Danish firm Svenborg Architects, in collaboration with Japanese architect Junya Ishigami, has been named as the winners of a competition to design a “symbol of peace” to be constructed for Copenhagen’s harbour.

Their “House of Peace”, or Hope, is a 3,000 sq metre cloud-like structure that will seem to float on the city’s Nordhavn harbour. Svenborg Architects, and Junya Ishigami propose a white concrete shell supported by cones embedded in the harbour bed, its centre will be hollow, with locals and tourists able to board circular boats and sail beneath the structure’s undulating canopy.  Visitors will be able to board circular boats to move through the cavernous interior, intended to look like lily pads floating over a pond.

"House of Peace creates an environment where people can open up to think of peace. It takes one back to the purity of being – ready to embrace the world," said the team in a statement.

The competition was launched by non-profit organisation the HOPE Foundation and is intended to provide a physical manifestation of the work done by the United Nations and other international peace organisations.

"...winning proposal meets every bit of the vision of our project," said HOPE Foundation chairman Morten Langebæk, who also works as an architect and designer.

"This is nothing less than an architectural masterpiece. A fascinating, poetic building and an obvious symbol of peace; at the same time a building, a sculpture and a symbol."

 

Description of the project by Architects.

Cloud as roof, ocean as floor.

House of Peace provides a journey of the senses. It creates an environment where people can open up to think of peace. Our House of Peace takes you back to the purity of being - ready to embrace the world.

The House of Peace is a symbol of peaceful coexistence. It positions itself in its surroundings as a landmark which conspicuously reveals itself to the outside world. At the same time it harmoniously embeds itself to the sites proportions, future buildings and the connection to the harbor and the water.

Visitors will be able to see the House of Peace appearing as a cloud floating in between the sea and the skyline.

With its unique appearance from every angle the House of Peace will be present in its own right as an element in the water and at the same time appear as an integrated landmark with a strong iconographic quality as a landmark at Nordhavn. An elegant sculpture which ads artistic value to the whole city of Copenhagen.

The building's organic shape and strong simplicity stands out in the harbors otherwise orthogonal and rigid character. The House of Peace captivates the sight by floating on the water as a cloud in the sky as a monument of peace.

Cloud as roof, ocean as floor
The cloud shaped sculpture becomes both roof and wall. The water surface will serve as the floor. These two important elements make an interior space appear on this location.

The space is thus always filled with new influences and will never twice be experienced as the same.

At the platform in the main room the visitors can board circular boats and enter the silence of the water surface. The boats can drift out into the entire room. The boats are floating seemingly effortless like leaves or water lilies on water.

CREDITS.

Architects.- Junya Ishigami + Associates, Svendborg Architects
Size.- 3000m²
Client.- House of Peace in collabration with Rambøll Denmark, CPH City and Port Development and the City of Copenhagen
Status.- winner, 1st. Prize.
 

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Svendborg Architects, con 10 años de experiencia con algunos de los estudios más grandes de arquitectura en Dinamarca, Johnny Svendborg Svendborg Arquitectos se fundoó en 2007. Creen en la innovación contextual, lo que significa que, para ellos, que la comprensión del contexto es el punto de partida de cada proyecto. Este contexto no solo se interpreta en términos del lugar, sino también en términos de las ambiciones del cliente, el usuario, y otros que son parte del desarrollo del proyecto. Svendborg Arquitectos permiten a los clientes ver nuevas posibilidades en sus necesidades y en el contexto de la obra.

En su declaración de intenciones, creen que la ética antes que la estética y respeto comprensión contextual no están en oposición a las soluciones arquitectónicas hermosas e innovadoras.

 

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Junya Ishigami, was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, in 1974. He studied at the Musashi Institute of Technology from 1994 to 1998 and subsequently completed his education at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he studied between 1998 and 2000. After graduating, he worked for Kazuyo Sejima + Associates (SANAA) from 2000 to 2004. That same year, he founded his own architectural practice, Junya Ishigami + Associates.

Throughout his career, Ishigami has questioned conventional understandings of architecture. His approach allows him to work beyond prevailing trends, established principles and traditional definitions, creating new structures and spaces and proposing alternative ways of organizing the environment. Through his projects, he seeks to radically transform the lifestyles associated with modern architecture and enrich them with new values.

His early projects include Table, created in Tokyo in 2005, and T Project, which received first prize in a residential architecture competition sponsored by the Tokyo Electric Power Company that same year. These were followed by Balloon in Tokyo in 2007, the Kanagawa Institute of Technology KAIT Workshop in Kanagawa in 2008, and the Yohji Yamamoto Gansevoort Street Store in New York in 2008. Other significant works include the Japanese Pavilion for the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008, Art Biotop Water Garden in Tochigi in 2018, the Serpentine Pavilion in London in 2019, KAIT Plaza in Kanagawa in 2020, House & Restaurant in Ube in 2022 and the Zaishui Art Museum in Rizhao, China, completed in 2023.

Ishigami’s work has received considerable international recognition. In 2004, Low Chair and Round Table were acquired by the Centre Pompidou. In 2005, he received the SD Prize for Small Garden of a Row House, the Kirin Prize for Table and first prize in the residential architecture competition for T Project. In 2006, Table was presented by Gallery Koyanagi at Art Basel and was later acquired by the Israel Museum. He subsequently received the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize for KAIT Workshop in 2009, the Golden Lion for Best Project at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2010, the OBEL Award for Art Biotop Water Garden in 2019 and the Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts in 2024.

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Published on: July 23, 2014
Cite:
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
"House of Peace by Ishigami + Svendborg " METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/house-peace-ishigami-svendborg> ISSN 1139-6415
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