The Cultural Engine

Navn

Laj Karsten Rasmussen

Uddannelsesgrad

Kandidat

Fagfelt

Arkitektur

Institut

Bygningskunst, By og Landskab

Program

Urbanism and Societal Change

År

2020

What if H. C. Ørstedværket went from being an industrial engine to a cultural engine?

This project based in Sydhavnen, Copenhagen explores how the powerplant H. C. Ørstedværket can act as a platform for a diverse cultural community.

Since the 1990s, Copenhagen has undergone a radical transformation from nearing bankruptcy to achieving titles such as the most ‘livable’ city multiple times. Although the city is arguably a better place to live today compared to twenty-five years ago, the strive for livability has had its price. The radical urban development has meant an equally radical change in demographics, causing a rise in housing prices, economic imbalances, overall inequality, and an irreversible goodbye to smaller communities.

Today, the post-industrial harbor front is mainly dominated by philanthropic investments in terms of monolithic cultural institutions and City & Port’s need to make money in order to pay back the debt of the metro system. The consequences of this development are most visible in the area of Sydhavnen, where an almost physical demographic border is segregating the new and old parts of the neighborhood. Even though this part of the city has seen the highest rise in population since the transformation of Copenhagen began, the locals have been fighting for a culture house - unfortunately unsuccessfully.

In 1920, exactly a hundred years ago, the only thing in this area was the newbuilt powerplant, H. C. Ørstedværket. Due to new infrastructure and the soon-to-be opened metro station in 2024, H. C. Ørstedværket has gone from being very remote to being very centered, located almost exactly on the line of the old and new Sydhavnen.

We have now entered the fourth industrial revolution and, after having played a great role in the industrial challenges we were facing in the 20th century, powerplant’s now outdated technology means that a large part of its buildings will lose their current use, and slowly will be phased out in the coming years. This also means that a unique opportunity for a repurpose of H. C. Ørstedværket has risen. As a response to our cultural challenges and needs in the 21st century, this project’s vision is to exploit this opportunity and transform the power plant H. C. Ørstedværket from an industrial engine to a cultural engine.

cultural institutions on the post-industrial harbor front

from industrial to cultural engine

cultural institutions on the post-industrial harbor front

infrastructure

demography

Organization

/11

reinterpretation of the former graffiti wall

Base

layers of history as a tool of design

reinterpretation of the former graffiti wall

new infrastructure

removal of grey boxes

Strenghtening the red and blue identity

vegetation strategy

interior thematic strategy

exterior thematic strategy

digital strategy

combined strategies

Axonometric view

Plan

A view from the metro entrance

A view from the boulevard

A view in the alley

A view from the residency

A view from the park

A view from the graffiti walls

A view from the main square

exploded axonometric

A view inside BLOK7

A view inside the Boiler House

A view from the watchtower

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30 billeder

A hundred years ago, H. C. Ørstedværket used to be a very remote powerplant in the outskits of Copenhagen with poor infrastructural connections. Today, it is a centered piece of Copenhagen, and in the years to come it will become even more centered.

When looking closer at the demography of Sydhavnen, one can clearly see a social division of the new and old parts of the neighbourhood. The striped areas symbolizes what is categorized as ‘vulnerables areas’ by the municipality of Copenhagen. The border between the old and new Sydhavnen is the area in copenha- gen with largest economic income gap between two groups.

Inspired by a political experiment in Ireland (Zetland, 2020), The Cultural Engine Organization will consist of a citizens assembly, in order to archieve highest possible cultural diversity and democratic influence from the users. This trinity of an organization will be made up by different groups. First one being the Copenhagen Municipality. By adding a municipal layer, The Cultural Engine will be able to reach beyond the typical hip crowd, typically attracted to post-industrial transformations. Inspired by a another political welfare experiment from Finland (Zetland, 2020), should strive to make a synergy between the local citizens needs, private businesses and the state in sustainable bottom-up approach.

The vision for The Cultural Engine is to make a layered strategy where the organization running the engine will be in charge of the actual execution of the transformation process. It is very important for the project to keep a healthy balance between bottom-up and top-down development of the engine. The following pages is an example of what that vision most likely would look like based on the information obtained in the research process about the needs and demands of the locals, the municipal and the private interests. In order to come up with a legitimate answer for such complexity, the layered strategy will start with a base consisting of the six current core elements defined by the site analysis.

