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BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group

VM Houses

Mon, May 19, 2008Apartment CondoDenmark2005Expressionism, Metarationalism, Neo-futurism, Postmodernism, TechnoismBIG - Bjarke Ingels Group

VM Houses seen from beside a canal, with a covered elevated structure in the foreground and vehicles along the building.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT

VM HOUSES

Big + Jds

ARCHITECTS
Big + Jds

COLLABORATORS
Plot, JDS Architects, Moe & Brodsgaard

PROGRAM
230 Apartments

CLIENT
Dansk Olie Kompagni A/S, Hopfner A/S

CONTRACTOR
Hopfner A/S

PHOTOGRAPHS
Maria Gonzalez

AREA
25000.0 m²

YEAR
2005

LOCATION
Copenhagen, Denmark

CATEGORY
Apartments

Text description provided by architect.

If people are different then why are all apartments alike?

Aerial view of VM Houses under construction, with the angular blocks, nearby road, and construction site visible.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT
Close view of the VM Houses facade, with glazed windows and projecting triangular balconies.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT

The VM Houses are two residential blocks formed as the letters V and M. The blocks are formed as such to allow for daylight, privacy and views.

The vis-à-vis with the neighbour is eliminated by pushing the slab in its centre, ensuring diagonal views to the vast and open, surrounding fields.

Residents move through a bright double-height apartment interior with an open stair and white railings.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT
Bright apartment kitchen and dining area with a white island, orange table, and pendant lights.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT

All apartments have a double-height space to the north and wide panoramic views to the south. The logic of the diagonal slab utilized in the V house is broken down in smaller portions for the M house.

In this project, the typology of the Unite d' Habitation of Le Corbusier is reinterpreted and improved; the central corridors are short and receive light from both ends, like bullet holes penetrating the building.

Long apartment corridor with a series of doors and wall lights.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT
VM Houses illuminated at night, viewed across the waterside pavement beneath an elevated structure.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT

The VM Houses offer more than 80 different apartment types that are programmatically flexible and open to the individual needs of contemporary life - a mosaic of different life forms.

Upward view of the VM Houses facade and its projecting triangular balconies.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT
Angled view of the VM Houses facade, with glass-fronted balconies projecting in a staggered pattern.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT
Close-up of triangular balcony screens and metal mesh against the glazed facade.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT
Close view of the VM Houses windows and repeated projecting triangular balconies.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT

Corner of a residential block with broad windows and recessed balconies in contrasting colors.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT
Apartment windows at night glow in red, yellow, and green against the dark facade.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT
VM Houses lit at night across the water, seen between elevated transit structures.
© BIG + JDS = PLOT

Diagram of varied apartment-plan shapes, arranged in colored groups beside a colored building section.
Diagram of varied apartment-unit forms, with a multicolored massing view of the VM Houses at lower right.

Architectural floor plan showing apartment layouts along an angled block.
Architectural floor plan showing apartment layouts along an angled block.
Architectural floor plan of apartments arranged in a zigzag configuration.
Architectural floor plan showing apartment layouts along an angled block.

Diagram combining three block forms into a single stepped mass, with arrows indicating movement between parts.
Diagram showing two block forms combined into one, with arrows pointing outward.

Sequence diagram of straight and zigzag building sections, with arrows indicating views through and away from them.
Diagram of a straight block with a central dashed arrow pointing in both directions.
Diagram of a chevron-shaped block with an arrow pointing into its center.
Diagram of two zigzag block forms with arrows pointing inward from the right.
Diagram of two zigzag block forms with dashed arrows radiating outward in several directions.

BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group
T +45 7221 7227 F +45 3512 7227
[email protected]
BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group
https://big.dk
JDS Architects
T +45 3378 1010
[email protected]
JDS Architects
http://jdsa.eu