По-русски

Kasper Jørgensen: «Building for the Ongoing Evolution»

An interview with Kasper Jørgensen, a Danish architect, an expert in new technologies and “green building”, leader of the innovation department of 3XN architects

Interviewed by:

18 April 2013
Interview
mainImg
Archi.ru
- It’s in the nature of GXN to use the daylight as much as possible, or let the tree keep its natural form, or just let materials it live its own natural life. Do you see yourself as a pioneer of such approach?

Kasper Jørgensen
- I think material science is pioneering these years. We really want to take this new knowledge and use it in our buildings. I think there has been a huge gap in architecture. The whole industrialization of the way we build has forced architects for many years to think about straight lines and mass production. Now we actually start to go back a bit and look at nature, its forms and materials to design the solution we want. I think that will be tomorrow’s architecture - a much higher level of tailor-making and new expressions in terms of space and buildings.

zooming
Archi.ru
- In that most recent built project of 3XN, the Blue Planet Aquarium in Copenhagen, did you have a deliberate intention to bring the inside to the outside? It seems that visitors there feel as if they were the fish in the water, not the other way around.

Kasper Jørgensen
- We wanted tell a story by the building itself. You see, most aquariums today look like factories, or at least like something that doesn’t belong to water. So, it was very much our intention to create a feeling of connecting people to the fish or the universe of the water, and do it the whole way, so that this feeling becomes the heart of the building and embraces you like a wave. When you walk in, the first thing you notice is that the aquarium on top of your head, so you really feel as if you’re under the water. It’s the biggest aquarium in Northern Europe. We have some very big fish in huge ocean tanks. Also it’s a funny building, because we have tropical forests with free flying birds, snakes, turtles, and a lot of places where people can touch the fish and interact with nature.
Archi.ru
- Is the aquarium glass bulletproof?

Kasper Jørgensen
- Yes, it’s more than bulletproof.

Archi.ru
- Do the creatures that live there kill each other, like in the wild?

Kasper Jørgensen
- Yes. For example, we have two species of fish, and one actually eats the other. So, maybe in a half a year we will have only one species. But that’s just how nature goes sometimes.
Archi.ru
- Do you see materials as tools to facilitate people?

Kasper Jørgensen
- That’s actually what we do at GXN, the innovation unit at 3XN. We’re studying how people react to different materials. In our work we involve a psychologist to find out how materials, space, environment and atmosphere affect people. It’s interesting to investigate how we can actually make buildings that make kids learn better and stimulate knowledge sharing in corporate culture or support visitor’s curiosity in a museum.

Archi.ru
- What does stimulate sharing?
Kasper Jørgensen
- Social interacting. Creating spaces where people meet, where they pause and do it in informal settings. Providing a right framework and also creating acoustical and visual transparency. Doing that is not about having just one big open space, but actually it’s about diversity in the space that you create. We often perceive our buildings as internal cityscapes with small streets, central passes, quiet corners, places in the shadow, places in the sun… We end up having a lot of variety of contrast in the layout of our space. We always have central staircases and open connections between the floor slabs to create this kind of transparency and allow for more places where people can meet, share knowledge and interact. It’s interesting that staircases actually make you slow down, invite you to talk more together, and offer all this place for people to meet standing or sitting, or waiting... All of this creates dynamics and social interaction.
Archi.ru
- Your proposal for the Museum and Exhibition Center of Polytechnic Museum and Moscow State University didn’t win in the recent competition, but it was a very strong concept. Is it going to the archive forever? Could it be actually built elsewhere?

Kasper Jørgensen
- I feel sad it didn’t win. I really liked it. It was a strong example of 3XN’s signature work of integrating with the city and creating open space. I think it would be a very dynamic building. It would bring the Polytechnic exhibition and its various elements together. Many of our projects have some of the same elements. But this project was unique. And there can’t be a place somewhere else to build it, it was very related to that particular place.

Archi.ru
- What is overall story of that building? You’ve probably walked through it many times in your mind. How would it feel to be there?

Kasper Jørgensen
- It was really a story about bringing people together, and the city together with the building as well. It was a space that would be excellent for exhibitions, education and teaching, working and resting. But most importantly, it was taking all these functions and melting them together in this very transparent structure. It would be amazing to actually have this connectivity in such a complex building layout. I’d like to sit on the top of its terrace in the summer, looking inside the building from the outside and being a part of everything around, feeling a part of Moscow. So it’s quite sad that one is not going to be built.

Archi.ru
- Do you still feel inspired with the perspective of working in Moscow? Will you keep trying?

Kasper Jørgensen
- Definitely. We hope to be invited to similar competitions here in Moscow.