In order to reveal the rich cultural history and tell the story of H. C. Ørstedværket properly, using layers of history as a tool of design will create a unique historical landscape informed by merging all the historical layers. When creating a material hierachy in that process, an authentic and illogical will emerge. As one can see on the right - and also visible in the plan drawings from 1984 and up, - the 500 meter long graffiti wall nurtured a foundation of an international graffiti crowd as well as dog walkers. In the research process of this project one of the most requested things by locals is the return of the graffiti wall which got torned down and vanished from the contextual history to make space for Enghave Brygge.

So by taking the 500m long graffiti wall, then unfolding it, chopping it up, dividing it and then unfolding it, it will create an interactive maze for people to explore. It will be dynamic not only in the way people interact with it, but also with its everchanging expression and decorations. At the same time it has the potential to function as a fence alike barrier for The Cultural Engine, one can’t look through from a distance, adding to the feeling of isolation from the surrounding context. Though when you get closer to the walls and slide in between the walls, it will open up and let people into the site. The placement of the graffiti maze will be in between the current metro fence and the old graffiti walls.

Even though the intension is to create a feeling of isolation from the surrounding context, the infrastructural strategy will paradoxically very much open up the site to the context. the infrastructural strategy will paradoxically very much open up the site to the context. Right now, H. C. Ørstedværket is very closed off, and there is only one official road to cross the site. By removing all fences on the site, it will be possible to use a lot of the existing asphalt to create a circular way of movement and at the same time connect to the greater roads outside as well as the coming metro stop and the Havneringen cultural loop.

In order to strengthen the original architectural identity, all the grey facades gets removed, so it becomes a clear red, blue and green identity again. Of course with the pipes, chimneys and surrounding water. They will be out of use when the Amager Bakke powerplant takes over and the current contract ends in 2026. By demolishing the biggest of the boxes, BLOK7, it will also be possible to imagine a great main square as a center of the engine, where all of the groups could come together, the infrastructure will flow through and of which all the different programmes will be centered.

To strengthen the identity even further, the footprint, shape and size of the former BLOK7, BLOK8 and the oil silos will be interpretated into blue painted industrial wireframes imitating the silhouettes of the now demolished volumes and at the same time keeping their voluminous qualities. As for the former electical filter buildings next to each other, they will be replaced by two modular buildings with red facades made for the new needs of the cultural engine. The third one on the left will not only work as a barrier to the site, but also define a North-West entrance by extending the height and proportions of the high voltage building and then gradually stepping down to meet the height of the Romney hall.

In research for the program, the most requested urban element at H. C. Ørstedværket among citizens, the municipality and other boroughs of Copenhagen was an industrial park. So, a ring of green surfaces around the building will create a parkscape with experiences and thematics of different kind. A parkscape stretching across the site will have two denser areas with trees, where a surrounding belt of trees will end the barrier feeling started by the graffiti walls and the new red building. In the middle of the parkscape, the former BLOK7 will become a vertical park, with the blue construction covered in green with internal paths open to the public. A lot of the trees are evoked from the early plan drawings.

Not only the park and graffiti walls are made from request, local plans, interview and official visions for Copenhagen made by the municipality - in fact the entire program is decided based on that research in an attemp to get the most accurate outcome of what the synergy of this new organization potentially would agree on. Most of the new programmes work as cross-educational and communicate hybrids in order to create a platform for a new community to rise. At the same time it also creates a repurposing of the thematics of the existing buildings with a poetic and respectful link to the past, so that the high voltage buildings will host a band hotel and studios, and the Machine Hall all the workshops.

The exterior program has different thematics at stake too. All of course linked to the past, present and future too by adopting the new needs and contextual surroundings. The thematics are defined by what a natural extension of the interior program would connect to the outside while also taking different levels of noise, the new infrastructure, volumes and vegetation into consideration. In an almost collagy fashion, the park naturally links to the the urban gardning theme. The alley and the noise from its shops, studios and urban life is away from all residential areas. The boulevard defined by the new infrastructure cutting straight across the site, and so on. All tied together by the centered main square.

On top of all of the physical layers comes a digital layer, enabling the different groups to post events, share information and cross-communicate. The digital infrastructure will also provide a platform for visitors to navigate, both through maps, exploring what’s going on today and participate in different communities. There is a clear link and hybrid between the readability of the digital and physical infrastructure, where the blue painted doors with white numbers are indicating a direct link to the digital. This will also allow The Cultural Engine to progress beyond the current notion and understanding of what a cultural community and a welfare institution by blending those worlds.

