The Danish aren’t far off from the Dutch when it comes to the frequency of cantilevers. But the Danish do excel at massive indoor atriums (see post on Copenhagen Central Library). IT University of Copenhagen has been on my wish list to see since perhaps the origin of this blog but ironically I didn’t make a plan to see it- perhaps I thought it was further outside of Copenhagen than I expected (Copenhagen it turns out is quite small as cities go… but Denmark isn’t exactly a huge country to start). A list of far flung destinations as aspirations to achieve, I finally crossed this beauty off the list. It was worth it to make a slight detour.
Lucky with the weather so on a bike loop around the city- the ride is a joy in the sun of the long day. Amongst so many random views (see post for the area around here), this building was in fact just one of many and to be honest doesn’t really look like much from the outside. But I knew what was in there.
Since it’s a university, I was a bit nervous about getting access to the interior of the building but per usual, I figured there’s no harm in trying. Reflecting on trying to get access to a university building in LA and Copenhagen, it’s clear that the overall levels of security needed are vastly different. Even if I had not been able to explore the building a bit, even just standing in the atrium was worth it alone.
It’s interesting when we build in versus out. The protruding boxes towards the interior of the atrium always fascinated me- what would it be like to sit in one of those? Floating above with nothing but some steel support between you and a deathly drop. Well, my courage didn’t take me as far as cracking open one of the doors to sit in one, but I learned that they are enclosed and set up as meeting or group spaces.
I wanted to stay longer and admire the concept but in the end there’s hardly time to really linger. To stay for a long pause, when in those moments one can feel the relativity of time. I’ve been pondering the idea of knowing that you’ll never go back some place, you’ll never see someone again. There are moments when we think we’ll get a second chance and we never will- the present moment is truly inevitable. As I write this, I’ve just departed from Ibiza- some place I never thought I would manage to get to and someplace I don’t know I’ll ever make it back to. The practice of giving gratitude for these moments is something that grounds me in the knowledge that everything is just once in a lifetime- everything constant is perception alone.
Address: Rued Langgaards Vej 7, 2300 København, Denmark
Website: Henning Larsen write up
ofallthespaces 