Bikuben Student Residence, Copenhagen by Aart

Project: Student Residence of the future. 107 hostel residences with common functions. Total consulting services. Best project in international closed architecture competition.
Client: Bikubens Kollegiefond
Architect: aart a/s
Landscape architect: aart a/s
Engineer: Rambøll
Address: Njalsgade, Ørestad North, Copenhagen
Year: 2003-06
Total Area: Approx. 7,000m2
Status: Built

Loneliness and lack of social relations are major problems for many students. Bikuben student residence provides the framework for the study years and improves the possibilities of a community spirit emerging in a widespread social network.

The main shape is very serene and conveys in itself the hostel’s founding principles of community and equality. To provide the greatest possible contact between common and private rooms, while at the same time ensuring the privacy of each residence, the residences and the common rooms are connected in a double spiral surrounding an atrium. Thus, the limitations of the student’s living quarters are widened to incorporate the entire building and the social contact areas, and the freedom of the individual is considered to a maximum degree.

Concrete tectonics and social responsibility merge, and the building is embedded in its place and alters its conditions. The main shape of the building is clarified in its design and holds in it the fundamental idea of unity and equality. The living quarters of the students and the common rooms are connected in a double spiral that surrounds an enlightened courtyard. This provides direct contact and visibility between common and private space and at the same time ensures the student’s privacy. Architecture and the sense of social responsibility intertwine and the building is captured by the context of the site, and changes its conditions.

Tags: Copenhagen, landscape architect