plot, VM-housing, 2002-2005

VM-housing, copenhagen, 2002-2005.
architects: PLOT, now BIG and JDS architects.

the VM houses is an interesting project in a problematic new part of copenhagen, ørestad, which is situated so close to the centre of town that it could easily have been integrated into the existing urban fabric but which was instead planned as a suburb with green and urban spaces equally unappealing.

in general, units in the ørestad plan are very large (c. 120 flats pr building) and entirely independent of each other, bureaucratic decisions made to please investors but resulting in very poor urbanism.

the VM-houses was the only project to engage critically with the flawed plan and ultimately the only project to succeed architecturally out there.

the plans of the two blocks of flats are twisted into the shape of the letters V and M, hence the name. these are not arbitrary shapes, they are derived from an analysis of sun, views, scale and space-making between the houses, issues that the masterplan ignored.

as such, we are looking at a basic funktionalist approach, even if PLOT achieved just a little more funk than what is commonly seen in scandinavia.

in questions of large scale urbanism, the shape of balconies loses much of its importance. their triangular plan is experienced, to some degree, as an extension of the angular geometry of the buildings. they are loud but not incoherent.

www.big.dk
www.jdsarchitects.com