vm houses case study

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Mountain Dwellings / PLOT = BIG + JDS

• Curated by ArchDaily
• Architects: PLOT
• Area Area of this architecture project Area:  33000 m²
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2008
• Photographs Photographs: Maria Gonzalez
• Construction : DS Elcobyg A/S; PH Montage
• Engineering : Moe & Brodsgaard
• Architects:  BIG Architects
• Partner In Charge:  BIG, Julien De Smedt for JDS
• Project Architect:  Jakob Lange
• Project Leader:  Finn Nørkjær
• Project Manager:  Jan Borgstrøm
• Collaborators:  JDS Architects, Freddy Madsen Rådgivende Ingeniører ApS, Moe & Brodsgaard
• Construction Manager:  Henrick Poulsen
• Client:  Hopfner A/S
• City:  Copenhagen
• Country:  Denmark

Text description provided by the architects. How do you combine the splendours of the suburban backyard with the social intensity of urban density?

The Mountain Dwellings are the 2nd generation of the VM Houses - same client, same size and same street. The program, however, is 2/3 parking and 1/3 living. What if the parking area became the base upon which to place terraced housing - like a concrete hillside covered by a thin layer of housing, cascading from the 11th floor to the street edge? Rather than doing two separate buildings next to each other - a parking and a housing block - we decided to merge the two functions into a symbiotic relationship. The parking area needs to be connected to the street, and the homes require sunlight, fresh air and views, thus all apartments have roof gardens facing the sun, amazing views and parking on the 10th floor. The Mountain Dwellings appear as a suburban neighbourhood of garden homes flowing over a 10-storey building - suburban living with urban density.

The roof gardens consist of a terrace and a garden with plants changing character according to the changing seasons. The building has a huge watering system which maintains the roof gardens. The only thing that separates the apartment and the garden is a glass façade with sliding doors to provide light and fresh air.

The residents of the 80 apartments will be the first in Orestaden to have the possibility of parking directly outside their homes. The gigantic parking area contains 480 parking spots and a sloping elevator that moves along the mountain's inner walls. In some places the ceiling height is up to 16 meters which gives the impression of a cathedral-like space.

The north and west facades are covered by perforated aluminium plates, which let in air and light to the parking area. The holes in the facade form a huge reproduction of Mount Everest. At day the holes in the aluminium plates will appear black on the bright aluminium, and the gigantic picture will resemble that of a rough rasterized photo. At night time the facade will be lit from the inside and appear as a photo negative in different colours as each floor in the parking area has different colours.

The Mountain Dwellings is located in Orestad city and offer the best of two worlds: closeness to the hectic city life in the centre of Copenhagen , and the tranquillity characteristic of suburban life.

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Project location

Address: copenhagen, denmark.

• Sustainability

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57, Ørestads Boulevard, København S, København, Denmark

Other projects by jds architects, hangzhou gateway, maison stéphane hessel, gangnam bogeumjari district officetel, faaborg havnebad, kalvebod waves, the iceberg, birkegade rooftop penthouses, ordos 100 big brother house, dochodo island zoo, kalvebrod waves, shenzhen logistic city, psychiatric hospital helsingor, sjakket youth center, the mountain, maritime youth house, copenhagen harbor bath, new holmenkollen ski jump, product spec sheet, collaborating firms.

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If people are different then why are all apartments alike?

The VM Houses are two residential blocks formed as the letters V and M. The blocks are formed as such to allow for daylight, privacy and views. The vis-a-vis with the neighbour is eliminated by pushing the slab in its centre, ensuring diagonal views to the vast and open, surrounding fields. All apartments have a double-height space to the north and wide panoramic views to the south.

The logic of the diagonal slab utilized in the V house is broken down in smaller portions for the M house. In this project, the typology of the Unite d' Habitation of Le Corbusier is reinterpreted and improved; the central corridors are short and receive light from both ends, like bullet holes penetrating the building. The VM Houses offer more than 80 different apartment types that are programmatically flexible and open to the individual needs of contemporary life - a mosaic of different life forms.

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All our texts and many of our images appear under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License ( CC BY-SA ). All our content is written and edited by our community.

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JDSA / Julien De Smedt Architects, BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group. Ørestad, Denmark

Name of work in English

Name of work in original language.

