Cobe, Copenhagen Our Urban Living Room exhibition, Aedes Architecture Forum, Berlin

On January 17 Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin inaugurates an exhibition entitled "Our Urban Living Room. Cobe, Copenhagen" about Danish architectural studio COBE, under the leadership of architect Dan Stubbergaard, a key figure in the new generation of architects.
The Cobe team explores the potential of the city with urban research and development projects based on a vision of the city as "an extended living room". Hence the name of the exhibition, “Our Urban Living Room”, which will present the studio’s projects in Copenhagen until April 29 with the aid of models, images, text, drawings and videos; experimental projects constructed around the key concept of liveability, investigating possible new connections between public and private spaces.

In the exhibition “Our Urban Living Room” an expansive wooden installation recalling a bookcase welcomes visitors and frames the seven themes of the exhibition, telling the story of the architectural development of the city of Copenhagen and how it has affected people’s everyday lives and social interactions. The bookcase presents a selection of Cobe’s projects built in the past thirteen years in the Danish city, such as the Karen Blixens Plads urban space and Frederiksvej kindergarten, in which Cobe does away with the traditional image of the nursery school as a single large complex representing the institution of state education and replaces it with a form of architecture focusing on the child and his or her relationship with others in a secure homelike environment. Another project presented is The Silo residential highrise, a former grain silo converted into apartments, an ecological project which has rendered demolition and therefore disposal of the silo construction unnecessary and preserved the urban landscape.
The projects illustrate the themes of the exhibition, which include transformation of industrial buildings, architecture for children, what Copenhagen might look like in the future, and so on. Dan Stubbergaard, architect and founder of Cobe, emphasises the concept of viewing the city as our own home: "Our city is our home, and that quality is what underpins the success of Copenhagen today. The more we care for it – as architects, but more importantly as Copenhageners ourselves – the better we will treat it. The better it is designed, the more people will want to live well in our city and take pride in it. This is not a matter of beauty, elegance or wealth, but a story of social liveability and urban democracy." The architect sees these as the elements that have made Copenhagen the success it is today: the city has seen great changes over the past 30 years as it has been transformed from a post-industrial city into a liveable city, an experimental metropolis for sustainable urban development and pioneering architecture.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Images courtesy of Aedes Architecture Forum Berlin photos by Rasmus Hjortshøj www.aedes-arc.de

Title: Our Urban Living Room. Cobe, Copenhagen
Exhibition: 18 January - 29 April 2020
Opening: Friday, 17 January 2020, 6.30 pm
Venue: Aedes Architecture Forum, Christinenstr. 18-19, 10119 Berlin
Opening hours: Tue-Fri 11am-6.30pm, Sun-Mon 1-5pm and Sat, 18 January 2020, 1-5pm
Lecture: Friday, 17 January 2020, 5.30pm
Venue: ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Christinenstr. 18-19, 10119 Berlin
Speaking at the opening:
Dr. H.C. Kristin Feireiss, Aedes, Berlin; Mathias Schnell, Aedes, Berlin;
H.E. Friis Arne Petersen, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark to the Federal Republic of Germany;
Dan Stubbergaard, Cobe, Copenhagen

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