Archi.ru
- Let’s imagine you are Chief Architect of Moscow. You have zillions of square km of space and zillions of people living in it. What would you do?

Kasper Jørgensen
- I’d try to make more centers in the city and to promote local identities. So that everything would be not just about one center. All this building mass could be used to create great areas. This city seems a kind of a dead city in many places or times of the day. So I’d try to promote more diversity and make local neighborhoods more attractive.
Archi.ru
- Obviously, you are a person who cares very much about the consequences of his actions. Why did you choose architecture? Why not philosophy or a fight against hunger or poverty?

Kasper Jørgensen
- Architecture has many powerful ways to affect our lives. Some of the biggest challenges come from the building industry. If you think about energy consumption or waste, there are so many things we can improve through architecture and building industry. I’m not necessarily thinking about saving the world, but I would like to do things with a good quality. I think it’s just common sense to make buildings that don’t make you sick. It’s natural to make buildings that can have a value after they have been turned down, and it’s logical to use materials that can be recycled. Why not make buildings that are positive instead of just minimizing the negative consequences that we always hear about? We can make buildings that produce oxygen, energy and clean water, buildings that are integrated with the nature. I think that’s why I really like being an architect, because it allows me to play with all these challenges and find solutions that come to life and become real for many more than just myself.
Archi.ru
- Are you concerned with making this kind of a research and designing process available to other people?

Kasper Jørgensen
- Everything we do is open source. Of course I would not like our design to be copied, but the philosophy and the research is really to be shared. I believe architecture is best when it’s unique for a specific kind and a specific site. But we share all the knowledge we have. If you share ideas, tools and strategies, it all comes back to you. So we’re showing by example how sustainable architecture can work, and we’re hoping that this way we’re helping to build a better future.
Archi.ru
- Is your idea of sustainability wider than just green and eco? Does it mean something that gains value over time?

Kasper Jørgensen
- Yes. I see a building like an organism that becomes a part of a man-made eco-system. It can be taken apart and be integrated into another building, in a kind of circle of a building life.With such a mind-set, we can create this regenerative architecture that gives more than it takes.

Archi.ru
- Would you rather not demolish buildings at all?

Kasper Jørgensen
- Ideally I see a building becoming raw material for future buildings components. The reality is that today many buildings components are toxic. So, we can’t reuse it. But by staffing buildings with healthy materials we can actually create a scenario where turning down a building is not a bad thing, because it gives a new life to future projects. We don’t make buildings as we did twenty years ago and not even ten years ago. People will have different needs tomorrow. Building technology will be totally different in another ten years. So, I think we need to keep using the possibilities we have in our hands to create the best possible environment.

Archi.ru
- Do you feel we should build for eternity?

Kasper Jørgensen
- No, I don’t think so. We should build for the ongoing evolution.
zooming


18 April 2013

Interviewed by:

