2 / 5. FINALISTS. Announced for the 2013 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe.

Office / Architect

TOPOTEK1 / Martin Rein-Cano, Lorenz Dexler. www.topotek1.de
SUPERFLEX / Jakob Fenger, Rasmus Nielsen, Bjørnstjerne Christiansen. www.superflex.net
BIG - BJARKE INGELS GROUP / Nanna Gyldholm Møller, Mikkel Marcker Stubgaard, Bjarke Ingels. www.big.dk

City / Country
COPENHAGEN / DENMARK

Programme
LANDSCAPE

Superkilen is a 30,000 m² urban space that cuts through one of the most ethnically diverse and socially challenged neighbourho sods in Denmark. The project possesses all that typically makes up a modern park with trails for pedestrians and cyclists, connections to local transport and outdoor recreation spaces along with a market space and games areas. Superkilen is a park reflecting diversity. The project is intended to celebrate the neighbourhood’s multi-cultural heritage and unite everybody in one global neighbourhood. Rather than plastering the urban area with traditional Danish design the team decided to gather the local intelligence to create a display of global urban best practice when it comes to urban furniture. The project is conceived as a giant exhibition of urban best practice - a collection of global objects from the 62 home countries of the local inhabitants. These objects range from exercise gear from Muscle Beach in LA to sewage drains from Israel, palm trees from China and neon signs from Qatar and Russia. Each object is accompanied by a small stainless plate inlaid in the ground describing the object.

The conceptual point of departure is the division of Superkilen into three main zones: the red square, the green park and the black market. The red square becomes an area for sports activities, the green park a grassy children’s playground, and the black market a food market and picnic area.

To create better and more transparent infrastructure throughout the neighbourhood, the current bike paths have been re-organised and new connections linking to the surrounding neighbourhoods have been created as part of a greater infrastructure plan. The desire from the residents for more nature and green space is met through a significant increase in vegetation and planting throughout the whole neighbourhood.

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Bjarke Ingels (born in Copenhagen, 1974) studied architecture at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and at the School of Architecture of Barcelona, ​​obtaining his degree as an architect in 1998. He is the founder of the BIG architecture studio - (Bjarke Ingels Group), studio founded in 2005, after co-founding PLOT Architects in 2001 with his former partner Julien de Smedt, whom he met while working at the prestigious OMA studio in Rotterdam.

Bjarke has designed and completed award-winning buildings worldwide, and currently his studio is based with venues in Copenhagen and New York. His projects include The Mountain, a residential complex in Copenhagen, and the innovative Danish Maritime Museum in Elsinore.

With the PLOT study, he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2004, and with BIG he has received numerous awards such as the ULI Award for Excellence in 2009. Other prizes are the Culture Prize of the Crown Prince of Denmark in 2011; and Along with his architectural practice, Bjarke has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University and Rice University and is an honorary professor at the Royal Academy of Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen.

In 2018, Bjarke received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog granted by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. He is a frequent public speaker and continues to give lectures at places such as TED, WIRED, AMCHAM, 10 Downing Street or the World Economic Forum. In 2018, Bjarke was appointed Chief Architectural Advisor by WeWork to advise and develop the design vision and language of the company for buildings, campuses and neighborhoods around the world.

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