Journal

Unfortunately car parks are a concrete reality of modern urban life. They've cemented themselves into our cities and they're not going away any time soon. Usually they're joyless, functional structures but in Copenhagen I found two examples that do more than most to give something back.

The Opera Park by Cobe, is a basement car park adjacent to the Danish Royal Opera, although the casual passer-by could easily miss it. Extending over the basement car park is a beautifully planted waterfront public park within which sits a curved glass pavilion housing a cafe. Upon entering, the cafe reveals a surprise; a curvaceous sunken garden, cascading with planting, descends three storeys down drawing natural light and greenery down to the parking levels. The impact on the car park is remarkable while the park delivers additional breathing space for the city.

In the emerging Nordhavn development, JAJA Architects have designed a multi-storey car park which appears relatively conventional with planted walls helping to soften its mass. Yet two bright red stairs extending Pompidou-like along its elevations hint at something more. These stairs (together with lifts) provide access to a striking red play area and public space which occupy the roof, offering great views across the surrounding area. You might say that a play area several storeys up isn't ideal but on the day I visited it was being well used.

Like so much here, the boring, the mundane, the functional - the things that are often pushed to the margins and ignored - are given extra consideration. Architects are given license to use their imagination and skills to translate them into positive assets that contribute to the city.