Krøyers Plads

Krøyers Plads has been an architectural and political battlefield for more than a decade. Throughout the years, local organizations and politicians have rejected five architectural proposals for various reasons until Cobe’s and Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects' final building design for this historical site on Copenhagen inner harbor front was approved.

The design is based on a hyper-democratic and contextual approach – an architectural storytelling that strives to create a meaningful and comprehensive infill through dialogue with the local community. Rather than inventing a new building type, Krøyers Plads is a reinvention of the industrial warehouses adjacent to the site.

The Copenhagen harbor front is defined by a series of industrial warehouses, all situated perpendicular to the water’s edge, with characteristic gables in varying heights. The location, materiality and configuration of the buildings at Krøyers Plads are deeply anchored in the typological features of the warehouse.

Instead of inventing a new typology, Krøyers Plads is a reinvention of a type that is already there - the warehouse. The project consists of three residential warehouses that fit into the existing context, based on insights gathered from the voices of the local community.

The interior open spaces of the development offer a quiet space for the residents and the more than 30,000 people passing by on bike or foot every year: A green garden rather than a dense urban hardscape.

The Krøyers Plads development is the first housing project to receive the Nordic Swan Ecolabel; a testimony to high standards for indoor climate, energy use, minimizing toxic additives in building materials, and high lifecycle demands.