EUmies Awards 2007

JDSA / Julien De Smedt Architects, BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group

Ørestad, Denmark

EUmies Awards 2007 Shortlisted

© Nikolaj Møller

© plan drawing2

Julien De Smedt , Bjarke Ingels ,

Collaborators

Collective housing

The VM Houses, shaped like a V and an M when seen from the sky, is the first residential project that was built in the new district of Copenhagen known as Ørestaden. Through a series of transformations the block is opened up, and twisted and turned to ensure maximum views of the surrounding landscapes and suburbs, as well as eliminate the vis-a-vis between the blocks. The V house is conceived as a balcony condo, the M-house as an Unite d'habitation version 2.0. But where Le Corbusier designed narrow flats surrounding hundreds of meters of dead end corridors, the zigzagging of the M-house ensures that all corridors have views and daylight in both directions. These openings transform the circulation into an attractive social space. For the south façade facing the park we designed a new type of balcony- a wedge shaped plane that combines minimum shade with maximum cantilever. On a warm summer afternoon, the wall of balconies form a vertical backyard community, creating connections to neighbours in a vertical radius of 10m.

As a result of the zigzagging, stepping, sloping, intricate circulation and multilevel apartments, the VM houses are populated by a swarm of different apartments. Out of 225 units there are more than 80 unique types. The many multilevel apartment types interlock in complex compositions on the façade, transforming the exterior of the VM houses in to a three dimensional game of Tetris. The VM Houses are made up of simple but exquisite materials with large glass facades framed by fancy wood. Floors are made up of solid oak wood, and dark, hard wood have been used for the balcony floors. Walls and ceilings appear with a somewhat raw finish in white concrete, and all internal stairs and handrails come in white painted steel. All the apartments' external walls are made up of glass.

To ensure that the VM shape was optimal with respect to views and solar orientation, a number of daylight simulations were made & simulating light at different times of day and year. By using the studies we were able to design a building with 225 units where all are guaranteed direct sunlight, everyday throughout the year.

BIG- Housing- 10 Iconic Projects

The BIG ( Bjarke Ingels Group ), a Danish architectural practice, lives true to the motto “Yes is more.” Founded by Bjarke Ingels and a group of architects that want to create programmed utopian architecture that is incorporated into real-world objects. BIG Architects experiment with varied scales and materials for their projects, and they create them such that they appear to be missing jigsaw pieces from the surrounding area. Instead of relying on artificial intelligence , they make sure that the local climate determines the quality of the indoor space offered. Every building they construct has a dynamic, whimsical rhythm. Their building’s USP is that it is layered with glass volumes and roof gardens, sustainable , and relatively economical. They value big-picture thinking, approaching issues head-on, and developing solutions that truly inspire them.

1. VM House – Copenhagen, Denmark | BIG Projects

The VM Houses, a housing complex with 221 units and 25,000 square metres of area, is situated in Orestad City, Copenhagen , Denmark . Designed by BIG Architects these two apartment complexes known as The VM Houses have the appearance of the letters V and M when seen from above.

The placement of the blocks guarantees vistas, seclusion, sunlight, and diagonal views of the neighbouring open fields. The balconies were created so that people could interact with their neighbours while enjoying the outdoors. Like a mosaic, each apartment flat’s distinctive interior adds uniqueness while retaining consistency to the outside of VM Houses.

Buildings in the V and M forms in the plan also benefit from solar orientation, allowing for appropriate solar gain for heating and cross ventilation for cooling. The major purpose of the glass outer walls of the VM Houses is to let natural light into each residence.

2. 79 & Park – Stockholm, Sweden

Designed by BIG Architects, 79&Park is envisioned as a landscape of cascading dwellings that mix the grandeur of a suburban home with the features of urban life. It is located on the border of a garden, a renowned national park.

The northwest and southeast corners are the same height as the surrounding buildings, but the northeast corner has been raised to provide the greatest views of the park and harbour. The southwest corner of the building extends the furthest into the garden and creates a humane edge between the building and nature. It is pushed down to the lowest profile, transforming it into a public platform with a 270-degree view of the park scape. This enables the views of the park from the majority of the residential units.

The same motion guarantees that the centre courtyard always receives enough sunshine. In additional tribute to Garden, the massing is visually reduced through a pixel language scaled to the human form. This manipulation not only allows for a more organic expression that precisely reflects the surrounding environment but also enables the building topography to be achieved in a regulated and cost-effective manner through the use of prefabricated components of specified proportions. The social intimacy of the central urban oasis provides peace and calm while also offering occupants a sense of connection to the wider 79 & Park community. From afar, 79 & Park looks to be a man-made hillside in the heart of Stockholm.

3. Mountain housing- Copenhagen, Denmark

The Mountain Dwellings is a contemporary Danish housing structure. This scheme’s concept consisted of two-thirds parking and one-third residential. Rather than having two distinct structures next to one other – the two roles are combined into a symbiotic partnership. The residential portion was constructed on top of the parking lot. The parking lot joins the street, ensuring that the residences receive adequate sunlight, fresh air, and views. Each apartment features a small garden, a patio, and an L-shaped floor layout.

