First intervention::Kay Fiskers Plads

We traveled 7903 km just to bring you good coffee. Join us.

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Intervention(s) review.

Last week ended with final proposals from each of our teams. And a quick review with Sebastian to get his advice on what might work, and where we may have gone astray. We are getting closer.

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Work/Day::Work/Shop

One of the first beautiful days in Copenhagen we spent holed up in our lab space at DIS. It’s all worth it, in anticipation of an intervention this Saturday, followed up by a few more next week. Now knowing the space more intimately, we are yet researching more–movements, circulation, materials, ecology, social transactions, etc. Diagrams, diagrams, diagrams. Video, video, video.

Days one, two and three

We are rolling.

DAY ONE

Monday we started with a lecture from urban historian Carsten Pape on the development of Copenhagen over the past 1000+ years and learned a little of our new project members, Kelly, Suzanne and Lily (they came back for a second day of this!). We then went to Ørestad to finally see our site and meet Sebastian and Claus of Onesto Mong. We are working in the typical suburban mall–Sebastian and Claus secured us this space to work in as our studio. From this point, we have decided to use the space as a temporal gallery, recording questions, ideas and possibilities from those entering the space–ourselves, locals, designers, artists, city officials, media, community organizers, etc. about Kay Fiskers Plads. We are hoping to help curate this space as an evolving record of the questions posed from just being here at the same time in the same place with open dialogue.

DAY TWO

We met with Eva Ørum and Henry Grabar Sage of Copenhagen X at the Danish Architecture Center to look at where the project has moved since last year’s visit. CPHX will be ending in a year and a half. From this ten-year municipality-sponsored project many incredible discoveries have been found, the most instrumental, that communication is paramount. This point alone–that nothing moves without conversations–seems to be a reoccuring theme, a lesson of this year’s project, and one that we are noting in situ.

Our day ended with a gathering of the first transformation of our mall space. In attendance were Amira Larsen (who launched a flea market in Kay Fiskers Plads last year), Rikke Faaborg (of By&Havn), Henry (CPHX), Michael Huang (our DIS liaison), Sebastian, Claus and the rest of us. Many great questions were proposed–a debate began and quite possibly the greatest moment of discovery–that we must ask questions and we must talk to others in this pursuit of public intervention (duh!). All may not be pleased with the results–this very brief experiment a seed–but we have started action and that alone is incredible. Many of the Danish folks we have met with thus far are impressed that we are here–a group that has flown over the Atlantic to pose questions about a blah-space–not the spaces the tourists flock to, not the space any of us find exotic or exciting, but rather, a space all too familiar, all too common, all too American. We have even exported the damn “Cinnabon” smell that assaults one upon entering a U.S. mall. It is sickening and yet exactly a perfect point of entry.

DAY THREE

A huge thank you to Mads Uldall (and Nanna Skriver) for which this course never would have been born had it not been for many long conversations over the past 10 years about American and Danish cities and life. Mads spoke to us in the wee hours of the day about his work with Musicon in Roskilde and its approach to building community and a cultural identity in a slow and process-oriented means. Incredible. The idea that a city might invest in time, experiments and investigations about what may or may not work is inspiring to witness. We are hoping to visit Musicon this weekend.

We also got lost en route to Carlsberg Brewery to meet with Sixten, one part of two, to Wooloo. They are working out of a small partition of a mid-20th Century Carlsberg Brewery building–an incredible space ripe with potential and yet sitting, waiting and perfect left as is to the devices of time and Wooloo’s presence.

Onesto Mong came to see us at our DIS classroom to show us their works and inspirations. If only this project had a longer life than the next week and a half. We, as we were last year, are excited to be in their presence and examining how spaces can be positive–how we have the ability to empower, both ourselves as creatives and the larger community, in envisioning a better life. Thank you Sebastian and Claus for this incredible experience and the possibility to put our theories to action–if only to test our entrance.

