As you might have noticed, I haven't written in the blog for quite a while. So today I'll be suming all the latest works up in different posts, all in chronological order. This first one is a short two-day group project we had, in which we as groups, were given to different areas in Copenhagen, in which we were to study and analyze the local lightning, acoustic, climatic and other conditions, while also comparing the similarities and differences in the two areas. In our group, we were to study the huge greenhouse in Copenhagen's botanical garden and a new parking "green" parking building in the outskirt of the city centre. What you see below is our first page from a total of four A3 presentational pages, containing diagrams and photos of the sites (two of the girls from the group took the amazing pictures).
The first of the two sites - the botanical garden - was a rather interesting space. Due to its artificial rainforest-like climate, the change from interior to exterior is extremely dramatic. At the moment of entry, you are quickly soaked up in the moist, misty air of the area and also rather quickly made uncomfortable by the sudden dramatic change of temperature. Despite the sudden climatic change, which one can describe as rather uncomfortable, the climate is rather pleasant after one spends some time in the room. Naturally, natural lighting is abundant in the greenhouse due to obvious reasons, but an interesting element, was the rooms acoustics. Even though the room in itself is pretty spacious, the acoustics were in a way mysterious. This is amongst different facts, the fact that the mist and the plants in the room limit your line of sight, leaving you to wonder where sounds and voices are actually coming from. As a matter of fact, the mist in the room was at times so thick, that you couldn't see to the other end of the room! This effect was in its way surreal and rather amazing. (This effect is furthermore illustrated in our above photos of the room.) A diagram was also made by us to illustrate the way the building functions, but it was made in hand, so unfortunately I can't upload it here on the blog.
The above picture shows photos of our second location - The green parking house. As you may quickly notice, it has been nicknamed the "green" parking house, due to the vegetational growth on the building's exterior. Even with the building's green features, it is not one that one usually notices, due to its rather basic function, but we were left impressed after studying the building. Unlike many other carparking buildings, this one had an almost completely open facade, allowing the building to be almost entirely lit by natural lighting - A feature we found rather impressive. And despite its rough concrete look, the interior of the building was as a matter of fact rather pleasant, especially based on the fact that it is a mere parking building. This was mostly due to the building's living, breathing, green facade, which surprisingly effectivly integrates the rough concrete interior and exterior with the elegance of natural vegetation. Below is the third and last uploaded presentational page, which includes diagrams that illustrate how the building functions. I believe the illustrations should be clear enough, so I won't comment on the details.
To sum things up, this short project was rather effective, despite its rather short length. One can say that this was our first practical step to truely understanding a space in the city, and understanding how a space functions, no matter if it is interior or exterior. It may not have completely altered our understandings of spaces and rooms, but the process has thought us to notice details that we haven't thought of before - Some of which are most important to understanding architecture and the urban environment.
- Andy Minchev
