Our day started early again today, we had to be ready to leave the hostel at 8:30 for our day long bicycle adventure (something that I was not looking too forward to considering last time I was on one, I sprained both my arms at the same time, which was not fun). So we got up, got ready (don't like the hostel idea where you have to share the 4 different bathroom spaces with all of the strangers on our floor, I'm a little spoiled) and went downstairs for breakfast. We had a good assortment to eat, bread with some meat and cheeses, fruit, and cereal, it was fulfilling! A rental company was bringing the bikes to the hostel and then from there we were going to Gehl Architects to have a tour of the firm and then someone from the office will be giving us a bike tour around the city. So we all get our bikes, I was able to practice a few rounds before we left the hostel and started our 5 minute ride to the office single file line. It wasn't a bad ride to the office, you just have to be aware of your surroundings and stay in the slow side of the bike lane so that the locals could pass you cause they go a lot faster. We get to the office, lock up our bikes and head upstairs to the firm. Gehl Architects is an urban research and design consulting firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 2000 by Professor Jan Gehl and urban designer Helle Søholt as a continuation of Gehl's research within the area over the past four decades. The firm specializes in improving the quality of urban life by re-orienting city design towards the pedestrian and cyclist. We had a great presentation by one of the partners of the firm and made you think more about the surrounding environment and how it relates to the building instead of plopping a building on a site and then putting "stuff" around it to make the atmosphere. Our presentation was about a hour then we headed back outside to get our bikes and start the tour with Louise, a project manager for the firm. She showed us where we would be going on a map and then we proceeded to follow her single file to our next destination. We went through a few redesigned parks and public spaces that allow the public to interact with its surroundings. Copenhagen is really good about making spaces for all ages and we saw a lot within different areas of the city. We stopped for lunch on a side street, ate gyros and then proceeded to the next stop. Louise left our group around 2:30 to go back to the office so the professors took lead and we headed toward some of the buildings that were presented a few days ago and they wanted to make sure that we got our bikes worth today! I think the whole group was ready to move on, the tour was very nice and we saw a lot of the city but it I was not interested in public spaces as much, I wanted to see buildings. So we all headed towards the harbor, in the direction to view residential buildings within the city. We first stopped at a park along the water that was both human and bike friendly. There were (large) ramps, long paths, stairs, and a workout area. We spent a few minutes riding along the park, most of the boys liked going up and down the ramps, I went up the ramp but chickened out going down so I found an alternate route. Then we continued down the street, up a large hill (and by this time it was probably hour 5 into riding bikes) across the street to get the the pedestrian/bicycle bridge to cross to the other side. At the other side was the Gemini Residence which were two former silos on Copenhagen’s waterfront that are transformed into exciting new residences. By converting the old twin seed silos, the architects placed the circulation in the core of the concrete structures and "clipped" the apartment to the exterior of the silos. The core became an open lobby atrium, covered by a glass roof for natural light, with visible elevators, stairs, and access to the apartment. It is a very interesting concept and although we were not able to get inside, the interior and exterior seem like complete opposites. We could see a tiny part through a window and we were showed the interior from the presentation but it almost looks like you stepped in Dr. Seuss land.
After that we were headed the "suburbs" of Copenhagen to view a few more incredible residential areas. The journey was long, we biked on a trail way and then had to bike on a gravel road and then on the bike lane of a busy road, it was exhausting. By the time we got to the meeting place I was tired and knew that at some point I would have to go back that way, ugh. So Henry ( Josh's professor) basically wanted to make sure that all of us made it to the area, then we could go off in groups from there and we were free for the rest of the day. So we headed in a group of 8 to first go find a bathroom and a place to fill up our water bottles. We rode a block and went inside this indoor mall that had many shops but we went into one that was equivalent to a Walmart! So yes mom, they have Walmarts in Europe, just haven't found one in Prague yet! They had everything, which was good because Josh's studio needed a tape measure for the next day and nobody brought one with them so Josh and Kevin were able to buy one there. And we needed flip flops to use in the hostel shower, totally forgot to bring any with us! We were in there for a while, killing time waiting for a couple of people in the group and finally were able to get together and start heading to the different sites. We all started together and at some point, we lost 4 people in our group within the first couple of minutes, for some reason they stopped and we continued. We turned right, noticed that they weren't behind us, waited for 5 minutes, they never showed up so we left and headed towards the 8 House (when we got back to the hostel that night, we found out that they decided to go straight to find us, not knowing that we didn't go that way). So our group of 4 which consisted of Josh, Kevin, RC (an undergrad) and myself, biked about a mile until we got to a group of residential housing. There was only a few, each different, but we didn't know what the 8 House looked like from the exterior so we continued biking to the end of the street, took some pictures, still was puzzled where this huge structure was located and was about to move on until curious josh walked inside one of the developments and realized that was it! Who knew that we were literally standing right in front of it taking pictures of that building! Designed by BIG, a firm that we are going to visit on Saturday, who describe themselves as "architects, designers and thinkers operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, research, and development" have designed the 8 House. It is designed so that people living on the top floor can ride their bikes on paved paths all the way up to their apartment (which you can't do now because of safety rules). This is executed by a bow tie structure (8 shape, hence the name) with grass and gardens along the paths letting the outside come as close as possible to the inside. It's a neat concept but lacked a few things and seemed more like a city atmosphere than out in the suburbs. We spent a while there, walking up the ramps, enjoying the sunshine in the green spaces and admiring how open Danish people are with their homes. They are not ones to have curtains in their homes therefore you can see everything going on inside, even their bedrooms, it's so weird how public they are even in private places.
