A group from Integrated Project Design Studio at Roger Williams university travelled to Copenhagen, Helsingør and Malmö during spring break.
In addition to documenting the project sites, it was an opportunity to visit a wide range of projects from different time periods and experience the public space infrastructure that these cities have to offer.
In Copenhagen, they were received by Alexander Matthias Jacobson at BIG where they were introduced to the approach of implementing and evaluating sustainable strategies in their work. The students had the chance to see some of the performance evaluation tools they have been developing, as well as gained a better understanding of how decisions about form and materials are applied for a more optimal and responsible environmental performance.
They also had the opportunity to experience the different neighborhoods and to see a variety of architecture in the city and its vicinity which included some of the classics such as the church in Bagsvaerd by Utzon and the Grundtvig church by Jensen-Klint, as well as some of the newer works such as Copenhill by BIG or Blox by OMA.
In Helsingør they received a wonderful tour of the Kingo Houses complex by Utzon, led by architect Hans Olesen, who has lived there for decades. The students also had the chance to speak with architect Jørgen Jørgensen who kindly let us visit his own house in the complex, explained the ideas behind it and shared some stories about his interactions with Utzon.
In Hesingør they also visited the Maritime Museum by BIG, an incredibly interesting project which occupies the underground surrounding a former dry dock.
During the trip, they also visited Malmö where they spent some time in the Moderna Museet by architects Tham and Videgård as well as the Eastern Cemetery, a life-long project by Lewerentz.
In cemetery they were given access to all the chapels and the crematorium designed by the architect and they had the experience of walking around its magnificent landscape.
Overall, the trip was an opportunity to experience urban settings, landscape and architecture from different periods and widen their horizon of knowledge.
