Part 1- DR Byen and Allen's Ideas Converge

Interview Questions and Answers referring to DR Byen in Copenhagen and the work by Allen "Points and Lines"

Quote by Allen
“Infrastructure prepares the ground for future building and creates the conditions for future events. Its primary modes of operation are: the division, allocation, and construction of surfaces; the provision of services to support future programs; and the establishment of networks for movement, communication, and exchange. -Infrastructure's medium is geography.” 

1.) Referencing Allen’s ideas of site conditions as places for opportunity rather than constraints, does DR Byen take advantage of the land available (with regards to internal circulation, public space, and external transportation to and from the site)?

Mariela- The use of circulation and transportation was not the most efficient use of space. If that same scale of an outdoor space where placed in a more urban environment, it would probably feel awkward. The space between the initial point of arrival from the train and the entrance of the actual interior of the building are so detached that there could be about 2 more new buildings built along the way. The connections for circulation once inside of the building are interesting and remain true to a certain language that was reoccurring throughout the rest of Orestad. There were large man-made bodies of water and bridges that combed through at certain intervals to join the ground. The space outdoors felt strange and disproportionate to the human scale, but the lobby of the DR Byen building was much more intimate to contrast it. I imagine that future projects that surround this existing construction will need to get closer to it and the station. They will fill in the huge gap over time and use the existing building as a central monument to base of off.



2.) Nouvel’s hope for the Koncerthuset (Segment 4) was to create a sense of mystery and evoke imagination with the screen material façade and Allen states that architecture should affect the occupants individually and can diverge over time. So the two ideas coincide, but is Nouvel’s building successful in conjuring mystery and will it continue to do so for years to come?

Mariela- I believe that the way that Nouvel tries to create mystery in the facade is definitely intriguing enough to spark curiosity in passers by. The building is wearing a mask which one must unveil in order to see what the silhouette behind it is suggesting. So, it does succeed in stirring up one's imagination in terms of form, materiality and scale. However, the veil does not seem like a permanent material, I thought it was a temporary installation when I first encountered it. Perhaps the mystery will continue in how the facade can evolve, erode, or survive over time which is also as interesting as the shapes that are being shielded.



3.) Corridors, as infrastructural pathways that promote movement, services, and function, are beneficial to the circulation of an architectural form according to Allen. The DR Byen uses internal and external corridors, so are these corridors affected by scale? Are differing emotions felt when occupying a large scale versus small scale corridor of any building?

Irma- I do think that there are different emotions when it comes to the scale of corridors. Especially for my height, if I were in a large corridor lets say like the Vatican museum, I felt even smaller than I already am. When the corridors are smaller in height, lets say like the exterior corridors in charleston, it feels more personal.



4.) The Koncerthuset’s façade lacks detail or windows and creates a lack of scale, but do the structural qualities of the surrounding buildings determine the apparent scale?

Irma- I had imagined the concert hall to have more of a presence than any of the other buildings but even though it had a unique character to its facade, I felt that there was something the facade was trying to mask. The scale of the opposing buildings only made me feel like the concert hall was lacking details but not a change of scale. Somehow, without all those details that the other buildings have, nouvel managed to give the right sense of scale to this building.