Hasta La Ideas

News: architect Julien de Smedt has designed a museum to feature at the centre of a plot line in popular Danish television series The Legacy.

A model of the museum building appears in the third episode of The Legacy – called Arvingerne in Danish – which aired last Sunday.

“The museum covers a big part of the overall plot,” JDS Architects founder Julien de Smedt told Dezeen. “You will see it a lot in the next few episodes.”

The Legacy is a serial drama produced by Danish broadcaster DR that focuses on the life of a famous artist’s family who come together following her death to divide up their inheritance. One of the artist’s daughters, Gro, is a museum director who plans to build a new museum at the family’s estate on the Danish island of Funen.

The plot line centres on whether Gro’s plans for the museum will go ahead and in the third episode she is seen showing a model of the building based on De Smedt’s design to a representative from Paris cultural institution the Pompidou Centre.

“To convince the audience that it is possible to build such a grand museum in Funen we thought that it should be modern and visionary, like an art piece,” Mia Stensgaard, the show’s production designer, told Dezeen. “If it was designed by a hotshot international architect then it could become the sort of museum that people would travel to see, so then I thought of Julien de Smedt.”

Asked whether this was a particularly unusual commission for his studio to receive, De Smedt replied: “Obviously it doesn’t happen every day, but it makes a lot of sense. [The] same goes for set designs: it makes sense for architects to be involved with set design. I remember that the late [American architect and artist] Lebbeus Woods was involved on the set designs of [Terry Gilliam’s 1995 film] Twelve Monkeys, though not sufficiently credited.”

Explaining how the creative process differed from designing a real building, the architect said: “It’s different in the sense that we don’t have the same constraints and obviously the project will only live on the small screen so it needs to stand out even more.”

“You could say that the project would have been probably half the scale if it had been real, but for the sake of being able to present it as it is on the set we needed to give it a certain volume,” he added.

Julien de Smedt receives a brief namecheck in the dialogue, when Gro mentions who designed the model she is presenting. The architect said that he was initially offered a cameo in the show but that his schedule wouldn’t allow it.

The show has been hugely popular in Denmark, with each of the first two episodes watched by audiences of almost two million. It will be aired in the UK this year and has already been sold to broadcasters in Australia and the Benelux countries.

JDS Architects is a multidisciplinary practice with offices in Copenhagen, Brussels and Shanghai. Its portfolio includes the snake-like Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Norway, and an undulating multipurpose pier in Copenhagen.

Stills from The Legacy provided by DR.

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for Danish television drama appeared first on Dezeen.

Danish firms JDS Architects and KLAR Architects have created a multipurpose pier in Copenhagen featuring a series of undulating bridges and promenades that rise out of the water like waves (+ slideshow).

JDS Architects and KLAR Architects redeveloped two existing public squares on a stretch of the Kalvebod harbour adjacent to several large office blocks, and extended the promenade onto the water in the gaps where the buildings’ shadows don’t reach.

“What has doomed the Kalvebod area until now were the long shadows drawn by the imposing structures fronting it,” JDS Architects explained. “We studied the course of those shadows throughout the day and the year and located two main pockets of shadow-free zones.”

The new intervention enlivens a previously barren area of the waterfront and connects the nearby Langebro Bridge with roads that lead towards Copenhagen’s central station and Tivoli Gardens amusement park.

Raised above the water on stilts, two concrete piers provide facilities including a dock for boats, a canoe club and an events space, while decked areas with benches encourage sunbathing.

Promenades on different levels offer various ways of navigating the waterfront, with the wooden decking rearing up at one point to create a diving platform.

The two firms won the competition to develop the Kalvebod harbour area in 2008, and JDS previously designed a public swimming area on the opposite side of the harbour, that was completed in 2003 when the firm was still operating under the title PLOT with fellow Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.

JDS Architects recently revealed its design for an M-shaped office building covered in green terraces in Istanbul, while its founder Julien De Smedt has launched a design brand focusing on furniture and homeware.

Other landscape architecture projects on Dezeen include a seaside square in Croatia with steps, terraces and textured paving, and a coastal path in England featuring a staircase that provides access to a historic naval supply yard.

See more JDS Architects »
See more landscape architecture »

Photographs are by Ursula Bach unless stated otherwise.

