Iceberg dwellings

JDS/Julien De Smedt Architects, Danish studio CEBRA, together with the Dutch firm SeARCH and French architect Louis Paillard are currently completing the Iceberg housing complex in the new Aarhus Docklands development area in Aarhus, Denmark.

The Aarhus Harbour development stands as an opportunity for Denmark's second largest city to develop in a socially sustainable way by renovating its old, out-of-use container terminal, transforming it into a city quarter comprised of a multitude of cultural and social activities, a generous amount of workplaces, and a highly mixed and diverse array of housing types.

The Iceberg Project proposes 200 apartments to be set aside as affordable rental housing, aimed at integrating a diverse social profile into the new neighborhood development. The housing complex negotiates its biggest challenge — the fact that the desired square meters are in conflict with the specified site height restrictions and the overall intentions of providing ocean views along with good daylight conditions — by remaining far below the maximum heights in some cases and emerging above the maximum height in some instances.

This gives the complex its name, and gives rise to a series of "peaks" and "canyons" which ensure that all apartments are supplied with a generous amount of natural lighting and waterfront views.

Iceberg dwellings, Aarhus, Denmark
Architects: JDS/Julien de Smedt Architects, CEBRA, Louis Paillard, SeARCH
Tipology: residential complex, multifunction
Area: 21,600 square metres
Budget: 60,000,000 dkk
Client: Tækker Group, Brabrand Boligforening
Completion: underway