Sømærk

On the Teglholmen Island in Sydhavnen (the Southern Harbour), a new housing area is taking shape. Sømærk refers to a navigation mark, the project consists of 118 flats, half social housing and half private, and a communal house. Result of a 2003 competition which had an unusual brief: the CPH harbour authorities had donated an area of water for the competition as they wanted a model project to boost development. The money saved from not having to buy land could instead pay for a large landfill that would accommodate buildings and cars. The proposal was to forget the landfill and to build an artificial island in the form of a one-story parking house to get rid of the cars that plague the spaces between our houses and to get closer to the water. The spaces between the houses and the wooden decks around the parking island encourage swimming, fishing, kayaking - and the great thing was that when the first residents moved in this spring, there were people fishing from their balconies.