Japanese design studio Kengo Kuma & associates has recently won a competition to design a new waterfront aquatic center and harbor bath at Copenhagen’s Paper Island. It will be a little piece of Japan in Denmark.
The design aims to highlight the significance of water in the history, culture and vibrant urban life in the capital of Denmark. The Copenhagen City Council praises the project having a unique cone shaped form.
The project combines facilities for sports associations, harbor baths and indoor pools framed by brick pyramids. The glazed base of the 5,000-square-metre building will afford indoor bathers panoramic views out to the harbor. An outdoor pool along the edge of the main canal terraces down to meet the sea at Copenhagen’s Paper Island.
Waterfront Cultural Center – a little piece of Japan in Denmark
With the Waterfront Culture Center the architects wanted to create an experience, and not just a standalone object; it will be a landscape combining art and architecture that are unified and defined by the water. An important element has been reflection of the water’s light and shadows, steam and flow that appeal to human senses.
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The pyramid forms were a very deliberate choice by Kengo Kuma and Associates to work with the roof profile of Christianholm without mimicking it. However, the building will be multicultural with no single front, allowing it to be accessible from various directions.
The Paper Island ion Copenhagen
It offers a spontaneous, open and tangible space that carries the memory of the vibrant and dynamic nature pf the paper island. Christianholm is a part of COBE’s regeneration of the area, an artificial landmass known as Paper Island because it was once used by the Danish press to store their reams of newsprint.
The haptic texture of the interior and exterior will be further exaggerated by the use of brick and the warm, natural earthy tones that will relate to the traditional Danish crafts.
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Japanese-inspired architecture in Copenhagen
Kengo Kuma’s office won the competition to design Water Culture House, in collaboration with Danish architects Cornelius Vöge and engineers Søren Jensen.
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“Our focus in design is to create an experience, and not just a standalone object, in the form of the landscape, art and architecture that are unified and defined by the water,” said the project’s lead architect Yuki Ikeguchi in a statement.
The Waterfront Cultural Center is scheduled to be opened in 2021.
A Little Piece of Japan in Denmark, written by Tor Kjolberg