Perforated aluminium plates wrap the north and west faces, allowing air and light into the parking area. The holes in the aluminium plates will look black on the bright aluminium during the day The facade will be lighted from the inside at night and will seem like a photo negative in multiple colours since each story in the parking lot has a distinct colour.

4. Via 57 West- New York, USA

VIA 57 West ushers in a new architectural kind to New York City: the Courtscraper. The VIA 57 Courtscraper is a hybrid between the conventional American highrise and the European perimeter block. 

VIA 57 West not only enhances the beauty of the New York City skyline but also connects its citizens to the outside world. By keeping three of the block’s corners low and rising the northeast portion of the building, the courtyard provides views of the Hudson River and draws the low western sun deep into the block. Even though the courtyard is a sanctuary for residents only and is visible from the outside, it creates a visual connection to the vegetation of Hudson River Park.

Depending on the viewing position of the spectator, VI’s volume varies. It looks like a distorted pyramid or a hyperbolic paraboloid from the west. The Courtscraper looks to be a thin spire when viewed from the east. The structure reaches 450 feet in the northeast corner, increasing the number of apartments while generously conserving the nearby Helena Tower’s river vistas.

5. Hualien Residences- Taiwan | BIG Projects

The striated vacation house development was created to represent Taiwan’s western mountain spine. The concept aims to maintain and improve the natural beauty of the area while building a dense community of vacation homes that provides inhabitants with an active and sociable lifestyle outside of the city.

“The Hualien Hills are a pragmatic utopian attempt at rural densification where the ecological qualities of nature aren’t consumed by urban development , but rather extended and amplified,” said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels. The structures’ undulating roofs offer the community a wide range of home types and social spaces on a foundation of effective layouts and logical circulation. The floor plates are divided into thin, green-vegetation-covered landscape strips. The volumes are adjusted to create lush pedestrian canyons and shortcuts between the buildings, as well as to guarantee that light and views penetrate deeply into the houses. 

To reduce glare and heat exposure from the low-angle morning and evening light, the landscape stripes run from east to west. At the pedestrian level, the shape and orientation of the building produce cool, cosy microclimates. Sloping green roofs offer shade, dissipate heat, collect rainwater, and produce clean, breathing air, while the presence of lush flora nearby in the apartments helps occupants relax.

6. 8 house- Copenhagen, Denmark

8 House provides dwellings for individuals at different phases of life, as well as office space for the city’s commerce and trade. The housing programme of the building includes three types of accommodations: flats of various sizes, penthouses , and townhouses. With a blend of suburban peacefulness and urban dynamism, it also functions as a residence where people can ride their bikes from the bottom floor to the top, passing through townhouses with gardens meandering around an urban boundary block.

The functions of the structure have been distributed horizontally. The flats are located at the top of the building, while the commercial programme is located at the bottom. As a consequence, the residences benefit from natural light , fresh air, and a view, while the commercial areas blend in with street activity.

The House features two sloping green roots that are intentionally placed to mitigate the urban heat island effect while also aesthetically connecting it to the nearby farmlands to the south. Through a sequence of deliciously accessible ramps in a mixed-use, multifamily housing building, The 8 House expertly recreates the horizontal social connectedness and interaction of a village neighbourhood’s streets.

7. Dortheavej Residence – Copenhagen, Denmark

Previously characterized by vehicle repair shops, storage and industrial buildings from the 1930s to the 1950s, Big as commissioned has changed the area into a 5-storey checkered pattern of affordable housing and public space , while preserving the pedestrian pathways open and the surrounding green yard unaltered. They can do the project on a limited budget by utilizing modular construction and prefabricated materials. To blend in, BIG used a simple material palette of light wood and unfinished concrete.

The architects envisioned the structure as a “winding wall” that would resemble a checkerboard. The structure has a gentle bend in the middle and is designed to be a permeable wall. A street-facing entry plaza is naturally created by the building’s curvature. Three enormous entrances at its base, each the size of a prefab module, provide access to a sizable garden area beyond. The structure opens out at street level, making it easy for locals and visitors to enter the courtyard .

The stacking gives every second module an additional metre of room height, resulting in extraordinarily enormous kitchen- living spaces and patios that provide a setting for sustainable, healthy living in each 60-115m2 residence. The linear block is curved away from the street to enlarge the sidewalk into a public square on one side and a private green courtyard on the other, with the living rooms opening more towards the courtyard. The flats’ northern face is intended to resemble a pattern of solid and void, while the southern side is fronted by floor-to-ceiling windows and alternate balconies.

8. Honeycomb, Nassau, Bahamas

By designing a honeycomb facade for an eight-story residential building, the Albany neighbourhood gains the highest building. The plan was to make the most of the Bahamas’ plentiful natural resources, such as the water and sun.

