VORES HAVE

2022

This is an urban development project that was part of a parallel assignment to an urban development plan for the Viva-grunden site in Odense, Denmark. The competition proposal was a collaboration between Entasis and Sweco. The competition involved developing a concept and land allocation for a new and vibrant district near Odense Central Station with housing, workplaces, culture attractions and commercial spaces.

50 years ago, Odense city center was torn in two when the city council set bulldozers to plow through a dilapidated part of the old medieval city. In the name of motoring and progress, Thomas B Thrigesgade was created as a demarcation line - a destructive separation. 12 years ago, Entasis and Sweco won the competition for the city healing project Thomas B Thriges Gade. The two separated parts of the center were to be woven together again through an ingenious and comprehensive project that has now been delivered - probably to everyone's satisfaction. Thus healed and with new energy, the city's heart beats again with Kongens Have as the recreational center: The stately park - the trimmed lawn and the large deciduous trees. With our project, Kogens Have now gets a wild little brother. We call it "Vores have" which translates to "Our garden" in English. Vores have is a child of the times -  a garden where biodiversity, social diversity and sustainability in the broadest sense unfold. Vores have, our garden, is ours. We who live in the city. We who visit the city and we who live inside the garden's sustainable universe. 

Vores Have is created by establishing a space-creating and noise-shielding structure in dialogue with the large scale of the railway and with the industrial buildings. Industrial buildings are characterized by a high degree of repetition and heaviness and therefore have a scale and weight that are rarely cultivated. But the location of the site gives life to the idea of ​​the grand and we thereby come into contact with the history of the site. We put down roots. Thus, an elongated building structure is created to the north and towards the railway with the low ad classic modulation of the industry in red brick. To show that we are now in a different time, the brick structure is topped by greened 3-storey residential buildings. We build on top of history and we call the structure The Hanging Gardens. With the hanging gardens, we have now created a break – a pocket – an oasis in the heart of Odense. To the south and towards Østre Stationsvej, 3 large townhouses are being built in scale with the new buildings already built, creating an architectural identity. The Hanging Gardens in the north and the Townhouses in the south together form a large green pocket – an urban garden – our garden. 

Vores Have is organized around 7 small open courtyards. The Park Houses are 4-6 storey point houses that fit the Odense scale and give the special relaxed Odense atmosphere. The Park Houses are a modern dynamic counterpart to the potato rows or the bustling city with a greater focus on community and dynamics. The overall plan therefore consists of 3 building typologies. The Hanging Gardens, the Blocks and the Park Houses 

 The three typologies are linked together by materials and the green identity, but also by a set of rules for volume reductions. The high-rise buildings, as well as the Blocks and Park Houses, all have selected corners cut out and changed to inward-facing corners. These always lead to a terrace with a tree – private or shared. We imagine space for body and soul in the base of the high-rise building and in the square outside. The elongated structure and the high-rise building speak the language of the railway and industry. 

The elongated structure and the high-rise speak the language of the railway and industry. The hanging gardens facade concept Kvægtorvet Odense Public Slaughterhouses Noise barrier The hanging gardens 18 Along Østre Stationsvej, 3 new buildings have been constructed today, terraced from 5 to 12 floors. The buildings are made of brick and range from light sand color to charcoal gray brick. There are indications of a large-scale typology, but an actual cohesive force is not yet present. We are adding 3 buildings that are terraced in the same way from 2 to 9 floors – lowest to the west where the existing low buildings of the slaughterhouse site meet. Highest at two central entrances to our garden – at the corner of Kongens Have and in the axis of Kongensgade. 

The big park stands as a recreational oasis with the small lake in the center. The lake is fed by the surface water of the building. This is done by leveling the ground with depressions to which the surface water is led. We consider soil balance as an opportunity by lifting the landscape approximately 50 cm and then modeling it into depressions. By lifting the landscape, we simultaneously raise the basement level free of the water table, which is currently approximately 1.8 meters below ground. This combines climate protection with experienced quality and low construction and operating costs. The ditches form an inner island - a scenic and spiritual plateau. With the island, the ditches and the lake, four basic biotopes are created: 

 - An orchard biotope for apple farming and cider production. 

- A wetland biotope whose species are fed by the surface water that accumulates from time to time. 

- A lake biotope where the green above the surface is half the story for the green is also found under the blue.