The Building Edge as Public Space: Discussing the Contemporary Design Approach with Five Projects from Copenhagen

Abstract

New building projects have increasingly been offering publicly accessed outdoor spaces, transforming the interfaces between the building and the city into soft edges. This approach is especially evident in the latest projects in Copenhagen. This design apprehension is considered to be in relation to the increasing emphasis on public space, changing roles of private and public entities in the production and maintenance of space, the urban policies of Copenhagen as well as the inclusive approach of the designers. The study aims to evaluate this new kind of architectural design approach where the boundaries between the city and the building blur and the edge turns into a public space serving to a wider public. The study examines five projects from Copenhagen (BLOX/DAC, Maersk Tower, Axel Towers, CopenHill and Red Cross Volunteer House), based on the criteria derived from the urban policies of Copenhagen (that owes significantly to Jan Gehl) targeted towards 2025 to analyze the spatial configuration of the edges as well as the success of the public spaces introduced within the projects. The results of the analyses demonstrate different patterns of publicness in different projects as well as in different parts of the same project. Nonetheless, the projects in question can be considered as successful soft edges offering vivid urban life by blurring the boundaries between the building and the city.