Our next stop was The Mountain Dwellings, another residential development designed by BIG that was commissioned to design a traditional housing block and a separate parking lot but instead combined both together. So the parking area became the base upon which the terraced housing is placed which looks like a concrete hillside covered by a thin layer of housing, cascading from the 11th floor to the street edge. The parking area is connected to the street, and all apartments have roof gardens facing the sun, and amazing views. Reasoning behind the name is because the north and west facades are covered with perforated aluminum plates, letting air and light into the parking garage and the holes form a huge reproduction of Mount Everest. It's a very hard building to explain, the pictures below will help describe it better or google it, cause this one is definitely out of the box! While the boys we exploring this building, I sat on a bench and rested up. Our plan was to head to the coast and look at a few more places before calling it a day and we only had about 2 more hours left of daylight! So we got on our bikes and headed in the direction of the water (I was told that it wasn't too far, but I think that it was a lie to get me to go there). We traveled 4.5 miles before finally getting to the coast, it was not a straight path, and was beginning to get colder since the sun was setting. When we got there, it was worth it, the water with the sunset behind us made a beautiful setting. So we stopped to take pictures but still was not where we were supposed to be so we rode another mile along the beach before arriving to it. The Kastrup Sea Bath is a structure open to the public that is an area for swimming off the coast. It was designed to be an untraditional framework for exercising sports activities and for all ages. While we were there, 3 people were using the facility and we saw one jump in the water, crazy people! I'm sure it is a popular spot during the summer months!
The boys had one more place that they wanted to visit since we were over here, I was beyond ready to go home, but the only problem was that they didn't know where it was. Being on a time crunch due to lack of light, we began heading in the direction of the site. It only took us about 30+ minutes to try and find this hidden area; we did a lot of turning around and going in the wrong direction before going to a gate (that seemed to be private) and we finally found it (thank goodness cause I was about to just wait in an area until they were done because I was beyond tired at this point). It was a yacht club and youth center, also designed by BIG, combined together on a contaminated soil site ( yeah I know, sounds like a bizarre combination). Basically the land was contaminated with heavy metals therefore the only solution was to lay over the land with hardwood floor and then begin building from there (it would have taken the whole budget to clean up the site, so this was the best solution). And the 2 clients had very different needs, the youth house needed outdoor space for the children to play and the yacht club required most of the land for the storage of their boats. And the outcome is a wooden deck concave, with ramps and stairs for the children and below boat storage. Although we got there when it was dark, it was still fun to walk up the structure and get an understanding of the concept. Both of these places along the coast were presented to us the other day and were highly recommended to visit and I'm glad we did! Knowing that we saw everything that we could see, it was time to head back to the hostel. I was not looking forward to biking back, not knowing how many miles we have to go and that I could barely feel my hands and legs because it was quite cold outside. Thankfully the trip back was not as long as the trip there and we were actually not too far from the hostel, just a few miles. But last few miles were very difficult for me, I could barley feel my legs but I got through it and we finally arrived at the hostel. We got there around 8ish, locked up our bikes and headed down the street to get something to eat. While we were walking, we were quickly reminded that we were pedestrians again and that we didn't have the right away anymore. We constantly had to remind one another to get out of the bike lane or watch out for oncoming bikers!
Josh and I got a hotdog from this very nice Danish lady and Kevin and RC ate Burger King. After dinner, we were all ready to crash! We walked back to the hostel, I put on my pajamas, laid down and fell asleep instantly, I don't even think that the light was off yet! It was a long, exhausting, action packed and adventurous day, we were able to see a lot of things within a day and it was all worth it. Probably not going to be able to walk in the morning but wouldn't want it any other way, I mean we only biked 33 miles today, no big deal :)
P.S. Sorry that the blog is slowly being updated but there is a lot to talk about as you can tell and I want to make sure that I remember everything! And please forgive all grammar mistakes!!
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| Maritime Yacht Club, i did not take this picture cause it was dark when we were there and our pictures didn't turn out well, but to give you an idea of what it looks like |
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| What a great day! We are so blessed to have this opportunity!! |
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