The Rolling Suitcases: A Decentralized Hotel Weaving Into the Urban Fabric

This project doesn't aim to end tourism, but rather work towards a sustainable alternative.

This project came from the recent years discourse on overtourism and it's effects on spatial qualities, especially in urban settings. Even as Copenhagen haven't reached critical levels yet, concerns have been raised with the steady, yearly increase in yearly stays.

The typical hotel typology is predictable and comforting while traveling, but is often a closed off world. Even if it is filled with useful resources, it is not accessible to the neighborhood it is situated in. 

Therefore this project investigates if the hotel resources can be shared with the neighborhood, creating a synergy between visitors and locals, creating new experiences for both.

The project tackles the existing hotel, located in the city of Tårnby, close to the city of Copenhagen. The site isn't a typical tourist area, but with it's close proximity to the Airport and train station, it makes a perfect stop for tourists and business visitors.

But even more intriguingly, the hotel is surrounded by typical welfare institutions like a retirement home, a school, sports facilities, a kindergarten and youth educational offers.

The existing hotel, built in 1979, is stories and spatially prioritizes guest rooms, leaving little space for common spaces. The facade towards the street is closed off, even with the entrance to the lobby tucked away at the side. 

The current programming and design of the hotel leaves little connection to the street, and lack of life within the hotel. This makes the hotel perfect for a place to rest, but not a place to stay at.

But the hotel isn't the only part of the site with challenges. Walking around the site, it becomes clear that there is a big lack of connections throughout. There is a disconnect from the large scales, but also a lack of activation throughout. The welfare institutions that were supposed to create spaces for sharing and connections lack interaction between users. Hedges and large parking lots acts as boundaries, supporting the disconnect.

The large site spans approx. 37.000 m2, with examples above for comparison.

To tackle the site and the disconnect, the main challenges were first identified.

• Large parking lots acts a barriers, instead of entrances

   

• Large, flat grass areas, lack activation and discourages exploration and lingering

   

• Facades of the existing buildings are closed off and uninviting towards the street.

Therefore the early concept was to use the underutilized resources in the hotel to create a connection throughout the neighborhood, where the new shared spaces can create connection between tourists and the different users of the different institutions. 

But throughout the process, it became obvious that the concept of simply placing new, better functions in the hotel, only left impacts within the premises of the hotel. The hotel still appeared to be a closed off world. Sure, new interactions could take place, but they would stay within the hotel. 

It appeared that the more that was placed in the hotel, the more it took away from the neighborhood. Therefore a new direction was needed. 

The new direction was instead of trying to place and upgrade functions in the hotel, it was instead to utilize the existing functions in the different institutions, to create new interactions across the neighborhood - and create a new, urban hotel typology.

Firstly the existing functions, usages and users were mapped in the different institutions, in order to place the new functions. 

This new hotel leaves an opportunity for giving the neighborhood better facilities, while also supporting other, more sustainable versions of tourism. These types of tourisms seek out unique, local experiences, instead of a caricature of a place.

To work with the existing challenges, the following strategies were used:

• Instead of the parking lots as barriers, parts of the parking lots are transformed into activated lots, where human activities appears.

   

• Instead of the large, flat grass areas are transformed into activated areas, determined by expanding the existing paths. Towards the street are more dynamic zones, while the middle row are more calm areas, and the last zones by the buildings are activated with the new frontages and corresponding activities.

   

• For the existing, closed-off frontages, new light structures are added, to open up and extend the activities inside, out to invite people in. 

Instead of creating a endless row of columns, the new structures added as frontages and as activities in the zones, are adapted to each function. in modular systems.