The pools are supported by a honeycomb façade that gives them the appearance of sinking into the terrace floor and offers outstanding sight lines while preserving the seclusion of each property. The hexagonal shape, which draws influence from its seaside location, mimics the organic geometries seen in some coral formations or honeycombs.

The building’s extremely dynamic south elevation reflects the asymmetrical construction of the dwellings , which vary in size and join in various ways on the plan. Glass panels on the remaining façade are fragmented, forming terraces all around. The facade design gives the ground-level pavement of the plaza a subtle texture by blending into it. Around the perimeter, several hexagons have been turned into lush mounds filled with trees, plants, and built-in seating. The focal feature of the square is a network of little streams running between the hexagonal pavers and a tiny pond encircled by fountains.

9. Sluishuis- Amsterdam, Netherlands

The open and airy structure on the outskirts of Amsterdam is always in motion owing to the construction approach. The structure, which has a unique geometry, rises from one corner to draw the water into its stepped courtyard. The buildings appear to float above the water’s surface.

Two factors give the traditional courtyard building new life; it truly embraces the notion of living by the river and looks distinctive from every angle. Units that are suspended above the water have wide windows that open through the sloping façade. Residents can see the boats sailing just below from here. Towards the adjoining urban neighbourhood, the block steps down like a cascade of terraced terraces, offering a seamless transition from metropolitan to smallerscale, natural surroundings.

To ensure that the building’s look will stay rich and natural throughout time, the design team chose natural materials . The abstract, untreated aluminium exterior reflects the water and changes the look of the volume depending on the time of day. The wooden jetty promenade and tiered roof terraces, on the other hand, have a tactile aspect.

10. The Smile | BIG Projects

The Smile is a mixed-use building with a nursing school on the ground floor and residential apartment units above. One-third of these residential units are affordable housing units, which help to improve and diversify the neighbourhood’s housing stock.

The “textured surface of the moon,” resembles the building’s façade which alternates between blackened stainless-steel panels and full-height glass windows in a checkerboard pattern. While the outer envelope is made up of blackened rough metal panels, the internal living areas are decorated in a neutral, minimalist style. Interior spaces are made out of raw architectural elements such as wood, exposed concrete structures, and exposed steel trusses.

The Smile’s facade gracefully drapes between the building’s two communities, leaning inward to let sunshine and air reach the street. The T-shaped building’s curved side is set back from the street and dips inwards as it rises to maximise sunshine for the interiors. The structure cantilevers over the existing buildings on 125th Street to the south. When viewed from above, the structure bends upwards like a smile.

Image links 

Picture 1:  https://www.stirworld.com/images/article_gallery/bjarke-ingels-stir-birthday-tribute-stirworld-201001035938.jpg

Picture 2 :  https://iremlandscape.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/vm10.jpg

Picture 3:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/VM_Houses_-_aerial.jpg/800px-VM_Houses_-_aerial.jpg?20180205001818

Picture 4 :  https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/608b/6df7/f91c/8191/6a00/000e/slideshow/IMG_8312.jpg?1619750356

Picture 5: https://cdn.architecturenow.co.nz/site_media/media/cache/68/7d/687d3372e3d9caadb28ff0117704b281.jpg

Picture 6:  https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2018/11/79-park-big-stockholm-photo-laurian-ghinitoiu_dezeen_2364_col_15.jpg

Picture 7: https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2018/11/79-park-big-stockholm-photo-laurian-ghinitoiu_dezeen_2364_col_11.jpg

Picture 8:  https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/79-Park-by-Bjarke-Ingels-Group-16.jpg

Picture 9: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fb/df/b5/fbdfb56b1206350915c1059d954d4fa1.jpg

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Picture 11: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a5/22/c2/a522c225fdf989e00ab067ea7740960b.jpg

Picture 12: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wojtekgurak/6421677943/

Picture 13:  https://inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/the-mountain-in-copenhagen-by-BIG-889×592.jpg

Picture 14: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5731/eeb7/e58e/ce0f/ec00/0067/slideshow/VIA_at_West_57th_PressImage_Nic_Lehoux_2.jpg?1462890158

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Picture 16: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/57d1/60b5/e58e/ce23/9800/022a/medium_jpg/VIA_Diagram_by_BIG_-_Bjarke_Ingels_Group_01_original.jpg?1473339569

Picture 17: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/A2746-Via-57-West-IMAGE-3.jpg

Picture 18: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/57d1/6132/e58e/ce23/9800/022c/slideshow/w57-image-by-nic-lehoux-03_original.jpg?1473339687

