ODENSE (DENMARK)
Client: Odense Kommune
Date: 2011
Status: Competition
Program: Remodelling of the Thomas B. Thriges Gade street, Odense
Scope: Urban planning and development strategy
The purpose of the remodelling competition of Thomas B. Thriges Gade, a street in the historical city center of Odense, the third largest city of Denmark, is to create a dense, diverse urban environment that reconnects the surrounding neighborhoods and creates an accessible and attractive district for pedestrians and cyclists in the city.
Along with the urban design, a strategy was proposed in order to make the urban transformation process harmless and even attractive for the city, considering its social dimension through participation, temporary actions and digital tools.
Transformation process
Several strategies are overlapped in time and work together to manage the transformation process in a continuous way. Usually a transformation process like this would generate a loss of activity in the affected area, creating a “construction site” atmosphere for a long period. The main objective of the temporary activities is to guarantee the continuity of the urban activity throughout the transformation process. At the same time, temporary activities engage Odense’s citizens and give an idea of the future atmosphere and identity of the area.
Active borders
The borders connect existing buildings/gables, defining the new streets and blocks and enhancing the east-west connections. Borders act as a limit, but also introduce activities in the area. The borders can grow towards the inner space, intensifying the activities on the streets (small shops, cafes, etc). They can also grow vertically at some points, creating viewpoints or screens.
Active zones
The active borders define five different zones corresponding with the five future blocks of the new urban development of Odense. These zones will host the temporary activities and events during the city transformation process. Each of the five zones will have a different character that relates to the future identity of the associated block. All the construction solutions for the borders should be based on industrialized systems so that they can be easily assembled. These kind of solutions are also easy to dismantle, so the elements can be reused and/or recycled.
Activities
Workshops, festivals and other events will take place at certain points in the process in order to connect with the citizens. They can be tied in with existing events and festivals in Odense (i.e. the film festival, flower festival, culture night, Hans Christian Andersen events, etc).
Digital networking
Digital tools will be used to provide information about the project, news, and a calendar of events for the public, enhancing interaction with citizens and bringing visibility to Odense on the Internet.
This project has been jointly developed and presented with the Danish landscape office Kristin Jensen.