Headlines now
New “Flight”
Architects from “Mezonproject” have developed a project for the reconstruction of the regional youth center “Polyot”(“Flight”) in the city of Oryol. The summer youth center, built back in the late 1970s, will now become year-round and acquire many additional functions.
The Yauza Towers
In Moscow, there aren’t that many buildings or projects designed by Nikita Yavein and Studio 44. In this article, we present to you the concept of a large multifunctional complex on the Yauza River, located between two parks, featuring a promenade, a crossroads of two pedestrian streets, a highly developed public space, and an original architectural solution. This solution combines a sophisticated, asymmetric façade grid, reminiscent of a game of fifteen puzzle, and bold protrusions of the upper parts of the buildings, completely masking the technical floors and sculpting the complex’s silhouette.
Architecture and Leisure Park
For the suburban hotel complex, which envisages various formats of leisure, the architectural company T+T Architects proposed several types of accommodation, ranging from the classic “standard” in a common building to a “cave in the hill” and a “house in a tree”. An additional challenge consisted in integrating a few classic-style residences already existing on this territory into the “architectural forest park”.
The U-House
The Jois complex combines height with terraces, bringing the most expensive apartments from penthouses down to the bottom floors. The powerful iconic image of the U-shaped building is the result of the creative search for a new standard of living in high-rise buildings by the architects of “Genpro”.
Black and White
In this article, we specifically discuss the interiors of the ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh. Interior design is a crucial component of the overall concept in this case, and precision and meticulous execution were highly important for the architects. Julia Tryaskina, head of UNK interiors, shares some of the developments.
The “Snake” Mountain
The competition project for the seaside resort complex “Serpentine” combines several typologies: apartments of different classes, villas, and hotel rooms. For each of these typologies, the KPLN architects employ one of the images that are drawn from the natural environment – a serpentine road, a mountain stream, and rolling waves.
Opal from Anna Mons’ Ring
The project of a small business center located near Tupolev Plaza and Radio Street proclaims the necessity of modern architecture in a specific area of Moscow commonly known as “Nemetskaya Sloboda” or “German settlement”. It substantiates its thesis with the thoroughness of details, a multitude of proposed and rejected form variants, and even a detailed description of the surrounding area. The project is interesting indeed, and it is even more interesting to see what will come of it.
Feed ’Em All
A “House of Russian Cuisine” was designed and built by KROST Group at VDNKh for the “Rossiya” exhibition in record-breaking time. The pavilion is masterfully constructed in terms of the standards of modern public catering industry multiplied by the bustling cultural program of the exhibition, and it interprets the stylistically diverse character of VDNKh just as successfully. At the same time, much of its interior design can be traced back to the prototypes of the 1960s – so much so that even scenes from iconic Soviet movies of those years persistently come to mind.
The Ensemble at the Mosque
OSA prepared a master plan for a district in the southern part of Derbent. The main task of the master plan is to initiate the formation of a modern comfortable environment in this city. The organization of residential areas is subordinated to the city’s spiritual center: depending on the location relative to the cathedral mosque, the houses are distinguished by façade and plastique solutions. The program also includes a “hospitality center”, administrative buildings, an educational cluster, and even an air bridge.
Pargolovo Protestantism
A Protestant church is being built in St. Petersburg by the project of SLOI architects. One of the main features of the building is a wooden roof with 25-meter spans, which, among other things, forms the interior of the prayer hall. Also, there are other interesting details – we are telling you more about them.
The Shape of the Inconceivable
The ATOM Pavilion at VDNKh brings to mind a famous maxim of all architects and critics: “You’ve come up with it? Now build it!” You rarely see such a selfless immersion in implementation of the project, and the formidable structural and engineering tasks set by UNK architects to themselves are presented here as an integral and important part of the architectural idea. The challenge matches the obliging status of the place – after all, it is an “exhibition of achievements”, and the pavilion is dedicated to the nuclear energy industry. Let’s take a closer look: from the outside, from the inside, and from the underside too.
​Rays of the Desert
A school for 1750 students is going to be built in Dubai, designed by IND Architects. The architects took into account the local specifics, and proposed a radial layout and spaces, in which the children will be comfortable throughout the day.
The Dairy Theme
The concept of an office of a cheese-making company, designed for the enclosed area of a dairy factory, at least partially refers to industrial architecture. Perhaps that is why this concept is very simple, which seems the appropriate thing to do here. The building is enlivened by literally a couple of “master strokes”: the turning of the corner accentuates the entrance, and the shade of glass responds to the theme of “milk rivers” from Russian fairy tales.
The Road to the Temple
Under a grant from the Small Towns Competition, the main street and temple area of the village of Nikolo-Berezovka near Neftekamsk has been improved. A consortium of APRELarchitects and Novaya Zemlya is turning the village into an open-air museum and integrating ruined buildings into public life.
​Towers Leaning Towards the Sun
The three towers of the residential complex “Novodanilovskaya 8” are new and the tallest neighbors of the Danilovsky Manufactory, “Fort”, and “Plaza”, complementing a whole cluster of modern buildings designed by renowned masters. At the same time, the towers are unique for this setting – they are residential, they are the tallest ones here, and they are located on a challenging site. In this article, we explore how architects Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova tackled this far-from-trivial task.
In the spirit of ROSTA posters
The new Rostselmash tractor factory, conceptualized by ASADOV Architects, is currently being completed in Rostov-on-Don. References to the Soviet architecture of the 1920’s and 1960’s resonate with the mission and strategic importance of the enterprise, and are also in line with the client’s wish: to pay homage to Rostov’s constructivism.
