whanganui Sports Stadium, which my Dad caused to be built in 1966.
There were two architects I decided I liked. I mainly liked them because I talked to Chloe who was a French architect on the trip, and she seemed to know what she was talking about. Here is Chloe and Bill.
Here is the first architect. Her name is Dorte Mandrup. Her team are die-hard overachievers. "They combine their firm grasp on reality with a knack for dreaming out loud – delivering the know-how to solidify ideas."
From a google search I found this: "We have found our areas of expertise within the world of transformations, mixed use buildings, education & workspace and landmarks. Dorte Mandrup is renowned for her artistic talent and expertise in solving complex problems - offering solutions that are playful, innovative and poetic."
This is a community library she designed that we saw on the tour.
And the second Danish Architects are Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter. From Wikipedia: "... most noted for the Tietgenkollegiet student housing in Ørestad from 2006 and the Royal Danish Playhouse on the Copenhagen harbourfront from 2008."
This is one of their buildings they designed for student accommodation. Lachie and Chiara decided this was so good they would return one summer! This is the outside.
This is the inside. All circular to give the idea of sharing, and community. This is where will visit Lachie and Chiara when they come to study n the future!
After the tour we found a bite to eat at SimpleRAW - a vege place. Yum.