The combination of layers reveals the hierachy of the landscape with the train tracks first then asphalt, then historical layers and then green surfaces. The brown narrow surfaces are corten, tracing the lines of the former coal cranes. Around the entire plan various sizes of concrete surfaces are imitating the footprints of previous coal ditches, and metal facade buildings creating a unique an illogical landscape. Likewise red surfaces indicates where former brick buildings has stood in the past. The graffiti walls are cutting through the landscape in an almost Richard Serra alike way, where the huge concrete rings of the former oil silos, interferes with the walls, they make holes in the walls to walk through.

With removal of the BLOK7 building, the Boiler House now has an open glass and concrete facade, made from a section cut right where the old BLOK7 used to be. Now the link between the contruction, the iconic boilers and chimneys are revealed through the facade, as well as all the new programmatic functions inside. Inspired by the transformation of Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille, the rooftop will be made into a public space, with the possibility of all kinds of events and activities to take place. It is accessible through staircases and elevators. In the front a new main entrance will be made.

Here we see a view into the Boiler House, where one will be met by everchanging exhibitions under the hanging - and now exposed boilers - functioning almost as the heart and core of the whole engine. Behind the exposing glass facade, it is intended that all groups and all classes of society will meet, accelerated and operated by the new TCEO. The program in the core is a proposal of what the TCEO most likely have decided on. The Boiler House will become a reimagination of what a trinity of architecture, the welfare state and its citizens can provide in harmony, and let it be defined by them and their needs throughout time.

From being the most introvert yet dominating building on site when seen from afar, BLOK7 will now become one of The Cultural Engine’s most extrovert spaces. By reusing the exact footprint of the former BLOK7, the new one will consist of a blue painted metal wireframe construction, stretching out a net of metal wires for plants to grow on. It will become a vertical park with a continous inner spiraling path going all the way from ground level to the rooftop. On the way up there, it will be punctuated by platforms to have a break on an enjoy the view. Two hanging bridges will connect the new BLOK7 to the Boiler House.

The architectural language of the vertical park with its metal wires in BLOK7, continues through the Boiler House and ends in BLOK8 on its right side. The same design principles counts for that one. Eventually they will both be almost entirely covered in different kinds of vegetation, again highlighting the red, blue and green dominating identity. Attached to BLOK7 is a watchtower made from the exact same height and proportions of the former staircase tower in BLOK7 - even the same amount of steps. Before it was reserved for only a handful of people, but now it will become a public watchtower with a viewpoint on top, making the tallest point in the new Enghave Brygge a public place.

The combination of the strategic layers reveals a landscape with a hierarchy of different historical layers written onto it. Around the entire site, various sizes of concrete and brick surfaces imitates buildings of the past.

The plan shows a collage of historical layers and elements and interpretations of these. The new volumes, open canals, trees and the graffiti walls cutting through the landscape, helps creating a feeling of isolation from the context around.

Due to new infrastructure and a metro station scheduled to open in 2024, The Cultural Engine will suddenly have a centered position in Copenhagen. When arriving you will be met by an everchanging facade of graffiti walls, defining a clear entrance.

After entering the site and having passed the graffiti walls, and canal, you will be met by a skate area and an additional skate hall built after the principles of red modular buildings. The boulevard is the main road and axis crossing the site.

What was once a closed off passage to the public is now envisioned to be one of the engine’s busiest areas. The re-opened facades in alignment with digital strategy, will make the bottom-up and community driven businesses, studios and shops thrive.

In continuation of the alley comes the residency. This area does not encourage visitors to pass through, which gives it an atmosphere of a quiet and local community. The residency consists of 58 apartments at approx 46 m2 with shared roof terraces.

Envisioned to be a recreative and calm area in contrast to the “downtown” area, the park is screened off by the graffiti walls and trees. Ideal to go for a picnic, read a book, meditate or simply just go for a walk through the historical landscape.

A maze of graffiti walls cuts through the landscape like an interactive barrier to the site. Adding the graffiti walls, will hopefully bring back the graffiti artists and the dog walkers and re-establish the urban cultural community they once had.

The re-opened canal and circle of trees re-established from the 2003 plan, makes the main square the exterior center of the engine. The new sports- and skate hall on the right generates a back to the square and frames the diversity of life within.

BLOK7 functions as an unheated vertical park, connecting the Boiler House to the watchtower. Its facade is defined by the seasons, and the intimate spaces it enables along the spiraling path goes all the way from the ground floor to the rooftop.

The bridge in BLOK7 takes you to the core of the engine - both physically and ideologically. This unique space has the potential of creating a common cultural community of different groups of society through art, education and municipal activities.

As a continuation of the vertical parkscape comes the watchtower. Currently, the best and highest viewpoints in all of Enghave Brygge, Sydhavnen and Vesterbro are all private. The watchtower will challenge that and make its viewpoint a public space.

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