The Northern Thebaid
The central part of Ferapontovo village, adjacent to the famous monastery with frescoes by Dionisy, has been improved according to the project by APRELarchitects. Now the place offers basic services for tourists, as well as a place for the villagers’ leisure.
Brilliant Production
The architects from London-based MOST Architecture have designed the space for the high-tech production of Charge Cars, a high-performance production facility for high-speed electric cars that are assembled in the shell of legendary Ford Mustangs. The founders of both the company and the car assembly startup are Russians who were educated in their home country.
Three-Part Task: St. Petersburg’s Mytny Dvor
The so-called “Mytny Dvor” area lying just behind Moscow Railway Station – the market rows with a complex history – will be transformed into a premium residential complex by Studio 44. The project consists of three parts: the restoration of historical buildings, the reconstruction of the lost part of the historical contour, and new houses. All of them are harmonized with each other and with the city; axes and “beams of light” were found, cozy corners and scenic viewpoints were carefully thought out. We had a chat with the authors of the historical buildings’ restoration project, and we are telling you about all the different tasks that have been solved here.
The Color of the City, or Reflections on the Slope of an Urban Settlement
In 2022, Ostozhenka Architects won a competition, and in 2023, they developed and received all the necessary approvals for a master plan for the development of Chernigovskaya Street for the developer GloraX. The project takes into account a 10-year history of previous developments; it was done in collaboration with architects from Nizhny Novgorod, and it continues to evolve now. We carefully examined it, talked to everyone, and learned a lot of interesting things.
A Single-Industry Town
Kola MMC and Nornickel are building a residential neighborhood in Monchegorsk for their future employees. It is based on a project by an international team that won the 2021 competition. The project offers a number of solutions meant to combat the main “demons” of any northern city: wind, grayness and boredom.
A New Age Portico
At the beginning of the year, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport opened Terminal C. The large-scale and transparent entrance hall with luminous columns inside successfully combines laconism with a bright and photogenic WOW-effect. The terminal is both the new façade of the whole complex and the starting point of the planned reconstruction, upon completion of which Tolmachevo will become the largest regional airport in Russia. In this article, we are examining the building in the context of modernist prototypes of both Novosibirsk and Leningrad: like puzzle pieces, they come together to form their individual history, not devoid of curious nuances and details.
A New Starting Point
We’ve been wanting to examine the RuArts Foundation space, designed by ATRIUM for quite a long time, and we finally got round to it. This building looks appropriate and impressive; it amazingly combines tradition – represented in our case by galleries – and innovation. In this article, we delve into details and study the building’s historical background as well.
Molding Perspectives
Stepan Liphart introduces “schematic Art Deco” on the outskirts of Kazan – his houses are executed in green color, with a glassy “iced” finish on the facades. The main merits of the project lie in his meticulous arrangement of viewing angles – the architect is striving to create in a challenging environment the embryo of a city not only in terms of pedestrian accessibility but also in a sculptural sense. He works with silhouettes, proposing intriguing triangular terraces. The entire project is structured like a crystal, following two grids, orthogonal and diagonal. In this article, we are examining what worked, and what eventually didn’t.
An Educational Experiment for the North
City-Arch continues to work on the projects that can be termed as “experimental public preschools”: private kindergartens and schools can envy such facilities in many respects. This time around, the project is done for the city of Gubkinsky, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. A diverse educational and play environment, including a winter garden, awaits future students, while the teachers will have abundant opportunities to implement new practices.
Alexandra Kuzmina: “Working is easy when the rules are the same for everyone”
The subject matter of Moscow Region’s booth and presentations at Zodchestvo Festival was the concept of “Integrated Land Development”, and for a good reason: this task is very challenging, very relevant, and Moscow Region has already accumulated quite a formidable experience in this regard. In this article, we are speaking to the main architect of the region: about master plans and who makes them, about where you obtain resources for creating a comfortable environment, about her favorite projects, about why there are so few good architects, and what we should do with the bad ones.
The Cemetery: Inside and Outside
The workshop organized by the Genplan Institute of Moscow scored one of the two first places at the “Open City” festival. Its subject is reorganization of municipal cemeteries. Two action plans were proposed, diametrically opposite: one for the downtown and one for the suburbs.
Our Everything
Who is Alexey Shchusev? In the last couple of weeks, since the architect’s 150th birthday, different individuals have answered this question differently. The most detailed, illustrated, and elegantly presented response is an exhibition held in two buildings of the Museum of Architecture on Vozdvizhenka. Four curators, a year and a half of work performed by the entire museum, and exhibition design by Sergey Tchoban and Alexandra Sheiner – in this article, we take you on a tour of the exhibition and show what’s what in it.
For Mental Reboot
At the architectural competition held in 2023 in Novosibirsk, the project by GORA Architects – a pedestrian bridge leading to the town of Bor – was awarded the “Golden Capital” prize. In this country, more than a hundred pedestrian bridges are constructed each year. What makes the Bor bridge different?
Gold Embroidery
A five-story housing complex designed by Stepan Liphart in Kazan, responds to the stylistically diverse context with its form, both integral and agile, and as for the vicinity of the “Ekiyat” movie theater, the complex responds to it with a semblance of theater curtain folds, and active plastique of its balconies, that bear some resemblance to theater boxes. Even if excessively pompous a little bit, the complex does look fresh and modern. One will have a hard time finding Art Deco elements in it, even though the spirit of the 1930s, run through the filter of neo-modernism, is still clearly felt, just as a twist of the Occident.