Purple Diary

[March 9 2018]

A view of the 8 House designed by architect Bjarke Ingels in Ørestad, Copenhagen

The 8 House is located all the way south, at the last stop of M1 metro line in Ørestad, a suburb of Copenhagen. Beyond, nothing but high grass and cloudy skies, moving slightly in the wind, cinemagraph like.

The playful residential buildings’ individual units are connected by a long, external figure 8 shaped access ramp, resembling a slot car race track. It might as well be a setting for a futuristic sci-fi movie, with its occupants portraying members of a stranded Hygge tribe.

Ørestad is a planned city area which until today has still not reached even half of its’ capacity. The emptiness is clearly present. It seems like a very serene, calm dwelling environment. Maybe that is exactly what its creator, an otherwise very energetic architect Bjarke Ingels (BIG) was secretly hoping for.

Text and photo Ada Hamza