How to Bike Like a Local in Copenhagen

Biking is an integral part of the Danish lifestyle and if you visit Copenhagen, you really should bike around to see the city. It’s also the fastest and easiest way to get around. Here’s a few things you should know to bike like a local (and not get run over!)

Renting a Bike

You can use an app like Donkey Republic or Bycyklen to rent an electric bike but if you want to look like a local, consider renting a bike from a local bike shop. They speak English and you can rent a bike for the day or for a whole year! You can also rent or buy a helmet there to stay safe!

Stopping

It’s obviously important to know how to stop before you start going. There’s two things to remember here:

1. The bike you rent might have different brakes than you are used to. I was used to hand brakes (and I didn’t even know there were other types of bike brakes!) before coming to Copenhagen, but both the bikes I’ve ridden here have backpedal brakes.

2. Signal before you stop by raising your hand. (To really fit in with the Danes, raise it like you’re asking a question in school, but you want to be cool, so you raise it just enough for the teacher to see you but not so much that the other kids think you’re a nerd. Around shoulder height will do.)

Making a Right Turn

Right turns are super easy! Just signal with your right hand, yield to pedestrians, and go!

Making a Left Turn

Left turns are a little trickier. You have two options:

1. If the light is green: cross the street, signal that you’re stopping by raising your hand like you’re asking a question and stop at the opposite corner. Pivot your bike to the left and wait for the light to switch, then proceed.

2. If the light is red: you can be sneaky and hop off your bike, walk it across the crosswalk to your left and then wait for the light to switch and walk it across the crosswalk again and then jump on and go.

Where’s the Bike Lane?!

Usually the bike lane is between the car lane and the sidewalk which makes sense and it usually has bikes painted on it. However, it can get a little tricky out in the suburbs because sometimes both directions of bike lane are on one side of the road, it’s like a mini bike road next to the car road. Anyways, it’s really not that hard to figure out, just a fun little quirk I wanted to point out. Also, the smaller streets don’t have designated bike lanes and it feels so strange after biking in bike lanes for so long to bike just in the street!

Bringing Your Bike on the Train

It’s super nice that it’s free to bring your bike on the s-train. (For the metro you can buy a cheap bike ticket on your phone and bring it on during non-rush hour times. I don’t think you can bring your bike on the bus but I’ve never tried it.) On the s-train there’s a special car with bike racks, just wait at the station by the bike painted on the ground (or by the handicap dots) because that’s where the bike car will be when the train stops. On longer trains, there are specific bike entry and exit doors to ease traffic flow.

Locking Your Bike

One last note about bikes in Copenhagen, they usually just have a lock on the back wheel. Danes are so trusting and Copenhagen is so safe that you don’t have to chain your bike to something when you park it, you just lock the back wheel and no one will steal it! That being said, bike theft is the largest crime in Copenhagen and I would advise against leaving your bike in the city center overnight if you can help it and never ever leave it unlocked!

Happy biking!

If walls could dream… they’d dream of biking around Copenhagen.

Unconventional Concert House

The final project I did while studying abroad in Copenhagen was an unconventional concert hall in the Vesterbro neighborhood. In this project, I investigated the “space between” in architecture. How can the space between the inside and outside of a wall or roof be used to experience classical music in an unconventional way?

I took a traditional shoebox concert hall typology and exploded it to create space around the concert hall for supporting program. This concert house also uses alternative ways of listening to the music such as standing or lying down to create a more casual mood.

The concert hall is located in an existing park in the Vesterbro neighborhood of Copenhagen, next to a new metro stop, and with a special view of a nearby church steeple.

The materials used in the project are mostly wood and ceramic. Wooden acoustic panels line the shoebox concert hall and the wood framing on the opposite side of that wall is exposed. The massive exterior walls that were “exploded” from the concert hall in the original form diagram are made of exposed aerated concrete block (a modern Danish building material similar to CMU but the aeration provides insulative qualities) finished with brick on the outside.

A goal of this project was that as you spent more time in the concert hall, you would discover secret little nooks and new places to listen to the concert. Every time you came to the concert hall you would get a different experience.

If walls could dream… they’d dream of classical music.

Hier Wohnte…

Here lived…

I love this memorial because you see it along your daily route, going to the grocery store or something and you notice it on the ground. It’s subtlety is its beauty and its heartbreak.

