Everybody Wants to Rule the World

The arrival sequence unfolds between shimmering water curtains and a reflective corrugated facade, creating a gradual transition from public space to the bathing environment.

This shift in conflict led to an investigation of critical infrastructure, the interconnected systems that support daily life. Energy, transportation, communication, healthcare, and water networks form the foundation upon which contemporary societies operate.

Unlike traditional infrastructure, these systems are often invisible until they fail. Their complexity and interdependence mean that a disruption in one network can quickly affect many others. Understanding these relationships became a key step in identifying where architecture might contribute to societal resilience.

The collected articles, governmental statements, and expert interviews revealed a recurring message: infrastructural vulnerability is no longer a hypothetical future scenario.

Recent assessments describe Denmark as facing its most serious security situation since the Second World War, while the Danish Minister for the Environment has stated that cyberattacks against the water sector occur on a daily basis. Together, these accounts illustrate a growing awareness that critical infrastructure has become a central target within contemporary hybrid conflict.

These findings marked a shift in the project, from understanding conflict as a geopolitical issue to understanding its potential consequences for everyday civilian life.

Among the many forms of critical infrastructure, water emerged as the focus of the project for three reasons. First, water has no substitute. Second, it is experienced directly through the body and is embedded within everyday rituals of washing, cooking, and care. Third, contemporary water systems rely on electricity, digital control, and complex distribution networks, making them vulnerable to disruption.

These qualities place water at the intersection of infrastructure and everyday life, making it a particularly relevant lens through which to explore how large-scale systems become tangible human experiences.

Water is often perceived as an immediate resource available at the turn of a tap. Yet behind every everyday interaction lies a complex network of reservoirs, pumping stations, electrical systems, and digital control technologies. These drawings investigate the hidden systems that quietly sustain daily life and reveal how dependent they are on one another.

Research into crisis psychology revealed that preparedness is not only technical, but also emotional. Familiar routines, recognisable environments, and everyday rituals can reduce stress and support psychological stability during uncertainty. This insight became a central architectural driver throughout the project.

Rather than concentrating emergency preparedness within a single facility, the project proposes a distributed network of civic hygiene stations across Copenhagen. Parks were identified as suitable locations due to their accessibility, available space, and ability to accommodate temporary infrastructure while remaining integrated into everyday urban life.

Access to hygiene at a city scale requires a distributed network rather than isolated facilities. Based on Copenhagen's population and a minimum provision of two weekly showers per resident, approximately 1,200 shower units are required across the city. The calculation establishes the spatial scale of the proposed network and informs the distribution of hygiene stations throughout Copenhagen.

Water availability defines the duration and resilience of the proposed system. Based on HOFOR's emergency water reserves and the projected consumption of the distributed hygiene network, the available supply can support approximately 6.5 weeks of operation. The calculation demonstrates that hygiene provision can function as a realistic component of municipal preparedness rather than a purely speculative intervention.

Blågårds Plads is developed as a rapidly deployable prototype within a larger network of civic hygiene stations, designed to be assembled, activated, and operational within 12 hours of a disruption to the water supply. The proposal combines hygiene facilities, technical infrastructure, changing areas, and social spaces within a lightweight modular structure. Through a sequence of carefully defined thresholds, the architectural organisation balances collective use with individual privacy, transforming emergency infrastructure into a familiar and supportive civic environment.

The project draws inspiration from both the domestic bathroom and the historic public bathhouse. Rather than appearing as emergency infrastructure, the proposal seeks to create a familiar and welcoming environment. Bathing becomes more than a practical necessity; it becomes a collective ritual of care capable of supporting dignity, wellbeing, and social connection during uncertainty.

Translucent materials, textile curtains, reflections, and soft spatial boundaries create an atmosphere that feels familiar rather than institutional. The architecture uses domestic references to support privacy, comfort, and emotional stability, transforming temporary infrastructure into a place of everyday care.

The project is developed around the premise that a civic hygiene station must be operational within 12 hours of a disruption to the water supply. A lightweight modular construction system allows components to be assembled, dismantled, transported, and adapted to different sites and crisis durations. Although developed for Blågårds Plads, the proposal is intended as a scalable framework for future civic preparedness across the city.

While the hygiene station can be assembled and operational within 12 hours, its configuration is adapted to local conditions. The modular system allows the station to expand or contract depending on site capacity, expected demand, and seasonal requirements. During warmer months, a greater proportion of open-air bathing spaces can be provided, while colder conditions require additional enclosed bathing units and larger warming facilities. The same system can therefore be deployed in multiple configurations while maintaining its core functions.

The visualizations illustrate the sequence of spaces that make up the hygiene station, from arrival and registration to bathing, warming, and rest. Through a gradual transition from public to private environments, the project seeks to provide dignity, privacy, and a sense of normality during periods of disrupted water supply. The spatial organisation transforms a temporary emergency facility into an environment of everyday care.