Picture 19: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/57d1/5f79/e58e/ce23/9800/0226/medium_jpg/VIA_Image_by_Iwan_Baan_13_original.jpg?1473339222

Picture 20: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/57d1/5f9e/e58e/ce23/9800/0227/slideshow/VIA_Image_by_Iwan_Baan_14_original.jpg?1473339263

Picture 21: https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/11/Hualien-Residences_BIG_holiday-resort_Taiwan_dezeen_936_10.jpg

Picture 22: https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A3345-Hualien-Residences-Image-11_Model-of-Hualien-Residences-indicating-the-various-activity-zones_dezeen.com_.jpg

Picture 23: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/563c/cff1/e58e/ce14/d600/0009/slideshow/hua-image-by-big-41_original.jpg?1446825956

Picture 24: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f0/b5/da/f0b5da3f5e3894bb3360f1a047de5ca9.jpg

Picture 25: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/b3/67/bd/b367bd81c59edaf8fe91ec967f09d540.jpg

Picture 26: https://live.staticflickr.com/4397/35589244794_9cd1a1a947_b.jpg

Picture 27: https://architizer.com/idea/150933/

Picture 28: https://www.miesarch.com/uploads/images/works/2326-14009.jpg

Picture 29: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5bbe/6c36/f197/ccec/bc00/0062/slideshow/03_BIG_DONG_Dortheavej_Image20by20Rasmus20Hjortshoj.jpg?1539206187

Picture 30: https://miesarch.com/uploads/images/works/d7adc80db44350196dbb51194a16343d69cd3ec9.jpeg

Picture 31: https://gdkfiles.visitdenmark.com/files/382/222989_Social-Housing-by-BIG_Martin-Heiberg.jpg?width=987

Picture 32: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/613b/ae18/af01/a742/f76f/e75d/slideshow/rh-2.jpg?1631301151

Picture 33:  https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5bbe/6c78/f197/cc3c/6a00/00d3/slideshow/01_BIG_DONG_Dortheavej_Image20by20Rasmus20Hjortshoj.jpg?1539206204

Picture 34: https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/01/Honeycomb-building-by-BIG_dezeen_6.jpg

Picture 35: https://cdnassets.hw.net/dims4/GG/8e30cbb/2147483647/resize/850x%3E/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdnassets.hw.net%2F47%2Fcf%2F1c74214e44849745e37a4bbacf83%2F3e7f96aa-31db-40cf-9ea3-646edcd2f217.jpg

Picture 36: https://www.designindaba.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/node/news/18051/gallery/bhsimageby-big05.jpg?itok=0rOiouEb

Picture 37: https://cdnassets.hw.net/dims4/GG/6cc15ab/2147483647/resize/850x%3E/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdnassets.hw.net%2Ff8%2Fea%2Fbca33e104b5396402b931c5bce9c%2F2069fbc4-fcd9-42f5-bbb7-5fe95de86e62.jpg

Picture 38: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/62d0/88e5/efe0/ef01/66a9/4eaa/slideshow/sluishuis-residential-building-big-plus-barcode-architects_11.jpg?1657833718

Picture 39: https://archello.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/images/2022/07/14/big—bjarke-ingels-group-sluishuis-memorials-archello.1657812599.6772.jpg

Picture 40: https://archello.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/images/2022/07/14/big—bjarke-ingels-group-sluishuis-memorials-archello.1657812675.169.jpg

Picture 41: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/62d0/88e4/efe0/ef05/601f/b25a/slideshow/sluishuis-residential-building-big-plus-barcode-architects_6.jpg?1657833735

Picture 42: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5fd9/02d0/63c0/170f/2f00/0620/slideshow/01_BIG_E126_The-Smile_Image-by-Pernille-and-Thomas-Loof.jpg?1608057485

Picture 43: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5fd9/0289/63c0/170f/2f00/061e/slideshow/02_BIG_E126_The-Smile_Image-by-Pernille-and-Thomas-Loof.jpg?1608057436

Picture 44: https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5fd9/01e7/63c0/170f/2f00/0618/slideshow/05_BIG_E126_The-Smile_North-Street-View_Image-by-Pernille-and-Thomas-Loof.jpg?1608057259

