Watts Abroad: 8tallet Ørestad Denmark

This site visit was for my Urban Design Journal class (I will be spending a good deal of my two week break finishing homework from this class. Like the site plan, section, elevation for this site, etc.).
This is 8tallet in Ørestad. Ørestad is just south of the city in between town and the airport. Clearly from the picture, this site is largely undeveloped for now. That will be short lived.
Like Portland, Copenhagen has started the practice of planned development; you throw a light rail line in, start establishing some infrastructure, and then develop around it. This form of development has some pluses and minuses.
On the up side, development is planned and not just haphazard. This makes it easy to protect wildlife areas, control zoning, create efficient mass transit, bring employment to an area, and make sure there is space for living, working, and playing. A good master plan will establish boundaries and help architects and developers to be respectful of the site and the people/buildings that interact with that space.
One the down side, there are usually many developers and starcitects that like to showcase what they can do. This creates a glammy kind of area that is usually way out of scale with its inhabitants. The master plan is usually not thorough enough and doesn't always do the job that it was supposed to do. Then, of course, there is the sometimes unfounded belief that if you build it they will come. Lastly, as Jan Gehl points out in an article about Ørestad for the N.Y.Times, places like this lack history and don't really fit in with the scheme of the city.
Enough talk. Let's look at pictures.

This is a nursing home they are putting in between the train stop and 8tallet. Here you can see the side walk, nice sized bike lane, and the street. This photo has more contrast between the greys than I remember. I think this is another example of the unsafeness of Copenhagen.

This would be that kind of glam-like architecture I was speaking of. Very Doctor Suess.

Ample bike parking. My professor often pontificates on the subject of the "4 second facade". I believe he picked this up from working for Jan Gehl. The idea is that as people are walking they want to see something new about every four seconds. The medieval city facade are a good example as is the interior of a mall. The exterior of 8tallet is not a great example of this.

The layout of the building.

Covered entry into the more private space of the 8tallet courtyard.

Smaller of the two main courtyards.
I don't know if the Danes are so fascinated with mounds because their country is pretty flat, but they are in EVERY new urban space. I am reserving judgement for the time being.

Second and larger courtyard.

This is one flaw of ground floor living. Great for voyeurs!

Sara offers some scale for the site.

Green roof. Far more interesting than asphalt.

Off in the distance are some farm lands. In the foreground is red workout equipment. Of course, I went and played on it, and I only got hurt once!

A view back at the building from the outdoor workout area.

The outside, top edge of the building has a staircase with side entry points to certain units. Too many steps for this gal. It should be noted that most of these units were empty.