I hold dual American-Danish citizenship, I spent an entire year of high school studying in Denmark, and I speak Danish fluently. To take advantage of my connections to the country, I interned at Force4 Architects in Copenhagen, Denmark during the summer of 2011, after my first year of graduate school. I was focused on a single project while I was there - the design development of a public floating fish market in Copenhagen Harbor. A group of commercial fishermen bought an unused former floating performance stage, then docked at a shipyard north of city. As a component of the city's larger plan to develop a centrally located but underdeveloped section of harborfront between the Parliament area and the popular Nyhavn area, they wanted to convert the stage into a fish market permanently docked in a corner of the future development site. Our role was to envision how this transformation could happen.
The 'hull' of the stage was to remain entact as it was structurally sound and free of leaks, to serve as storage, service and preparation space for the public level above, 'on' the stage itself. The original structure had four large columns at the corners that supported a sculptural canopy to protect the stage - we proposed a number of ways in which the columns could be strengthened to support not only a larger protective roof, but access to a seating and harbor observation area. Our final solution was an industrially inspired, cubic glass and steel canopy above, with large sliding glass doors below that completely open the market floor to the harbor and the quay, plus a series of platforms that provide seating areas and harbor access by small boats. The market floor is accessible from the quay by new, small bridges and the individual stalls are able to be reconfigured as needed.
My role was to help with schematic design and development, document the existing structure, create 2D and 3D project representations, collaborate with engineers and suppliers, and meet with city officials to explain and revise the project. The experience gave me valuable insight into design processes abroad, and enabled me to more deeply connect with the country. The development of the entire harborfront is a multi-phase process, and the project was under review by the city when I left at the end of the summer.
