The answer was something unique. “A place where the cuisine is based on the Italian virtues and combines them with the Japanese. It does not exist in Denmark. Both kitchens focus on simple, good ingredients and don’t combine a whole lot of different flavors — they keep it simple,” explained Andrea Calducci, Head Chef of the new Restaurant Levi, in an interview with European media.

Calducci, a renowned chef who has run prestigious restaurants in Shanghai, London, and Dubai, was persuaded to come to Denmark by Restaurant Levi founders Jesper Boelskifte and Peter Trauboth. They named their new place, built out of a former parking garage, after their muse, famed Italian grappa master Romano Levi.

“Romano Levi managed to create his very own universe, where both the product and the packaging were completely unique,” the owners say on their website. “That’s what we strive for with Levi. We want to make something completely clean and personal — a restaurant and a kitchen that doesn’t hide behind anything.”

The fusion of Japanese and Italian food is meant to be a seductive surprise with every visit. “Every time we (re)visit the honest and simple Italian cuisine, we are overwhelmed by how little it takes to create an irresistible taste. At the same time, we are captivated by the elegance and constant balancing on a knife edge that we find in Japanese cuisine. We are thrilled by the exotic ingredients and the many unexpected flavors,” the website explains. “When our chefs pull on the apron, they are forced to experiment in the meeting between the two approaches. Thus, the weekly menu at Restaurant Levi is the result of a constant search and curiosity that characterizes our kitchen.”

The company’s Instagram feed highlights pictures of dishes like pasta covered in crispy octopus, lamb, and artichoke in a salty Japanese broth, and fine cuts of wagyu beef over risotto.

The bistro’s interior design was crafted by restaurant partner Johannes Torpe with an eye towards the warmth and comfort of old Italy and the sophistication of Japan. The color scheme of jade green and natural wood is soothing and sumptuous. The custom banquettes curve around the restaurant, flanked by window views of the bicycle-lined avenue of inner-city Copenhagen. The green-swirled marble countertops and the terrazzo floors bring in extra Italian flair. Public reception has also been overwhelmingly positive. Since its opening in March, Restaurant Levi has boasted fully booked weekends.

“The future of the Danish gastronomic scene is bright. Copenhagen is — rightly so — among the most hyped food cities in the world, and so it will continue,” adds Jesper Boelskift. “In the run-up to the coronavirus pandemic, we [were] once again seeing a resurgence of new places and new concepts. The lockdown was tough, but it also gave room for new thoughts and ideas. We also felt that it gave time and space for the development of our restaurant, which is why today we stand here with Levi.”

The post Copenhagen’s Restaurant Levi is Fusion Food at Its Finest first appeared on Dornob.

Without a doubt, a trip to the Danish capital reveals a veritable splendor of design dynamism, from more famous buildings like The Playhouse, Portland Towers, and the Royal Danish Opera House to even the most commonplace spots.The new Connie-Connie café is one such place. Hip, colorful, and fashionably austere, this up-and-coming spot in Copenhagen Contemporary exudes a stylish modernism that’s distinctly Danish.

An international art center and bastion for creatives both locally and worldwide, Copenhagen Contemporary’s HQ itself is a work of art. Occupying the former site of the B&W Welding Hall, the eclectic space is the perfect blend of industrial vibes and immersive, contemporary spaces for artists and creators to display their work.

It comes as no surprise that its latest addition, dubbed the Connie-Connie Café, is similarly pushing the envelope when it comes to its creative design. Conceived by the imaginative firm Tableau in collaboration with Australian designer Ari Prasetya, the space is painted a vivid seafoam green from top to bottom. This bright hue dominates the room’s palette and sets the stage for the café’s real centerpiece: its 25 unique and distinctly designed chairs.

Dotted throughout the café and exhibited like fully functional works of art, it’s hard not to notice these chairs. Curated by Studio Tableau from 25 different artists, the café’s chairs and benches were all made using Douglas fir off-cuts provided by Danish wood flooring company Dinesen — the same group that inspired the café’s distinctive green color palette. The bar, desk, tables, and three additional chairs were created by Prasetya and perfectly complement the eclectic parade of stylish seating.

The chairs’ creators, consisting of 25 artists hailing from Denmark and around the world, were each asked to design a wooden chair or bench to showcase furniture’s creative capabilities. And design they did, seeing as how no chair in the collection is alike. From blocky benches to shapely seats, chunky, industrial benches to delicate wooden wonders, each one is a work of art, highlighting the ability of furniture to go beyond its essential functionality and enter the sphere of artistic possibility.

All of these chairs and tables are available for purchase at Tableau’s online shop — the perfect opportunity for guests to adorn their own spaces with the café’s creatively curated furnishings.

So much more than just a spot to grab a cup of coffee, Copenhagen Contemporary’s Connie-Connie Café is also a stage for an exhibition of its own, featuring one-of-a-kind chairs that perfectly showcase the Danish capital’s penchant for dynamic, forward-thinking design.

The post Take a Seat on a Work of Art at Copenhagen’s Connie-Connie Café first appeared on Dornob.

Dubbed the Karen Blixens Plads public square, this new space by Danish architecture firm COBE addresses a common problem in a nation of cyclists: finding a convenient and covered place to park one’s bike. The square features a “concrete carpet” that rises into artificial hills to reveal secure and orderly bike racks, and it’s all located next to the new University of Copenhagen.

