Today for class we took a trip to Sweden to look at various urban planning/housing schemes. The first place we went to was Rosengarden which is a development from the 1960's. Our professor described it as such, and I quote "Corbu would be having a wet dream over this". I'm not sure that helps explain it to those of you who do not know Corbu, but I'll try to explain... It's square apartment complexes built along a highway with small concrete courtyards in between. Corbu was all about accessibility to the highway. However, as many of us know, living next to a highway creates very harsh living conditions, typically resulting in a low-income area. So we looked at a few things our professor had designed to try and help bring up the value of the homes and the over-all feel of the area. There are currently also plans to bring an actual street through the area (yes, there is no street for cars...). There are many bridges that are pedestrian only that cross over the road. Another example of Corbu's dream. Anyways, it was interesting to see how different Scandinavia's idea of poverty is to the U.S.. Granted, about 10,000 people crammed into these apartments and only 15% of them had jobs, there was no trash... It was relatively clean... People were playing outside... There were decent shops in the area... It wasn't any different than say a middle class area in the U.S. minus the fact that it was bland 1960's box architecture, which is also found in the U.S..
We also went to Bo01 which was really interesting. It was a scheme that an urban designer came up with. He hired various architects to build apartements within the foot prints he had designed. Basically, he arranged the homes to urge people to walk/bike instead of drive a car, easily accessible to public transport so that a car was virtually not even a neccessity, small alley ways to avoid the wind (the wind is INSANE there), and various public spaces throughout. It was actually very pleasant and notably one of the best urban planning designs yet.
Finally we went to this very strange place. Picture the movie Shrek. Remember when Shrek and Donkey first enter Duloack (whatever it's called) and it's EMPTY? This is what this "town" was like. It's built along public transportation, but there is a city wall around it, literally. It was based on a small area in Germany and basically just replicated in Sweden in between two cities, but in the fields. Imagine the buildings at Disney... Fake brick... Fake peeling paint... Fake shutters... Fake signs on stores... the works. It was soooo creepy!!!
We headed back to Copenhagen after that and made two stops. The first stop was at Project 8 by BIG architects. I really liked the building! It's a building with apartments, row homes, offices, stores, and public space all in one. There are these "streets" that go around the building in a figure 8 pattern. It's pretty interesting. Our last stop were the harbor baths! I've been wanting to see them! I actually really would like to go swimming, now that I have my bathing suit (thanks Dad!). The water looks so nice and although it's cold, it just seems so relaxing.
I'm now exhausted... My professor walked SO fast. I fell asleep everytime we got on the bus, not even on purpose! Not to mention I had a delicous lunch: a hot mozerlla, chicken, tomato, and pesto sandwich with a chocolate cupcake. YUM!
I guess that's it for now. I'm more than likely going to go to bed early and probably work on my logo.
Lesson for today... Pack a hat. If it's as windy as it was today, it'll definitely come in handy! Just like my rain trousers =)
We also went to Bo01 which was really interesting. It was a scheme that an urban designer came up with. He hired various architects to build apartements within the foot prints he had designed. Basically, he arranged the homes to urge people to walk/bike instead of drive a car, easily accessible to public transport so that a car was virtually not even a neccessity, small alley ways to avoid the wind (the wind is INSANE there), and various public spaces throughout. It was actually very pleasant and notably one of the best urban planning designs yet.
Finally we went to this very strange place. Picture the movie Shrek. Remember when Shrek and Donkey first enter Duloack (whatever it's called) and it's EMPTY? This is what this "town" was like. It's built along public transportation, but there is a city wall around it, literally. It was based on a small area in Germany and basically just replicated in Sweden in between two cities, but in the fields. Imagine the buildings at Disney... Fake brick... Fake peeling paint... Fake shutters... Fake signs on stores... the works. It was soooo creepy!!!
We headed back to Copenhagen after that and made two stops. The first stop was at Project 8 by BIG architects. I really liked the building! It's a building with apartments, row homes, offices, stores, and public space all in one. There are these "streets" that go around the building in a figure 8 pattern. It's pretty interesting. Our last stop were the harbor baths! I've been wanting to see them! I actually really would like to go swimming, now that I have my bathing suit (thanks Dad!). The water looks so nice and although it's cold, it just seems so relaxing.
I'm now exhausted... My professor walked SO fast. I fell asleep everytime we got on the bus, not even on purpose! Not to mention I had a delicous lunch: a hot mozerlla, chicken, tomato, and pesto sandwich with a chocolate cupcake. YUM!
I guess that's it for now. I'm more than likely going to go to bed early and probably work on my logo.
Lesson for today... Pack a hat. If it's as windy as it was today, it'll definitely come in handy! Just like my rain trousers =)