Initial Ideas and Concepts

The surrounding area's buildings, along with most of downtown Copenhagen, are all done in a neo-classical style, and built in the 18th Century to 19th Century. The colors of the buildings range from yellow, to blue, to red, to white, to beige. Each house is designated by either a color or a change in facade. Since all the buildings collide with eachother and do not seperate at the edges to define individual buildings, the only determining factor is either its facade design or color. With this concept in mind, a building that fills the site should not be seen as one building, but rather as multiple buildings. The site is elongated, as you can see in the sketch drawing, so a single facade along the southwest would deterierate the surrounding appeal of existing buildings. It would set it apart from the rest instead of blending in.

Another key factor is the corner of which the building sits. It is a busy corner, people constantly walking by, stopping to cross the street, and actually some walk through the existing site itself as a shortcut. Initial ideas for this consist of expanding the corner inward onto the site to create a link between the sidewalk and the people and the building. It can also be used as an area to have transition into the building instead of being met by a tall facade looming over you as you enter.

My initial concept involves using different materials and a collage of vertical and horizontal lines to differentiate the facade to the south as well as the east. An area will be reccesed into the corner facades to create an intermediate entry courtyard before you enter the main doors.