cultural landschaft.pt one

While I never made it to Aarhaus I did make it to the Danish village of Dysskilde. I heard about it first from a fellow American design student, and it peaked my interest so much that I eventually travelled to Dysskilde. This area is deemed an ecological village which by Robert Gilmans' definition is a balance between the human scale and an attempt to integrate into the natural world.
As an interesting by-product of the two previous factors an ecological village is a place where you can showcase vernacular architecture. This term can be boiled down to two factors what is the climate like? The other being what are the natural resources? So an eco-village would then be built by locals that understand the land, environmental factors, as well as designing in a sustainable way that uses local resources.

Dysskilde is a all year round residential kolonihave. The collage pictured to the right are some of the examples of typical homes found in this neighborhood. Some homes are built out of clay that was originally sand which was moved when the foundation was being laid out. Homes here often have roofs built from twigs, straw, or sedum this is to regulate temperatures through out seasons. The windows on the homes are designed to capture the most of the suns southern exposure. Chimney's are placed in the center of homes to maximize heat distribution.

The Danish vernacular and cultural landscapes live outside of these private communities. For example they can be found as part of a collection for a museum, and there are also individual home owners that use these styles to celebrate their heritage. 

stuck in the middle with you.

                     

One community that I chose to focus on was the Amager Faelled Kolonihave, the red. These allotments in particular have been relocated once and has had new infrastructure, the yellow introduced around it. I first thought that the residents would have protested and fought back against these new developments but through an interview I found out that they had a very nonchalant attitude surrounding their situation. The resident I talked to said that it wasn't issue for them that they had to move to make room for a preschool or to have the metro right across the street from them. I asked her how she felt all of this happening around her. She said that once she enters the kolonihave gates it brings her back to, what I interpreted through gesters, as her serene center. She said that it only helps her to focus harder on her tending her gardens.
As a side note I searched through the Copenhagen Post and found an article that mentioned an Aarhaus allotment community that was moved 40 meters in 1933 to make way for an extension of local zoo.

CPH edition: What's growing in your backyard?

The first Kolonihave I encountered.

Denmark has approximately 6,200 allotment gardens they can be found in all different types of spaces. Often times new structures are built surrounding the communities without any thought for how it will affect the microclimate of these small scale farming communities.

On Orestad, a suburban island of Copenhagen I studied two separate kolonihave translated from Dansk, to allotment.

I remember vividly the first time I encountered what was soon to be labeled kolonihave. It was the end of the first week of being in Copenhagen and I had decided to take my daily walk behind the apartment. As I turned a corner I couldn't believe what was in front of me. Right off of a busy residential road, essentially a boulevard, was a dirt and gravel path that lead to an entire community built around the principle of farming. As I explored Denmark over the next three months I drifted in and out of these communities and saw how the urban fabric was designed around them.

Names of vegetables
translated into Dansk 

Through interviews with residents I developed even more of an appreciation for this type of community. The first interview happened during my initial encounter with this new and mysterious landscape. I was approached by a middle age lady who wanted to know what I was doing in her community. As I learned from her, these communities are victims of vandalism by local teens. When I explained my purpose of being in Denmark she became very receptive to questions I asked and filled me in on the gossip of the kolonihave.

She explained to me what she grows- berries, and what her neighbors, the young couple with a new born, herbs, the 84 yr old, who gardens to stay young,  rhubarb and kale, and the man at the end of the lot who grows his own grapes to press into wine. She spoke about how the community gets together to share the harvest. Despite a language barrier we were able to point out and identify plants.This was one of many people that I encountered through out Denmark.