If the ground could dream… it would dream of never forgetting.

Vertical Village Cohousing

My first project of spring quarter was to design a cohousing apartment building. Cohousing is a Danish housing concept where residents share common space and community dinners. I named my project “Vertical Village” because it feels like an old-fashioned village where everyone knows their neighbors except instead of the main street going out, it goes up!

We were assigned five residents (a family with two kids, an elderly couple, a music student, an art student, and a single mom with one child) and a list of communal spaces such as kitchen, dining, living, garden, laundry, workshop, game room, etc. and a public cafe. My concept was to wind the communal spaces up through the building along the central staircase and then branch the private apartments off of that.

Our site was located north of Copenhagen just past the lakes. I oriented my building to make the most of what little sunlight Copenhagen gets.

Some watercolors of interior spaces in the building. Three “light wells” bring sunshine to the lower floors and provide views between spaces.

The floorplan is a split level so each side is half a story (1.5 meters) up from the last. This creates easier connections between the levels. For example, the living and dining spaces can be used as two separate spaces or combined during a party into one big space.

The laundry room is off the living room so that you can hang out there while you are waiting for your laundry and there is a play room next to the kitchen where the kids can play. All of the spaces can be converted easily into different uses as the residents change. For example, if the single mom moves out and an artist moves in maybe the play room can be converted into an art studio. In the basement, there is a music room with a stage and a game room.

In section, you can see how the spaces are connected between floors and across the light wells so that from the kitchen you can see almost the entire building.

If walls could dream… they’d dream of living in a vertical village.

Vienna

I spent the second half of my travel break this semester in Vienna, Austria. I was visiting my mom’s friend Nicola and she was such a great hostess! I love getting to see cities from a local’s perspective. I got a public transportation pass and spent the days exploring the city while Nicola was at work. From trying to see as many Adolf Loos buildings as I could, to getting icecream on Neubaugasse, I really enjoyed Vienna.

Schönbrunn Palace

The park around Schönbrunn palace was so beautiful. I didn’t go inside the palace but I did walk around the garden and up the hill.

Wotrubakirche

Nicola took me to see this incredible church just outside Vienna. It’s unlike any other building I’ve seen in real life. A little bit Stonehenge, a little bit second year architecture student model, it was designed by Fritz Gerhard Mayr in the 1970s.

Palmenhaus

Nicola and I went to this adorable little cafe in a palm house and had the most delicious tea and cake!

Hundertwasser House

Another random architectural pilgrimage I went on was to the Hundertwasser House. There were tourists everywhere taking selfies but it was a really interesting building and I’m glad I got to see it in real life.

Vienna Opera House

I saw the outside of the Vienna Opera House with Nicola and it was so beautiful. I went to a classical music concert at the Musikverein, but I totally forgot to take a picture! I got a ticket in the standing section for only 5 euros! It was an incredible experience and I would advise anyone visiting Vienna to go. At first, it’s really crowded and uncomfortable but after intermission, a lot of the tourists leave and you can get a better view. Wear comfortable shoes though, it’s a long time to be standing!

Vienna University

Zaha Hadid Architects designed this library for Vienna University. The entire campus is very new with lots of modern architecture and it was fun to see a Zaha building, it was just as crazy as I would’ve expected with lots of angles and curves.

Leopold Museum

Museum Quarter in Vienna has a lot of wonderful museums. I visited the Leopold Museum and Architekturzentrum Wien (the Vienna Architecture Center) which had an exhibition about Denise Scott Brown.

Gasometer

This unique adaptive reuse project converted four former gas tanks from the 1890s into a mixed use residential and commercial center. The brick facades were beautiful and so unique.

Erste Campus

There are hidden architectural gems all over Vienna! Another one to visit if you’re nearby is the Erste Campus.

Belvedere Gardens

Beautiful sunset at the Belvedere Gardens. I loved my time in Vienna and thought it was such a beautiful and livable city.

If walls could dream… they’d dream of a city full of palaces and beautiful architecture! And pretzels!

Toast?

I had been wondering why toast is so expensive and such a big deal here. I know that Denmark is famous for its open faced sandwiches called smørrebrød (and it’s probably offensive to call smørrebrød toast), but I wasn’t sure what the hype around toast was. Until today.

