Tingbjerg Library

Tingbjerg was envisioned as a modernistic suburban garden city, designed with the best intentions of high-quality housing and beautiful greenery. It represented a fresh start for many families in the 1940s and 50s, when large groups of people began to leave the polluted post-war city centre. Today, however, the neighborhood ranks on the Danish government’s official list of marginalized crime-ridden areas and is stigmatized by bad stories in the media. The project is a part of an ambitious strategy to revive the area and restore a sense of pride. A local community house offering a place to meet across cultural barriers. With the open frame as an architectural reference, the library is designed to project the activity of the building and the lives of the residents of Tingbjerg onto the surrounding area as a large display.

A typical Danish design item hanging in many peoples’ living rooms is the typesetter drawer, used as a set of tiny shelves for displaying one’s favorite personal items – a holiday image, a favorite novel, or a potted plant. Tingbjerg Library uses the same principle to showcase activity, and social life at the library to the surrounding community.

The architecture and choice of materials respect the historic surroundings designed by architect Steen Eiler Rasmussen in the 1950s. Using the same basic materials found in the area such as yellow brick cladding, but in a new way, the building holds a clear link to the existing uniqueness of Tingbjerg.

With the location in the center of Tingbjerg, the library is a common gathering point that draws the citizens into the area. The building’s users can engage in a myriad of activities and events within multifunctional rooms – including classes, workshops, lectures and musical performance. All activities are visible from within the building and animate the glass facade from without.