AALBORG WATERFRONT – LINKING PORT & CITY

AALBORG Waterfront - Plan, drawing courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

The master plan for Aalborg Waterfront links the city's medieval centre with the adjacent fjord, which has previously been difficult for citizens to access due to the industrial harbour and the associated heavy traffic. By tying in with the openings in the urban fabric, a new relationship between city and fjord is created, and what was formerly a back-side is turned into a new, highly attractive front.

AALBORG Waterfront, image courtesy C. F. Møller Architects | Photo by Vibeke Ronnow

The qualities of the approximately one-kilometre stretch of quayside are emphasised with a tree-lined and unusually detailed boulevard to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians. The medieval Aalborg Castle has once again become the harbour's centrepiece through the establishment of an extensive green area to frame the historic embankments.

At the same time, Aalborg has received a harbour promenade with steps and recessed terraces, allowing people to get close to the water. Various kinds of urban gardens facilitate activities such as markets, ball games and sun-bathing. The aim has been to create robust and attractive spaces to benefit many different users.

AALBORG Waterfront, image courtesy C. F. Møller Architects | Photo by Vibeke Ronnow

The central activities field – a play landscape inviting all age groups to motor-activities – has been designed to accommodate various games and sports, from beach-volley in the summer to ice skating rink in winter, surrounded by dramatically angled netting and lighting masts. A series of Cor-ten steel pavilions contain among other things sports equipment and an ice cream shop.

AALBORG Waterfront, image courtesy C. F. Møller Architects | Photo by Vibeke Ronnow

The materials chosen are as raw as the fjord itself, including asphalt, rubber, Cor-ten steel, concrete and wood, while at the same time containing subtle references to the sea through wavy pavement patterns – an architectural quote of the famous Copacabana beach promenades by Roberto Burle Marx

AALBORG Waterfront, image courtesy C. F. Møller Architects | Photo by Vibeke Ronnow

For all residents

The adjacent flower gardens are a calm, slightly sunken green space with a dense planting of trees and flowers. A lush, colourful oasis for all ages, primarily designed for quiet pursuits and as a recreational space for Aalborg’s new floating harbour pool, which is located along the waterfront, next to "Elbjørn" – a former ice-breaker converted into a floating restaurant/workshop.

The gardens are divided by wide tali-wood decking areas, which along the harbour promenade turn into broad south-facing seating areas. To shield against the winds from Limfjorden, the gardens have been sunken 60 cm, and the gardens are furthermore shielded from the Strandvejen Boulevard by a long continuous bastion in smooth, white concrete, also serving as seating.

AALBORG Waterfront, image courtesy C. F. Møller Architects | Photo by Vibeke Ronnow

Facilities for children

The westernmost part of the park, by the Limfjord bridge, is a café garden and activity area. The City of Aalborg shows great consideration when integrating facilities for both children and young people on the waterfront. The café garden is surrounded by eateries and offers an unconventional play park with soft curved grass mounds, rubber banks and polished stainless steel play components, small trees and unusual lighting.

At the eastern end of the promenade, the Utzon Park frames the new exhibition centre on Aalborg’s waterfront named the Utzon Centre. It is furnished with the unique concrete benches originally designed for the Sydney Opera House by Jørn Utzon. Utzon was fascinated by nature, and his works are inspired by nature’s organic shapes. The park’s cherry trees on a bed of spring flowers and the simple, sprawling lawn are inspired by his architectural ideas – which are also expressed in his soft, sculptural furniture design produced by Escofet.

Contrast and versatility have been the leading principles in the design of Aalborg Waterfront, and the waterfront has already become Aalborg’s urban garden. People of different age and from all walks of life come here.

+ Project facts

Client: Aalborg Municipality
Size: 170,000 m2
Address: Aalborg, Denmark
Year of competition: 2004
Construction period: 2005-2012
Landscape: C. F. Møller Architects, Vibeke Rønnow Landscape Architects (since 2008 a part of C. F. Møller Architects)
Engineer: COWI A/S
Collaborators: ÅF Lighting, lighting design
Prizes: The Roadway Prize, 2011, awarded by the Danish Road Directorate

• The Danish Lighting Award 2011
• 2011 Finalist for the Sustainable Concrete Award 2011
• 2010 The honorary award Det Gyldne Søm, awarded by the Danish construction industry’s professional network Byggesocietetet
• 2010 Aalborg Municipality Architecture Award, 2010
• 2004 1st prize in architectural competition

+ All images and drawings courtesy C. F. Møller Architects

Led Lamp Spring, image courtesy Studio Toer

Studio Toer recently has created the Led Lamp Spring. Spring is a directional LED spot, that can be moved easily in all directions.

By pulling or pushing the metal wire the lamp will change it’s form and will point its light suitable to your needs.

Toer is a Dutch design studio that focuses on designing new products and spacial communication.

+ Design: Studio Toer | http://www.studiotoer.com/

+ All images courtesy Studio Toer

Image courtesy Giovanni Tomasini

Bloom draws inspiration from the blossoming and blooming of nature's elements, as well as from Lucio Fontana's reinterpretation of flat volumes in art: Like Fontana's slash on canvas, in fact, Bloom goes beyond the two dimensions. Designed by Giovanni Tomasini as an explicit reminder of the universe's organized chaos and primordial crystalline forms, Bloom wants to communicate the energy of a surface that opening, follows a geometric balance in order to offer all its warmth.

Image courtesy Giovanni Tomasini

Bloom is a product designed to reduce waste, according to ecological values. In the hydraulic version, the heating circuit, wisely distributed, takes an amount of water 20 times lower than a conventional radiator. This is due to technology used by HOTECH, which requires a very limited involvement of the masses. Moreover, the use of noble materials such as aluminum and copper, allows quick and effective heat transfers in the environment, as well as a saving of energy and performances without parallel. Moreover, in the electric version a portable radio thermostat gives full control of the temperatures and complete functions programming.

Drawing courtesy Giovanni Tomasini

Available in a wide range of colors, the varnishing is done with latest generation plants, and by using eco-friendly paints. Moreover, handmade sheeting in gold, silver or copper leaf are offered, according to Italian artisan tradition.

A design inspired by art and nature with a strong semiotic meaning and an advanced exclusive technology that ensures high performances and low consumptions; the use of noble materials and precious finishing details, assembled with the meticulous care that only "Made in Italy" can give you: all this is BLOOM.

100% Italian design by Giovanni Tomasini.

+ About Giovanni Tomasini

Giovanni Tomasini was born in 1985 in Brescia – ITALY. He graduated in Design at the LABA in Brescia 2009, he won several design awards and exhibited in Milan "fuorisalone circuit" in 2010 and 2011. Is included in the annual talent of young Italians in the World 2010 "YOUNG BLOOD". In September 2010 he joined the Machinalmpresa: a group of 12 young designers, selected by criteria of excellence. Experts in the field of Design, Fashion, Communication and Marketing.