The church I go to has an open cafe after the service where they sell a little meal, usually hot dogs or waffles or something like that, and drinks. Today they were selling toast. I thought it was kind of boring that they were just selling toast but I decided to check it out anyways.

I found out that “toast” actually means a grilled cheese! And usually grilled cheese with ham too. Isn’t language funny. So if you order “toast” in Denmark, you’ll get a grilled cheese, but in order to get toast, you’d have to order a smørrebrød!

I was talking with a Danish friend about this and he thought it was funny we call it a grilled cheese because from the name, he would expect it to just be cheese, without bread. I guess it’s short for a “grilled cheese sandwich” which would be a cheese sandwich that was grilled.

My final question is, what do Danes call a single slice of bread toasted with butter and/or jam? Upon asking another Danish friend, I discovered that it’s a very complicated question to answer. Toasted bread is called “ristet toastbrød” (literally: grilled toast bread). If you put butter on it, it becomes ristet toastbrød med smør (grilled toast bread with butter).

Are you just as confused as I am? Here’s a handy chart:

If you’ve read this far you must either be really into toast etymology, or really hungry, or both! So go make yourself a grilled cheese or a smørrebrød or a toast. Whatever you want to call it, I think we can all agree that it’s delicious!

Another quirky story about cheese sandwiches before I leave you. On my study tour in the Netherlands this semester, we had to catch a really early bus and we didn’t have time to get breakfast so our hotel made us breakfast packs which was super nice of them but it was the most random food! We all got sandwiches with three slices of bread… Not sure if it was supposed to be three toasts or a sandwich and a toast or just a really big sandwich… and a capri sun and an apple!

If walls could dream… they’d dream of toast!

Copenhagen Zoo

It’s spring at the Copenhagen Zoo and there are plenty of adorable baby animals to see!

The baby polar bear definitely stole the show!

Look closely, can you see the joey in this momma kangaroo’s pouch?

These lion cubs are a triple threat!

There were also plenty of adorable human babies in their cute little snowsuits!

No red panda babies, but the adults are just as cute!

If walls could dream… they’d dream of visiting the zoo!

Fastelavn

Fastelavn is a Scandinavian holiday the Sunday before Lent. It’s kind of like Halloween in that kids dress up in costumes but they hit a pinata for candy instead of going trick or treating. My favorite thing about Fastelavn, however, is the special pastry that is only available this time of year: the fastelavnsboller! Traditionally, it is a sweet roll filled with creme and topped with chocolate, but bakeries today have many flavor variations. I set out on a mission to find the best fastelavnsboller in Copenhagen!

In third place is Emmery’s. This organic fastelavnsboller had a delicious apple filling. It wasn’t too expensive, especially with my student discount!

In second place is Lagkagehuset. This raspberry fastelavnsboller had a flakey croissant exterior and a creamy, fruity filling. It was the messiest to eat and also the most expensive! 

 

And the winner is…. Sankt Peder’s! This traditional fastelavnsboller had a sweet creme filling inside a soft bun topped with decadent chocolate. It was also the cheapest of the three, so it gets bonus points there!

 

If walls could dream… they’d dream of Faselavn celebrations!

Haikus for Copenhagen

If walls could dream... well...
On haikus their thoughts might dwell
As asleep they fell

Langelinie Restaurant Design

My architecture studio project for my fall semester at DIS Copenhagen was to design a restaurant on the Langelinie pier.

The main idea for my design is a long ramp-like roof that allows people to hang out in the sun (in the summer) so that no public space is lost in making this restaurant. Tucked under the ramp/roof is a small icecream stand, bike parking, public restrooms, and the main restaurant.

One thing I played with in this design was the rhythm of the built elements. Taking ques from the Barcelona Pavilion and Myyrmäki Church, I arranged the walls and ceilings under the ramp/roof in an almost haphazard way, creating a variety of different unique spaces. If this building were a piece of music, the ramp/roof would be the steady beat and the restaurant walls/ceilings would be the varying melody.

I had one of the most fun and memorable studios ever this semester thanks to the wonderful people in my studio and our amazing professor, Søren. I learned a lot this semester. My watercoloring improved a bunch. I learned how big a meter is. But most of all, I learned how to let go of my expectations for the end result and trust the process the get me there. I don’t know how to explain it really, but I’m not as intimidated by a blank piece of paper and not so worried about making mistakes.

If walls could dream… they’d dream of sunny summer days at Langelinie pier.