Nordhavn: A Designer’s Playground
Nordhavn: one of my favorite neighborhoods of Copenhagen. Comparable to newer urban development projects, such as the Dog Patch in San Francisco, CA or even RhiNo in Denver, CA, Nordhavn is up-and-coming: this neighborhood, previously the site of major industries that helped coin Copenhagen, “The Merchants Port.” COBE Architects won the masterplan of the neighborhood in the early 2000s and have continued to develop much of the land, many times through land reclamation projects. The Orientkaj Metro Station, Tip of the Nord, and The Silo are COBE projects that help make the neighborhood a landmark of Copenhagen. Other notable projects in the area include Park ‘n Play by JAJA Architects (parking garage with playground atop the structure) and the many housing blocks created on artificial islands. The neighborhood is often subject to criticism by locals, often being compared to a ghost town or even branding the area as un-authentic, but in a world in desperate need of housing and urban renewal, Nordhavn acts as an example of what the future may hold in major world cities. Nordhavn promotes adaptive reuse and future construction methods, such as mass timber construction.