Light*house, Aarhus Harbour Front, Denmark

Aarhus is a Danish city with a past deeply rooted in industry. With its industrial days over, there are post-industrial areas of the city, such as the harbour, that are now undergoing regeneration programmes.

The Aarhus harbour front project is one of these. The project was first put forward as a concept by a consortium consisting of Udviklingsselskabet AF and two non-profit rental housing associations Arbejdernes Andels Boligforening (AAB) and Boligforeningen Ringgården Udviklingsselskabet (BRU) AF.

Udviklingsselskabet AF is controlled in a 50/50 partnership between Keops Development A/S and K/S Frederiksbjerg Ejendomme. Stoðir, an Icelandic property developer, acquired Keops on 3 September 2007 following a tender offer.

The design of the development was put out into an international competition for architects.

The winning proposal for the development was by a joint effort from 3XN and UNStudio. Their design offers an entirely new harbour promenade with evening sun and public access to the unique view of the bay from the top floor of the high-rise. Investment for the project is estimated at kr2bn.

ARCHITECTURE FOR NEW URBANISATION

We asked Paul Van Berkel, one of the principal architects for the project (UNStudio), what his motivation was for the project. "The Light*house project signals how today's individualisation in society can be enriched by new forms of collectivity. From design of the district as a whole to fitting up of the individual house, the project is about bringing people together – those who live there as well as those who like to go there. Like in a traditional city centre, but here with an extra multi-storey block dimension."

Kim Herforth Nielsen of 3XN – the other principal architect – said: "The construction appears homogenous as well as individual. As a resident, you will always know your own house from a distance through individual details such as balconies. The characteristic patterns of the façades reflect the reflections of light in water."

She qualified the project by saying: "Aarhus will have the most unique harbour front in Denmark with innovative architecture created especially for this place and for this city. The constructions will provide Aarhus with a spectacular and beautiful face towards the Bay of Aarhus and at the same time be safe and pleasant to live in and to be in."

It is the hope of the designers that the lack of vehicular traffic will increase pedestrian and bike traffic on the site, drawing the city towards the water.

The intention is to create a safe local environment which puts an ends to the conventional blocks and instead forms small groups of terraced houses, so that the residents belong to a smaller community where they know their neighbours.

Talking about the integration of the social aspects of the project with the design urban environment specialist Professor Jan Gehl from Gehl Architects said: "We have carefully studied the well-functioning new harbour fronts as well as the many which we think do not work, and considered how to make Aarhus Harbour Denmark's best and most vibrant urban area. Accordingly, this area will offer activities for the residents as well as for the entire city.

"We have been working with permanent attractions such as the harbour promenade along the north edge of the area, view-point cafés or a trip to the Skybar on top of the multi-storey block. There will be room for flexible and seasonal elements and for more one-off events such as those in connection with the Aarhus festival week."

THE LIGHT*HOUSE PROJECT

The project is a mainly residential development of a harbour front site in Aarhus with a signature tower (140m) and about eight smaller five to eight-storey buildings. The district will also include café environments, restaurants and open squares which will enable common free-time activities. Public access to a viewing platform on the top of the 140m-tall tower, with a 12m-tall Skybar at the top, is among the attractions of the project.

The plan for the future is that the area will be free of cars and offer perfect conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. All cars will be parked in an underground parking facility.

The area will be a mixture of owner-occupied and rental units, which will have the same architectural design (this is a planning requirement). This is the first time a Danish municipality has required such a high proportion of non-profit rental houses in this type of urban development project. This facilitates social multiplicity and access to attractive residences for middle-income groups.

The requirement from the Municipality was that 25% of the residences should be non-profit rental houses. Therefore 100 of the 400 houses will be owned by the housing associations Arbejdernes Andels Boligforening and Boligforeningen Ringgården.

Anders Rønnebro from AAB said: "To me, Light*house leads the way of housing associations' constructions of the future, such as Villabyen Skovbakken in Aarhus or the Bellahøj houses in Copenhagen. This is high-quality construction within a marvellous location which we will now be able to offer to our members."

CONSTRUCTION

Light*house will be constructed according to the latest construction standards and will be one of the first larger constructions to be constructed according to the new rules on energy-saving measures. The latest methods in sustainable construction will be applied in the design and construction phases.

The total area of phase one (pier four, the outermost part of Aarhus Harbour towards the north) is 60,000m² and construction is due to start in January 2008 with completion of the first residences scheduled for 2010. Phase one consists of private as well as non-profit housing facilities of approximately 40,000m² and commercial facilities of approximately 20,000m².

There will be 400 residences, of which around 100 will be non-profit rental residences and 300 will be owner-occupied residences (of these 270 will be flats and 30 terraced houses).

DESIGN AND ENGINEERING

The design team for the project are 3XN (Denmark) and UNStudio (Netherlands), with advisors from Gehl Architects. The consulting engineers for the project are Grontmij and Carl Bro.

In an attempt to have the smallest environmental impact possible on the town of Aarhus itself, the current proposal suggests constructing the project from the harbour, rather than from the main land (to limit any heavy traffic through the city). This would mean all activity from the demolition of the existing buildings and quays to the construction of the new development would have to be carried out from barges.

LIGHT*HOUSE ARCHITECTURE

The vision was to create a wonderful city at eye-level with nice houses on top of it. The basic idea of the design was to give all houses access to the sun from the south and the view from the north. It is about living the view (especially from the top of the tower). This means that the constructions will only have façades; the houses will have no rear sides.

In the design, the architects have focused on the constructions being attractive from close-up as well as at a distance and pleasant to live in. The tower will be 130m and on top of this will be a glass canopy of 10m to 12m, so that the total height will be 140m-142m.

The soft lines of the façades are designed to emulate the rippling water environment around them and also to provide a distinctive appearance to each apartment.