Inside BLOX is a photo report from the Danish Architecture Centre

/ Architecture /
The blue-green glass blocks of the BLOX multi-functional building, which houses the Danish Architectural Center, are one of the new highlights included in the historical fabric of Copenhagen's embankment.

BLOX was opened in May 2018. The building was designed by architect Ellen van Loon, a partner at OMA office of Rem Koolhaas. Realdania was the customer and investor in the construction. Denmark's largest charity fund supports urban projects, including the construction of new experimental buildings and the restoration of historical ones. Realdania philanthropists allocated 150 million crowns for the construction of BLOX.

The square in front of the central entrance to BLOX

In the BLOX central hall

BLOX became a home for the exhibition spaces of the Danish Architectural Center and BLOXHUB – an interdisciplinary innovation environment whose activities are aimed at sustainable urban development. There is also a fitness center, a children's playground, a cafe, a restaurant, a bookstore and office space for rent. The peculiarity of BLOXHUB's commercial strategy is that the rental price for startups working in the field of sustainable urbanization (urban technologies, architecture, design) is twice as low as rental offers for companies not related to the creative economy.

"Instead of placing different functions in a building in accordance with a traditional linear approach, we are placing the Danish Architecture Center at the heart of BLOX, surrounding it with infrastructure," says Ellen van Loon.

On the square in front of the central entrance to the visitors of the Danish Architectural Center, there is a panel with the works of amateur photographers, participants in the "Capture your city" contest. The first DAC exhibition was an exposition devoted to the history of the urbanization of Copenhagen. Welcome Home explores the historical houses and apartments of Danes and tells how modernism, industrialization and globalization affect the typology of housing. Here you can see models of residential buildings provided by leading Danish and international architectural offices - ONV, DISSING+WELTING, Svendborg Architects, ON design partners, walk through virtual interiors, and participate in interactive games.

At the Welcome Home exhibition

At the Welcome Home exhibition

At the Welcome Home exhibition

From the open terraces on the roof of BLOX, picturesque views of the harbor, the island of Slotsholmen and the embankment with the black mirror crystal of the Royal Library are opened. Before the appearance of BLOX, the Black Diamond, built according to the project of Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects in 1999, was the focal architectural object between the Langebro and Kneppels bridges, but now the two unique buildings are in dialogue with each other.

BLOX upper terrace

View of Slotsholmen island from BLOX upper terrace