A world of solutions | 10 ideas to import

(Copenhagen) The capital of Denmark is a veritable open-air laboratory for architects, urban planners and real estate developers. Here are some ideas that should inspire us here.

I would like to see the sea…!

“Clean water and public access to the waterfront are the magic of Copenhagen,” says Kristine Munkgård Pedersen, an architect and program director of the UNESCO World Architecture Summit in Copenhagen last year. She’s right: water is part of everyday life for Copenhageners, who, when the weather is nice, lounge on the waterfront, dive into the water or cruise the canals for happy hour. Enough to make a Montrealer jealous, because she can’t even dip a toe in the Lachine Canal. When will we see waterfronts designed to allow people to lounge by the water?

For a more daring architecture

In the heart of the city, on the “paper island” (where newspaper used to be stored), there are new triangular housing developments designed by COBE. They house a hotel, luxury condos and social housing. In Nordhavn, the Portland office towers, designed by the firm CM Møller, were built around former industrial silos. As for the housing designed by the firm BIG (The Mountain, 8 house, VM Houses), their reputation has long since crossed the borders of the Ørestad district and they are internationally recognized. Montreal could dare a little more.

Beyond the beige brick

Am I the only one tired of the poor quality brick, often of an ugly color, that we find in too many Quebec buildings? In Copenhagen, it is not only the architecture that attracts the eye: the cladding of the buildings too. These claddings play on transparency, reflecting light, water, the sky… Tiles, slate, wood, metal, glass, polished stone… the materials are sometimes recycled or reconditioned, the walls and balconies are planted. It is varied, but it never clashes, it integrates very harmoniously. And it creates even more interesting living environments.

Is this a garage or a park?

Danish architects are competing in ingenuity to multiply the uses of a building. You may have already seen the image of Copen Hill, the thermal power station camouflaged as a ski slope by the firm BIG (controversial, it must be said). My personal favorite: Park’n’Play, a 485-space garage on seven floors, in Nordhavn. On the roof: a park from where you have a breathtaking view of the city. When you climb the outside staircase, you discover a mural that tells the history of the neighborhood. Better still, the facade is planted. The neighbors do not live in front of a huge blank wall, but rather in front of a green space. A real success.

Friendliness everywhere

In Copenhagen, picnic tables are everywhere: in parks, in public squares, near the subways… An invitation to get together, share a coffee, a lunch or a drink bought at the local bar. Copenhageners are addicted to caffeine. In addition to the beautiful cafés all over the city, there are also mobile cafés: basically, a coffee machine in a small trailer. The barista waits for his customers next to prepare them a strong espresso. I could see these small mobile cafés on Mount Royal or in Jarry Park.

More bicycle parking

There are bike parking areas all over Copenhagen: around and even inside metro stations, in large premises that can accommodate a hundred. It must be said that it is not cheap to get on the metro with your bike: you have to buy an additional $10 ticket, and access is restricted at certain times of the day. Our metro stations are huge, much larger than the stations in Copenhagen. We could very well create spaces for bikes that would be protected from bad weather and theft.

Build greener

The fight against climate change is at the heart of the thinking when building in Denmark. Is it absolutely necessary to build new? Is it possible to recycle? Denmark has just adopted a more restrictive national strategy to reduce its CO emissions₂ : those of new constructions must be contained between 4 and 8 kg of CO₂ per square meter annually. Like us, the Danes are worried about the increasingly heavy rains. In Copenhagen, like in our country, we find sponge parks, but also green roundabouts, lots of green roofs, green walls, gutters in the sidewalks so that the water flows more easily towards the street.

Focus on temporary installations

An underused tool in Quebec, transitional urban planning involves temporarily occupying the territory before work begins in a sector or neighbourhood. Occupying can mean opening a temporary sports centre, animating a public space, or organizing activities. The idea is to observe how local residents will use it and to create interest and movement. “We make the area more interesting for the developer and we make sure that the neighbourhood is eager to see what’s coming instead of being suspicious,” explains Helle Søholt, head of the Gehl firm.

Improving affordability

I could have written an entire article on affordable and social housing in Denmark, a country where affordability is a fundamental value based on more than 100 years of practice. As a result, about 20% of the population of Copenhagen lives in affordable housing and developers are required to devote 25% of their construction to it. After a visit to the Nordic countries, the mayors of Laval and Quebec City called for the creation of a national fund for social housing. This would be a good start to developing affordability worthy of the name.

Every detail counts

In Copenhagen, even the most mundane and utilitarian structures have bite. Look at this photo. See the concrete balls? They are there to protect the Parliament from a truck attack. Rather than installing large rectangular concrete blocks that would disfigure the cradle of Danish democracy (remember the series Borgen !), we installed these beautiful concrete spheres that do not detract from the place. Yes, every detail counts to beautify a city.