Reference links | BIG Architects

• http://jdsa.eu/vm/
• https://www.archdaily.com/970/vm-houses-plot-big-jds
• https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi6jOHY8tf5AhUW82EKHVenAOAQFnoECCgQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfu.ca%2F~vbadenas%2FVMspreads.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2e_FMJrvG0KOrkh7xv1HEL
• https://www.archdaily.com/905534/79-and-park-big
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• https://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/mountain-dwellings/
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• https://www.archdaily.com/15022/mountain-dwellings-big
• https://www.vitroglazings.com/media/fkeff4tf/vitro-via-57-west-case-study.pdf 
• https://www.archdaily.com/794950/via-57-west-big
• https://www.archdaily.com/776653/first-home-of-bigs-hualien-residences-completes
• https://www.dezeen.com/2015/11/05/big-hualien-residences-holiday-home-beach-resort-taiwan/
• https://architizer.com/projects/hualien-residences/
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• https://www.dezeen.com/2018/10/09/big-bjarke-ingels-affordable-housing-dortheavej-residence-copenhagen/
• https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/honeycomb-residences
• https://www.archdaily.com/471330/big-unveils-honeycomb-centerpiece-for-bahamas-resort
• https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/the-honeycomb-albany-bahamas
• https://www.designboom.com/architecture/bjarke-ingels-group-barcode-architects-sluishuis-housing-amsterdam-netherlands-07-14-2022/
• https://archello.com/project/sluishuis
• https://www.archdaily.com/985419/sluishuis-residential-building-big-plus-barcode-architects
• https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/sluishuis_o
• https://www.archdaily.com/953397/the-smile-residential-building-big
• https://www.dezeen.com/2020/12/16/the-smile-big-new-york-harlem-rooftoop-pool-architecture/

Srushti is an aspiring architect who believes that every structure and place contains an underlying story that can be experienced by everyone. She is a modest observer who uses her keen understanding to comprehend the world. This exposition is constantly pushing her in order for her to absorb and learn, unlearn and relearn.

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Mountain Dwellings | PLOT = BIG + JDS

Designed by BIG Architects , The Mountain Dwellings are the 2nd generation of the VM Houses – same client, same size and same street. The program, however, is 2/3 parking and 1/3 living. What if the parking area became the base upon which to place terraced housing – like a concrete hillside covered by a thin layer of housing, cascading from the 11th floor to the street edge? Rather than doing two separate buildings next to each other – a parking and a housing block – we decided to merge the two functions into a symbiotic relationship. The parking area needs to be connected to the street, and the homes require sunlight, fresh air, and views, thus all apartments have roof gardens facing the sun, amazing views and parking on the 10th floor. The Mountain Dwellings appear as a suburban neighborhood of garden homes flowing over a 10-story building – suburban living with urban density.

The roof gardens consist of a terrace and a garden with plants changing character according to the changing seasons. The building has a huge watering system which maintains the roof gardens. The only thing that separates the apartment and the garden is a glass façade with sliding doors to provide light and fresh air.

The residents of the 80 apartments will be the first in Orestaden to have the possibility of parking directly outside their homes. The gigantic parking area contains 480 parking spots and a sloping elevator that moves along the mountain’s inner walls. In some places, the ceiling height is up to 16 meters which gives the impression of a cathedral-like space. The north and west facades are covered by perforated aluminum plates, which let in air and light to the parking area. The holes in the facade form a huge reproduction of Mount Everest. At day the holes in the aluminum plates will appear black on the bright aluminum, and the gigantic picture will resemble that of a rough rasterized photo. At night time the facade will be lit from the inside and appear as a photo negative in different colors as each floor in the parking area has different colors. The Mountain Dwellings is located in Orestad city and offer the best of two worlds: closeness to the hectic city life in the center of Copenhagen, and the tranquillity characteristic of suburban life.

Project Info: Architects: BIG Architects Location: Copenhagen , Denmark Partner In Charge: Bjarke Ingles for BIG , Julien De Smedt for JDS Project Architect: Jakob Lange Project Leader: Finn Nørkjær Project Manager: Jan Borgstrøm Collaborators: JDS/JULIEN DE SMEDT ARCHITECTS, Moe & Brødsgaard, Freddy Madsen Rådgivende Ingeniører ApS Engineering: Moe & Brodsgaard Construction: Manager Henrick Poulsen Client: Høpfner A/S Construction: DS Elcobyg A/S /PH Montage Area: 33000.0 m2 Project Year: 2008 Project Name:  Mountain Dwellings All Images Courtesy Of BIG

Tags: Aluminum Apartment BIG Architects Concrete Copenhagen Dwellings Glass Mountain Dwellings roof garden

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Mountain Dwellings by BIG

Mountain Dwellings, a project consisting of apartments above a multi-storey car park by Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), is nearing completion in Copenhagen.

The 80 apartments are arranged on a sloping "hillside" above the car park that has space for 480 cars.

Mountain Dwellings are next to VM Houses, completed by BIG and Julien de Smedt Architects in 2006 (shown left in the aerial photo above).

Here is some text supplied by the architects:

How do you combine the splendours of the suburban backyard with the social intensity of urban density? The Mountain Dwellings are the 2nd generation of the VM Houses - same client, same size and same street. The program, however, is 2/3 parking and 1/3 living.