Here’s a project description:

Kalvebod Brygge is situated opposite the popular Copenhagen summer hang out, Islands Brygge. Kalvebod Brygge has the potential to be Islands Brygge’s more urban counterpart but has, until now, been synonymous with a desolated office address devoid of life and public activities.

This new waterfront will be a place for a larger spectrum of public activities. With a close connection to the central train station and Tivoli, Copenhagen’s famous city amusement park, ‘Kalvebod Bølge’, the ‘Kalvebod Waves’ will become a hub, buzzing with activity and providing a chance for the inner city to regain its connection to the harbour.

Constituted more by its functionality than its tradition, this inner city site is less fragile than others and manifests Copenhagen’s contemporary urban waterfront with neighbouring entities such as the Black Diamond Library and the Nykredit building. According to the schedule the complex should be finished mid 2010.

The project consists of two main plazas, which extend across the water and are positioned with regards to sunlight and wind conditions. To the south, the pier allows for a flexible public space on the water with facilities to host events related to the creative industry. During the last 10 years Copenhagen has developed into a stronghold for the creative class, therefore Kalvebod Brygge proposes an urban showcase that gives organisations, companies, festivals and fairs a location along the waterfront.

In connection with this space, an active water enclave is created, for various water related activities. The plaza and surrounding pontoons provide the necessary facilities for these activities to function. The flow of boats that commute to and from the water hub also creates an active maritime background and secures the connectivity of the plaza to the rest of the city.

The second square acts as an oasis on the water, providing both proximity and access. This recreational space, with a beach, allows for a break from the hectic pace of urban life, where a floating garden is proposed. A maritime park where urban and maritime life meet.

Project: Waterfront, Urban Plan
Type: Competition, 1st Prize December 2008
Size: 4000 M2
Budget: 7,000,000 EUR (52,000,000 DKK)
Client: Copenhagen Municipality, Lokale og Anlægsfonden
Team: KLAR, JDS, Niras, Sloth Møller
Location: Kalvebod Brygge, Copenhagen Harbor
Status: Completed August 2013

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and JDS Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

A team of architects including Belgian studio JDS Architects and Danish firm CEBRA are close to completing this harbour-side housing development modelled on a cluster of floating icebergs in Denmark (+ slideshow).

Due to be inaugurated this spring, the complex is one of the first projects underway at De Bynære Havnearealer, the new docklands quarter of Aarhus that is set to accommodate 7000 inhabitants and around 12,000 new workplaces once complete.

JDS and CEBRA teamed up with Dutch studio SeARCH and French architect Louis Paillard to design the buildings, which have been collectively titled Isbjerget, or “The Iceberg”, in reference to their jagged white forms.

These volumes are described by the architects as a series of “peaks and valleys” that are deliberately tapered to create visual corridors between buildings.

Over 200 apartments are located within the four L-shaped wings of the complex, including two-storey townhouses in the lower levels and penthouses located on the uppermost floors.

The architects won a competition to design the Isbjerget complex in 2008.

A number of large developments are in progress in Denmark’s docklands, as ADEPT and Luplau & Poulsen are working on another harbour-side housing project in Aarhus, while Tredje Natur and PK3 have redesigned Copenhagen’s harbour with a series of artificial islands. See more architecture in Denmark.

Photography is by Mikkel Frost, apart from where otherwise indicated.

Above: photograph is by Søren Kjær/Aarhus Luftfoto

Here’s some more information from the architects:

Isbjerget (the Iceberg) is located at at a prime location on the outmost harbour front in Aarhus’ new quarter ‘De Bynære Havnearealer’. Like many other industrial harbour fronts, the former container port of Aarhus is being transformed into a dynamic new neighbourhood. Isbjerget is among the first projects to be finished in an area that on completion will be home to 7,000 inhabitants and provide 12,000 workplaces. Its total site area of 800,000 m2 makes it one of Europe’s largest harbour front city developments.

The inspiration for Isbjerget originated primarily from the site’s extraordinary location. Isbjerget is laid out as four L-shaped wings, where the street spaces in between open towards the water. In order to obtain optimal daylight conditions and views over the bay, the building volumes are cut up by jagged lines. The roofs rise and fall into peaks and valleys, which create visual passages that across the individual volumes – like floating icebergs that constantly refract one’s gaze. Thus, even the back wing’s residents can enjoy the view.

