the Vision of BispeBjerg Bakke - Realdania Byg

like that here, and that of course presents
some challenges in terms of functionality.
One could have chosen to let a designer
produce prototypes of furniture that
match the particular shapes, but we have
left it up to people themselves, which in
fact means that entirely new ways of expressing
oneself become possible.” There
was one area, though, where Realea
chose to emphasise functionality. “We
forced Bjørn Nørgaard and Jesper Holm
to design more functional kitchens. The
original concept was far too minimalist”,
explains Peter Cederfeld.
Bjørn Nørgaard has this to say about the
kitchen discussion: “The kitchens are one
of the things we are a bit dissatisfied with.
It was decided that in rental flats it was
best to have these boring kitchens! Jesper
Holm and I had already developed what
we called a minimalist kitchen, with a
great solid plank counter, recessed burners,
and a sensible, well-designed sink.
Moreover, we wanted to design it so that
people could buy modular cupboards and
place them wherever they wanted”. However,
minimalist kitchen or not, from the
outset there was overwhelming interest in
living at Bispebjerg Bakke. When an open
house day was held in May 2006, several
thousand people turned up to see the
spectacular building with their own eyes.
Jørgen Bendiksen at Kuben, adviser to the
building owners, says about people’s reactions:
“Some were greatly challenged by
the curved and crooked shapes and said
they’d never be able to fit their furniture in
there, so it wasn’t right for them. Others,
however, would say that this is so nice and
exciting and that they would love to live
here, and that they’d be ready to change
their furniture if they had to”.
It turns out that lots of people are willing to
accept the challenge of the rounded shapes.
From the beginning of January 2007,
125 out of 135 flats had been rented out.
The first tenants moved into the snake in
December 2006.
86 87