Midsummer in Copenhagen

Last month I was back in Copenhagen for a few weeks enjoying celebrating Midsummer or St Hans day as it's called and photographing some interesting projects. It was great to see a lot of construction being undertaken within the city centre. One project by Olafur Eliasson a Danish-Icelandic artist, is a new pedestrian and cycle bridge called Cirkelbroen which spans Christianshavn Canal and will connect the Christiansbro area with Applebys Plads. The bridge consists of five staggered circular platforms of various sizes, each with its own mast which relates to the areas canal history. The bridge will offically open on 22nd August.

The Bryghus designed by OMA construction was also well underway and is due to open in 2017. It is a multi purpose building that will house the Danish Architecture Centre, restaurants, homes, offices and playgrounds. It is situated on the harbour front close to Langebro and just up from the Black Diamond. I'm looking forward to going back and photographing these projects once they are finished.

The first project I photographed was Cykelslangen by danish architects Dissing + Weitling which is an elevated cycle path connecting Vesterbro with Islands Brygge. It wasn't open when I was last in the city so I was glad to have the opportunity to photograph it now it's in use. It's a great cycle path that winds over the inner harbour and looks even better at night.

You can view all the images from this project on my website.

I also photographed the beautiful Kastrup Søbad which is an open air pool in the sea, designed by White Architects in 2005. It is a circular shape, gradually elevating above the sea surface, and ending in a 5m diving platform. It is reached by a wooden pier and is open all year long. It is a fantastic construction which sits so well in it's environment and creates a cozy enclave for the swimmers which protects them against the wind.

The whole project can be viewed here.

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Brutalism in Photos Feature

Oracle Time Magazine featured a lovely positive article about brutalist architecture in London in their June issue of the magazine and online. Along with photographs from my ongoing personal project Beautiful Brutalism they also featured the work of photographers Simon Phipps and Hayley Goodwin. The online article can be read here .

New Work - Brutalist Playgounds

I have wanted to visit and add some brutalist playgrounds to my Beautiful Brutalism project for a long time. I remember playing on a concrete tube we called 'the saddle' at my old primary school and loved it. So have fond memories of these concrete playgrounds. Unfortunately not many have survived but last November I researched and visited a playground that was still standing down in South Clapham beneath Belgravia House tower block. This was a fantastic playground with a spiral slide and tunnels to run through the hill that housed the slide. It was great to see the playground was well maintained and looked like it was still used. I couldn't resist and have to say the slide was fantastic! The whole project can be seen here. Then earlier this year I visited the Aintree Estate playground in Fulham. The two tower blocks, Hartopp Point and Lannoy Point are due to be demolished this year so wanted to visit before access was difficult and the area the playground is sit

Prada meets Brutalism

I had a fantastic end to last year when I heard that one of my images of The National Theatre from my Beautiful Brutalism project had been sold through the RIBA Photolibrary and was used by New York based designers 2x4 to produce a wallpaper for the Prada epicenter store in NY and Dover Street Market. The wallpaper is called Brutalista and is a photo collage of fragments from notable mid-20th century buildings composed in such a way as to contradict the real geometries and perspectives of the space. The omnipresent concrete creates a uniform backdrop against which the collection stand out in vivid points of intense color. It's amazing to know that my image is on the wall of a Prada store in New York and brutalist architecture is gaining a few more fans. Now I just have to see if I can find a way of visiting NY and seeing it for myself! Part of my image can be seen on the right of the above photo and the rest of the Brutalista project can be seen here .

JO UNDERHILL / STRUCTURALEYE

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