The varying and spectacular forms that derive from this simple algorithm make it possible to fit a varied range of different dwelling types within the complex – from two-storey ‘town houses’ and affordable smaller flats to exclusive penthouses in the peaks of the iceberg. The variety of residences with different balconies, shapes and orientations as well as the combination of owner-occupied and rented flats aim at creating socially diverse urban surroundings that form a lively local community: the building complex becomes a neighbourhood instead of a mere series of housing blocks.

Name: Isbjerget (The Iceberg)
Commission: Private
Type: Lead consultancy
Category: Residential
Client: Pension Danmark

Place: Pier 2, Aarhus, DK
Year: 2008 – 2013
Purpose: 208 flats (both rented and owner-occupied)
Size: 22.000 m2
Budget: DKK 300m / € 40,2m excl. VAT
Prize: Competition 1st prize
Service: Architectural services incl. landscape Architects: CEBRA, JDS, SeARCH and Louis Paillard Collaboration: NCC, Tækker R.I. and Hamiconsult

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SeARCH and Louis Paillard appeared first on Dezeen.

Here are a few images of the Holmenkollen ski jump in Norway by JDS Architects, which is now complete (see it under construction but already in use in our earlier story).

Top photograph is by Marco Boella

The aluminium- and glass-clad ski jump is 58 metres high and has a 69-metre cantilever.

The Holmenkollen ski jump is hosting the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011, which opened yesterday and will run until 8 March.

See all our stories on the Holmenkollen ski jump here »

All our stories on JDS Architects on Dezeen »
More buildings for sports on Dezeen »

Above photograph is by Marco Boella

The following information is from the architects:

Designed by JDS Architects, the new Holmenkollen ski jump will host the 2011 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

More than 100 years ago, a Norwegian lieutenant propelled himself 9.5 meters into the air and the sport of ski jumping was born. Since 1892, the village of Holmenkollen, twenty minutes from Oslo, has hosted legendary competitions and the site remains one of the foremost locales for the international sport including the 1952 Winter Olympics.

Along with Wimbledon’s All England Club and the Wembly Arena, Holmenkollen Ski Jump is often cited as one of the world’s most recognizable sports facility. Nevertheless it is one of the smallest hills in the World Cup tournament, and in September 2005, the International Ski Federation decided that the current hill does not meet the standards to award the city the 2011 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. In December 2005 Norway’s Directorate of Cultural Heritage approved the demolition of the ski jump and in April 2007 the Oslo municipality announced an open international competition for a new ski jump. JDS Architects based in Copenhagen and led by Belgian-French Julien De Smedt, beat out 103 other firms and was awarded the commission the following year.

Click for larger image

Working closely with city officials, JDSA established an office in the capital and collaborated with Norwegian engineering firm, Norconsult, to bring to fruition their elegant serpentine form that will become a beacon for the city and a new showcase for the sport of ski jumping. Rather than having a series of dispersed pavilions on site, their design unifies the various amenities into one holistic diagram. The judges booths, the commentators, the trainers, the royal family, the VIPs, the wind screens, the circulations, the lobby, the entrance to the arena and the arena itself, the lounge for the skiers, the souvenir shop, the access to the existing museum, the viewing public square at the very top, everything, is contained into the shape of the jump. The resulting simplicity of the solution improves the experience of the spectators and brings clear focus to the skiers.

The ski jump is clad in aluminum and glass and rises 58 meters in the air. It cantilevers an impressive 69 meters and on the first day of jumping tests; the record of the longest jump made at Holmenkollen was broken.

Atop the ski jump is a platform where visitors can take in some of the most breathtaking views of Oslo, the fjord and the region beyond. It’s a new form of public space, using an unlikely architectural form as its host, affording the same spectacular vantage point for everyone who comes to Holmenkollen. The Lonely Planet agrees, the travel publication recently declared the new Holmenkollen Ski Jump as one of the ten top destinations to visit in 2011.

See also:

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Holmenkollen ski jump by JDS Architects opens	Olympic ski jump by terrain:loenhart&mayr	Waste-to-Energy Plant by BIG