What if the parking area became the base upon which to place terraced housing - like a concrete hillside covered by a thin layer of housing, cascading from the 11th floor to the street edge? Rather than doing two separate buildings next to each other - a parking and a housing block - we decided to merge the two functions into a symbiotic relationship.

The parking area needs to be connected to the street, and the homes require sunlight, fresh air and views, thus all apartments have roof gardens facing the sun, amazing views and parking on the 10th floor. The Mountain Dwellings appear as a suburban neighbourhood of garden homes flowing over a 10-storey building - suburban living with urban density.

The roof gardens consist of a terrace and a garden with plants changing character according to the changing seasons. The building has a huge watering system which maintains the roof gardens. The only thing that separates the apartment and the garden is a glass façade with sliding doors to provide light and fresh air.

The residents of the 80 apartments will be the first in Orestaden to have the possibility of parking directly outside their homes. The gigantic parking area contains 480 parking spots and a sloping elevator that moves along the mountain’s inner walls. In some places the ceiling height is up to 16 meters which gives the impression of a cathedral-like space.

The north and west facades are covered by perforated aluminium plates, which let in air and light to the parking area. The holes in the facade form a huge reproduction of Mount Everest. At day the holes in the aluminium plates will appear black on the bright aluminium, and the gigantic picture will resemble that of a rough rasterized photo.

At night time the facade will be lit from the inside and appear as a photo negative in different colours as each floor in the parking area has different colours. The Mountain Dwellings is located in Orestad city and offer the best of two worlds: closeness to the hectic city life in the centre of Copenhagen, and the tranquillity characteristic of suburban life.

ARCHITECT BIG PROJECT MOUNTAIN DWELLINGS CLIENT HØPFNER A/S, Danish Oil Company A/S COLLABORATORS JDS ARCHITECTS, MOE & BRØDSGAARD, FRODE MADSEN RÅDGIVENDE INGENIØRER ApS SIZE 33.000 M2 LOCATION COPENHAGEN, DK STATUS COMPLETION MAY 2008

Above: 5th floor

Above: 6th floor

Above: 7th floor

Above: 8th floor

Above: 9th floor

Above: 10th floor

Above: basement

Above: ground floor

• JDS Architects
• Residential
• Architecture

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• Magazine 2006
• The Plan 013

Julien De Smedt and Bjarke Ingels consider architecture a Darwinian selection process among experimental models. A project never springs from an aesthetic; it emerges from the collision and fusion of the myriad contradictory forces of our society. Architects are mediators able to “co-ordinate, trace and edit” the energy contained in the social, political and commercial forces of our cities. It was this enthusiasm and creative exuberance that led the Belgian Julien De Smedt and the Danish Bjarke Ingels to found Plot in 2001, after they had worked together at Rem Koolhaas’ Metropolitan Office for Architecture. Today Plot is considered one of the most promising European architect practices. It has dozens of briefs, and prestigious awards to its name, like the Venice Biennale Golden Lion for the best music room, and the AR+D Award for emerging architecture. Plot has just received a honourable prize from the Swedish magazine “Forum” for the best nordic building. VM House, their largest completed project, is a residential complex in Ørestad, a recently urbanised neighbourhood just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. De Smedt and Ingels have distilled their research of the genre, reinterpreting Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation, the modernist residence par excellence. To avoid vis-à-vis with the house directly opposite, the straight housing block has been snapped in the middle to give each apartment a lateral view over the park. The whole building stands completely off the ground to provide an uninterrupted stretch of garden. Bending the structure does not just affect the outside; it produces a series of interior asymmetries that generate 76 different, single, duplex or triplex apartments. Most apartments are double-height to the north, while the south-facing balconies offer sweeping views. The Le Corbusier type central corridor has been turned into a covered thoroughfare - large, luminous and designed for socialisation. The second building has also been bent,...

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The VM HOUSES are designed by Bjarke Ingels (BIG), Julien de Smedt (JDS Architects) and Plot. The building was completed in 2005 and was one of the first housing estates, which was erected in Ørestad City.

The VM HOUSES were named after the shape of the housing blocks when viewed from the air, namely the letters V and M. They are characterised by the triangular balconies on the south facade of the V house, while the glass facade gives the building an impression of visual openness. The houses are located next to the  VM MOUNTAIN , also designed by Bjarke Ingels and Plot. Smooth transition between new and old The apartments in the VM HOUSES have windows from floor to ceiling, and like the other buildings on the east side of the metro, they are tall towards the metro, but significantly lower towards the Amager East side. This creates a smooth transition between the old buildings on eastern Amager and the new in Ørestad.

