Yesterday's post closed with a location that will be featured at the Open House Copenhagen architectural event (25th - 26th March 2023). So, let's explore today another landmark that it will be possible to visit during this event that, developed in collaboration with the Danish Architecture Center, celebrates Copenhagen's official designation as World Capital of Architecture for 2023 - the Urban Rigger project (but you can also opt for a virtual tour of the structure).
Founded in 2013 and designed in March 2015 by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) with Bjarke Ingels, Jakob Sand, Jakob Lange and Finn Nørkjær as partners in charge, Urban Rigger was launched to respond to the shortage of affordable student housing in Copenhagen.
Rather than opting for traditional buildings on land, the project focused on developing accommodation on unutilized waterfronts, turning undeveloped areas into vibrant communities. The project also explores the mental, physical, social and sustainable benefits that may come from a lifestyle on water, proving that living by the water shouldn't necessarily be a luxury for the very few.
Houses can indeed become more accessible by changing the materials they are built with. In this case, BIG upcycled 9 containers units for each rigger, taking them from the excess stock of the declining shipping industry in Western Europe.
Each rigger has three floors: the irregular hexagonal floating pontoon base; three containers forming a screened courtyard and featuring one apartment in each, and another floor with 6 containers and nine apartments. As a whole, each rigger includes twelve 23-30 sqm studios each with a kitchen and bathroom.
The central courtyard features bicycle racks, a kayak dock, a bathing platform and a barbecue area. Staircases connect the containers to the lower floor below sea level. This section includes a technical room, individual storage spaces and communal facilities such as a kitchen, lounge area and laundromat; some riggers even have fitness facilities.
Another staircase leads to the rooftop terraces overlooking the Copenhagen canals as well: two of them are covered with sedum plants that also insulate the containers, while another rooftop holds a photovoltaic system. It is indeed the sun that delivers all the hot water needed by the residents and powers the low-energy pumps that provide heat.
This is not the only sustainable feature in this project: seawater serves as a natural source for heat with the help of low energy pumps; the watertight concrete hull requires no maintenance for the next 100 years, and microbes, mussels, barnacles, crabs, algae, can grow straight on the surfaces of the concrete foundation. Besides, the units are equipped with energy-saving LED lighting and the apartments are equipped with hydronic floor heating drawn from the seawater surrounding the concrete hull and circulated, as stated above, by low energy pumps.
The project also tackles the rising of global sea levels: in 2050, 90% of the world's cities will have to deal with the rising sea levels to protect the people living near riversides and coasts; building on water will allow in these cases to regain space.
The system, as you may guess, is extremely flexible: once built, the structure can be easily moved on the water, as if it were a boat, and replicated as well in other harbour cities that have limited spaces (would this work in places such as Venice where there is a shortage of student accommodation?). The structures are also built with the necessary features to allow expansion.
The project is designed to foster conscious living and it looks like it is working: residents on average have 34% lower energy consumption compared to their neighbours on land. Besides, the riggers encourage connections and a sense of community, allowing the residents to live a dynamic lifestyle (imagine opening your window and being able to jump straight into the water for a refreshing swim).
The first students moved into the units placed by the waterfront of Copenhagen's Refshaleøen (just a few kilometers from BIG's ski-slope incinerator) in 2016. The island had been deserted for over 30 years after formerly serving as a shipyard. New Urban Riggers were added as the years passed, turning the project into the coolest student accommodation in the world.
There have been several projects employing shipping containers in the last few years, including Stadium 974 recently built for the Fifa World Cup 2022 in Qatar (its name refers to Qatar's international dialling code, as well as the number of shipping containers used to build its staircases, kiosks, bathrooms and parts of its exterior).
Yet BIG's Urban Rigger has a playful aspect missing from many others: the carbon neutral shipping containers prove indeed that it is possible to create innovative architectural and functional projects that cater to modern needs and combine sustainability and flexibility with a fun twist.
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