the Vision of BispeBjerg Bakke - Realdania Byg

design program called Inventor, which
amongst other things is used to design
mobile phones. Inventor could do things
that the architectural program could not”.
Bjørn Nørgaard has this to say about these
major digital advances: “By refusing to
knuckle under and by making demands
based on sculptural and architectural considerations,
we forced the computers to
accomplish more than people thought
they could”. The pride of Bispebjerg Bakke
is in the details, and innovative approaches
made it possible to incorporate
challenging shapes into the building. One
good example of this is the staircases,
which are crowned with unique concrete
domes. If you look up when ascending
the stairs, at the very top your eye will be
caught by an elliptical dome with a window
to the sky. The firm of PL Beton in
Rønne delivered these concrete domes,
all cast as one piece in a wooden mould
cut according to a computer-designed
model, which makes for great accuracy.
Details such as the window on the sky
through the massive dome make Bispebjerg
Bakke a quite extraordinary place to
live. Inside the flats, as well, tenants are
surrounded with special constructional details,
such as the semi-circular shower cabinets.
The windows have been specially
made for each flat, using wood from the
South American jatobá tree, which has a
ruby-red sheen and a high content of protective
oils.
To China in Search of Tiles
The balconies at Bispebjerg Bakke are
also quite unique: luminous and robust
at the same time. They are clothed with
unique Chinese ceramic tiles in red and
yellow – the same tiles that adorn the entrance
halls to the staircases. Bjørn Nørgaard,
Jesper Holm and Torben Sørensen
went to China to order the tiles in person.
“I myself was lucky enough to have been
in China to order these ceramic tiles. Even
the task of getting the Chinese to produce
tiles in just the right colour was a
Chinese Tiles and Hardwood
Some 17,000 ceramic tiles have been used on the façades and balcony railings at Bispebjerg
Bakke. The wood of the jatobá tree (Brazilian Cherry), used for the windows
at Bispebjerg Bakke, is especially hard and exceptionally durable. It is akin to oak and
its structure inhibits rot.
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