Normally, playing in the street is dissuaded – but what about making art in the street?
On Wednesday, the Urban Design Foundations Studio course joined eighth-grade students from Blågård Skole to participate in Park(ing) Day – a worldwide event where artists transform parking spots into temporary ‘public parks.’
DIS faculty member Rasmus Frisk presented the parking spot in front of his architecture firm, arki_lab, to use as their day-long project. Throughout the field study, his Urban Design students built the exhibit alongside young students from Blågård Skole, who had already been in collaboration with arki_lab to identify solutions to current problems in public spaces around Copenhagen.
Throughout the day, the group discussed what they like and do not like about Copenhagen’s urban design. When asked about the goal of the interaction between DIS and Blågård Skole students, Rasmus explained that it broke down social barriers and gave DIS students an understanding of the design process, in which a prototype is tested before it is implemented.
“To understand another culture, you need to work with another culture – and then conversations emerge. My students were able to talk about what works with the younger students, which gave them an understanding of the democratic Scandinavian approach to urban design, where we test things out 1:1 before implementation.”
DIS students incorporated ideas from the Blågård Skole students into the parking spot, such as multifunctional benches and a miniature house for private space. Physical installations such as trees and experimental trashcans were also a part of the park. Additionally, throughout conversations, DIS students were able to gather information for their semester-long project of redesigning Balders Square in Nørrebro.
Following up on the Wednesday field study, arki_lab hosted a reception to showcase their final product. Mayor of Technical and Environmental Affairs, Morten Kabell, gave a speech at the event, and encouraged the students to continue to implement solutions to the problems they see in urban spaces.
Following the discussion, DIS students networked and socialized with employees of arki_lab and each other. It was an exciting celebration for the collaboration and final product!