We have arrived and have hit the ground running. We have moved into our temporary store front and are preparing for an information gathering party this afternoon. Copenhagen designers, artists, architects, activists, city officials, urban developers and media contacts have been invited into the space to inform us in how we approach our task at hand–to invigorate Kay Fiskers Plads.

Lens investigations

Lenses investigated leading up to our actual intervention include the following: SocioCultural, Economic, Political, Ecological and Material/Infrastructural. Each group is beginning to develop a blog in relation to these lenses.

First Go.

Danny + Dominic :: ROOM seeks to address the general lack of specificity through materials near the millennium bridge. The intent of the intervention is to activate leftover spaces by giving material and infrastructural specificity to the site, changing the generic plaza's ability to perform any true civic function well.

Lindsey + Sam :: We analyzed the site through a political lens, looking at things like zoning, property lines and city ordinances for the space. Through this we found that the zoning has the most influence on the site. The site is zoned as PUD (Planned Unit Development) which creates more active spaces where development is happening, in other words the vertical spaces are more active. This results in poorly planned, very generic horizontal spaces, which are “left over.” Through our research we were inspired to activate the site by including it as a location on the Denver Public Art Tour. The site would act as a good space for political art installations, as well as art inspired by Denver, as it is centrally located and on axis with the capitol. We are proposing that the installations would be changed every two months in order to stimulate ongoing interest in the site. Openings for the new installations would be held on the first Friday of every other month as that would fall in line with the monthly Art Walks.

Sarah + Cory :: Informal patterns of plant decomposition occur within a system of maintenance. Juxtaposed against a more formal ecological system where plant material is allowed to decompose naturally, recharging soil conditions. Informal plant decomposition could begin to inform a composting intervention. This site “is a complex material mixture, of ‘geological, biological, social, and linguistic structures’ that have been combined and recombined; shaped and reshaped by both human and natural process.”1 Subverting the role of the iconic street tree and its maintenance, this intervention illuminates the natural process of decay and the temporal elements of landscape. Informed by the patterns of debris observed on site, nests are established which are used to collect plant matter where nutrient cycling and composting occurs. Along with augmenting the image of the “street tree”, a new maintenance regime is established. Currently 110 man hours are allocated to the maintenance of the site. Maintenance tasks include throwing away tree debris. Our intervention proposes a reduction of total man hours needed, as well as redirection of debris to nests.

Darren + Alex M :: Based on research conducted with a traditional survey, we investigated statistical and interpersonal information on people’s viewpoints of the space. We gathered both positive and negative feedback on the Millennium Bridge and its purpose. The general consensus amongst the individuals interviewed felt the bridge’s aesthetic appeal was significant, and companied of the heavy construction and railroad noise. With the use of the survey, the agreement among commuters was that the construction noise provided a hindrance to the space and made passing by it regularly very unpleasant. The idea for our installation is to embrace the construction noise and inform the users of the major development taking place in the area. We would do this through preplaced apertures /stations focusing on minute and abstracted experiences seen and heard at a very intimate level.

Will + Alex :: Instead of looking at typical economic factors, (GDP, monetary costs etc.) we analyzed the site using a concept of externalities, or un-wanted costs or side effects paid for by consumers. These costs are generally not viewed in terms of money, but are instead described through terms of health or well-being. A typical externality is pollution. For instance, a factory that produces medicine that helps millions may cause a lot of pollution in its local surrounding thus deteriorating the health of local citizens. In these terms, we investigated the externality of noise pollution and its effects on the site.

Will R. + Brendan :: Our project is mainly focused on activating the space for those traveling through. The first part is focused on engaging the pedestrians along Millennium Bridge by creating new settings for resting and other passive activities through the creation of organic and ergonomic furniture. The second addition to the site deals with interactive aspects for the public in which moveable walls are set on rails, which allow them to be combined or separated, and are open to the public to paint regular murals or graffiti art. Add color!