Copenhagen has been named “Most Livable City” by Monocle magazine numerous times, but like many other cities around the world (including Seattle) Copenhagen is

facing major challenges - its population is rising fast and housing costs are skyrocketing. Copenhagen is growing by approximately 1000 people every month. At the sametime, the Danish government is trying to abolish the law requiring a minimum of 25% of all newly constructed housing units to be affordable. The developing areas of Copenhagen, Nordhavn (the North Harbor) and Sydhavn (the South Harbor), offer much needed housing capacity for a rapidly growing city, but there is a fear that these areas will mostly cater to a single demographic, middle aged professionals, who can afford big apartments by the waterfront. The term “yuppie ghetto” has frequently been used to describe this possible worst-case scenario.

So how can Copenhagen, or any growing city for that matter, achieve true diversity, offer attractive and affordable housing for a wide range of people, and continue to densify, without sacrificing its quality of life? How can we make sure that Copenhagen will stay livable and inclusive for a mix of all types of people? In the response to these questions, the mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, has started a campaign called #KøbenhavnForAlle, or “Copenhagen For All.” Its purpose is to ensure that regular people with an average income are not priced out of the city by providing housing for all kinds of people: young and old, rich and poor.

The goal of this studio was to examine how we might address this challenge through the themes of urban diversity, density, and local communities. While this can happen at an urban or neighborhood scale, the studio explored the limits of the potential for diversity and urban life within the typology of the perimeter block, the “DNA” of Copenhagen. It aimed to produce proposals for new, playful, and exciting ways of living, exploring how much housing diversity could be contained within a single block. By designing for a wide range of client types (from the elderly to families to young singles) students not only had to consider their own building, but the block as a whole - the type of community they were hoping to nurture, the impacts of their project on its neighbors, and finally, how to shape the common space of the courtyard. Given the fact that each student was designing parts of a whole, the final result had a level of unpredictability that no one could really control, just like a city. One might say that the studio was an experiment in nurturing the diversity of urban life - one block at a time.

EFFEKT is a Danish architectural collaborative based in Copenhagen. They operate within the fields of architecture, planning, urban design and landscape design. Established in 2007 by Tue Hesselberg Foged and Sinus Lynge, EFFEKT currently employs around 30 architects and urban planners.

By conducting work at a variety of scales, EFFEKT excels at integrating the built environment into the social fabric of the city. In doing so, they maximize the potential of each project for clients, end-users, and society. The combination of an exploratory approach with thorough research, analysis and professional accountability is of critical importance to EFFEKT. The firm strongly values enthusiasm, creativity, and curiosity, as well as deep analysis and a clearly defined methodology. As part of the new generation of Danish architects revitalizing the Nordic tradition, EFFEKT has distinguished itself on the national and international scene through numerous award-winning and highly profiled projects, exhibitions and publications.

Madeleine Black
Sarah Chan
Andrew Gustin
Reed Kelly
Ansley Ledford
Aaron Loomans
Everardo Lopez
Raeanna Moore
Rebecca Thompson
Anna Urban
Christian van Waasen
Amanda Weinstein
Sinus Lynge
Tue Hesselberg Foged
Peter Cohan