Baltic Outlook January 2019 | Page 44

DESIGN / January
LIFE iS A GREAT DRIVE
A city inside
a city
BLOX,
Copenhagen’s new urban
landmark, is here to
conquer the hearts of
architecture enthusiasts
around the world.
Words by Olga Dolina
Publicity photo
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© Rasmus Hjortshøj
When we were kids, most of us constructed
toy houses from plastic or wooden cubes, didn’t
we? However, only a few of us later turned into
leading architects such as Rem Koolhaas with
his OMA bureau. Last year, in partnership with
Ellen van Loon and led by the philanthropic
association Realdania, OMA inaugurated
its first project in Denmark – an ambitious
surface-reflecting, glass-cube complex. Just for
the record, BLOX’s 7500-tonne iron-and-steel
construction weighs as much as that of the
Eiffel Tower, and the excavated soil that was
later used to enlarge the Køge port weighed as
much as 28,000 elephants.
A mini-city inside an actual one, the
independent rectangular volumes of the
deep-green, pixel-like glass structure are
connected by a busy network of staircases
and elevators. While the ‘transparency’ of the
volumes reflects the openness of modern urban
society, there is another crucial aspect to the
architecture: BLOX straddles a major city road,
which basically drives straight through the
middle of the building. However, if the façade is
a show-off, the interior tailored in elegant black
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tones embodies familiar features of the OMA
style: concrete, steel, industrial rubber. All to
emphasise the power of the urban pulse.
After almost ten years of project realisa-
tion, Copenhagen’s new, urban, multi-use
complex now encourages interdisciplinary
connections and activities between tenants
and visitors. It is home to the Danish Archi-
tecture Center (DAC), set in the building’s
atrium and hosting a variety of thematic
exhibitions, as well as BLOXHUB, a business
and research centre seeking innovation and
sustainable urbanisation.
The interactive planning at BLOX combines
a vast range of public and private spaces in a
total of 27,750 square metres. They are logically
divided between offices, coworking spaces, a
gym, café, restaurant, bookstore, 22 upper-floor
rental apartments, and spacious underground
parking. To enjoy the waterfront cityscape, a
new harbour promenade and bridges were
built. But what’s more, OMA also designed
a stepped playground suitable for both kids
and adults.
Bryghuspladsen; blox.dk
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