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Mountain Dwellings, Copenhague

• Typologies Housing  Collective  
• Material Wood 
• Date 2003 - 2008
• City Copenhagen 
• Country Denmark 
• Photographer Dragor Luftfoto  Jens Markus Lindhe  Ulrik Jantzen  Jakob Boserup  Ole Malling 

The new city section of Ørestad, a strip of 310 hectares developed mainly for residential and tertiary uses, is just ten minutes by public transport from the center of Copenhagen. Also conveniently located close to the airport, Ørestad grows on either side of the highway that joins Denmark and Sweden. Over the coming twenty years the population in this area is expected to reach 20.000, offering 80.000 jobs and 20.000 places in high schools and universities. Compared to the neighboring residential areas, this recently developed section has a greater density and a greater presence of collective housing, with different types of use: normal rent, public rent, private ownership or co-op. The two adjacent sites contain two projects designed by the studio PLOT, currently divided into the offices BIG and JDS.

Per request of the client, the program of the Mountain is 2/3 parking and 1/3 living, covering an area of 33,000 square meters. Eight diagrams of the process explain how the final form was reached, from the decision to bring the whole program together in one volume, passing through the sloping shape of this volume, its adaptation to the floor plan of the neighboring VM House, the creation of an urban space delimited by broken facades, the ramp system towards the interior of the parking, the 10 x 10 meter grid that organizes the dwellings and, finally, their staggered arrangement so that each home is below the terrace of the one above.

The parking needs to be connected to the street, and the homes – eighty units in total –require sunlight, fresh air and views, so all the apartments have roof gardens facing the sun, spectacular views and parking within the building. The Mountain thus offers the best of two worlds: closeness to the busy city life in the center of Copenhagen, and the peace of suburban life. The parking, with room for 480 vehicles, has an elevator that moves along the inner walls of the building, and at some points the ceiling height reaches 16 meters. The north and west facades are covered by perforated aluminum plates, which let air and light into the parking area, and the remaining facades and the roof are clad in wood. The holes in the facade form a huge reproduction of Mount Everest. At nighttime the facade will be lit from the inside and appear as a photo negative in different hues as each floor in the parking area has different colors. 

Cliente Client

Høpfner A/S

Arquitectos Architects

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Socio responsable Partner in charge: Bjarke Ingels

Jefe de proyecto Project leader: Finn Nørkjær

Mánager de proyecto Project manager: Jan Borgstrøm

Jefe de obras Construction manager: Henrick Poulsen

Arquitecto responsable Project architect: Jacob Lange

Equipo de proyecto Project team: Annette Jensen, Dariusz Bojarski, Dennis Rasmussen, Eva Hviid-Nielsen, Joao Vieira Costa, Jørn Jensen, Karsten V. Vestergaard, Karsten Hammer Hansen, Leon Rost, Louise Steffensen, Malte Rosenquist, Mia Frederiksen, Ole Elkjær-Larsen, Ole Nannberg, Roberto Rosales Salazar, Rong Bin, Sophus Søbye, Søren Lambertsen, Wataru Tanaka

Colaboradores Collaborators

Moe & Brødsgaard (estructuras structural engineering ); Freddy Madsen Rådgivende (obra civil civil engineering ); JDS Architects; SLA

Fotos Photos

Dragør Luftfoto; Jens Markus Lindhe; Ulrik Jantzen; Jakob Boserup; Ole Malling

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VM / VM House

The manipulated perimeter block of the VM House is clearly defined in its four corners, but opened internally and along the sides. The vis-a-vis with neighbouring units is eliminated by pushing the slab in its center, ensuring diagonal views to the surrounding open fields. The V-house is lifted to create a permeable block with a semi-private public court for the residences. The pedestrian landscaping flows from the street, under the V-house and into the courtyard forming a spatial unity and sense of community between the two buildings. The courtyard also accommodates a play area for the kindergarten in the base of the M-house, along with an interactive learning area beneath the V-house. The logic of the diagonal slab utilized in the V-house is broken down in smaller portions for the M-house. In this project the typology of the Unite d’Habitation of Le Corbusier is reinterpreted and improved: the central corridors are short and receive light from both ends. The building volumes provides optimal air, light and views for all flats. All apartments have a double-height space to the north, and wide panoramic views to the south. The VM housing project also makes use of practical sustainable planning tenants. The V & M shapes of the buildings in plan also help with the solar orientation of the building, allowing proper solar gain for heating and cross ventilation for cooling. The heavy construction system also helps minimizes heat loss.

Awards and recognition: 2006 Forum Award Best Building In Scandinavia / 2006 Copenhagen Municipality Prize / 2007 Mies Van der Rohe Award Honourable Mention / 2008 Danish Wood Award / 2010 Infosteel Award Nomination