Bicycling is considered a primary form of transportation all throughout Denmark, with people riding bikes in all weather, all year long. They’re used not just for pleasure and commuting, but also to travel around the mostly-flat country and even tote home groceries. During rush hour, bike lanes in Copenhagen can be just as crowded as highways in the United States and other car-centric places. That’s because around nine out of 10 Danes own a bike, and they cycle an average of 1.6 kilometers (about a mile) a day.

As you can imagine, Copenhagen has lots of bike parking to meet that demand, but rarely is it quite as cool as this. COBE has designed a public square and university plaza that breaks up the large space into smaller individual zones, including the domed bicycle garages, steps that form an outdoor amphitheater that can seat up to 1,000 people, public benches, and pathways leading into an urban nature preserve.

The architects add: “At more than 20,000 square meters, Karen Blixens Plads is one of the largest public squares in Copenhagen. Located between the newly built University of Copenhagen and the nature reserve Amager commons, Karen Blixens Plads is a hybrid of both park and square in one. The square has a unique undulating landscape, with bicycle hills and plant beds, and has room for more than 2,000 parked bicycles, two-thirds of them in covered spaces inside the bicycle hills. In a soft transition, Karen Blixens Plads brings together the university’s need for urban spaces and bicycle parking with the open landscape of the neighboring common, promoting green transportation, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity.”

“In collaboration with CN3, COBE and EKJ’s construction engineers calculated and created 3D projections of the iconic concrete dome constructions. The solution is based on a shell construction as the load-bearing structure. Aesthetically, the design provides a large airy space underneath the domes. However, while a shell construction does not normally have holes in it, these domes have large openings, which constituted a significant challenge and required additional statistical analyses.”

The little circular planted areas are more than just decoration. They also absorb rainwater, preventing flooding and supporting biodiversity. On top of that, all of the materials chosen for the project are sustainable and low-maintenance. The design is kept deliberately simple and free of unnecessary ornamentation to make sure it’s easy to care for.

Despite having won first prize in a 2014 competition, the Karen Blixens Plads square was only just completed this year. At least the university students can feel safe leaving their bikes in such a well-designed public space!

The post Urban Bike Parking Tucked Beneath a “Concrete Carpet” in Copenhagen first appeared on Dornob.

It’s no secret that 3daysofdesign is Copenhagen’s premier design event. This year it took place between May 23rd and 25th, featuring a stellar lineup of the country’s finest architects, industrial designers, product designers, and interior designers. And while there were a ton of outstanding projects at the festival, we of course couldn’t help but single out a few favorites.

Modular Furniture Collection – Montana

Danish furniture company Montana is known for its abundance of modern, modular furniture pieces. With 36 interchangeable units to choose from, the potential of these elements really is endless. At this year’s 3daysofdesign festival, the company debuted a brand new color collection, which was developed in collaboration with Danish color expert and designer Margrethe Odgaard. All in all, the range boasts pieces in 30 new colors, including amber, rhubarb, flint, chamomile, and many more hues developed as part of Montana’s eight-year color cycle.

Speaking about the range and her place in its creation, Odgaard said: “Montana is a mathematical supersystem, and I wanted the colors to be an extension of that. Just as the modules offer infinite possibilities for combination, the colors also need to be able to be mixed and matched so that they’re in line with Montana’s philosophy of ‘Making Room for Personality.’ But it was also important to me that the colors reflect the precision and quality that I believe characterize Montana’s furniture.”

Setago Lamp — &Tradition

The mission statement on &Tradition’s website reads, “&Tradition reworks design icons from past masters and creates tomorrow’s classics in collaboration with contemporary designers, upholding the tenets of craftsmanship to produce furniture, lighting, and accessories that meet modern needs for function, comfort, and beauty.” This ethos can certainly be seen in the Setago lamp: the quirky yet timeless fixture they debuted at this year’s 3daysofdesign. Created by by Jaime Hayon, the lamp takes its name from the Spanish word for mushroom, “seta.” It also takes the form of a mushroom, with its white cap and squat stand. But beyond its aesthetic beauty, it’s also USB chargeable, meaning it can easily be moved around as needed to illuminate different parts of the home.

Circle Chair — Overgaard & Dyrman

College pals Jasper Overgaard and Christian Dyrman founded their design studio in 2013, with a commitment to creating meaningful lifestyle objects using ethically-sourced materials. Their meticulous practice merges traditional techniques with modern technology to create unique, distinctive, and functional pieces of furniture. Their vision is epitomized in the Circle Chair, which was on full display at this year’s 3daysofdesign. Indeed, with its eye-catching silhouette, refined curves, and exquisite joinery, it’s hard to imagine a room this dining chair wouldn’t make shine.

R.U.M. Chair — Wehlers

Danish design studio Wehlers has an outlook that’s firmly rooted in Danish ideology — to stay true to materials and to be only as decorative as is necessary. It’s no wonder their R.U.M. Chair is minimal, functional, and sustainable. Made from fishing nets and recycled steel, the chair was created by C. F. Møller Design for Wehlers and makes for the perfect complement to their already-outstanding collection of furniture designs.

The post Our Favorite Pieces from Copenhagen’s 3daysofdesign first appeared on Dornob.

Designed by COBE and opened in November 2017, the first thing people tend to notice about this project is its slanted, tree-filled brick plaza. This plaza doubles as a 9,149-square-foot roof, with built-in benches providing amphitheater seating between the second floor of the main building and the street below. It’s here that the public is encouraged to stop, take a seat, and observe the events happening all around them.

A simple plaza would not be nearly as welcoming, because it would seem too much like too many other places in Copenhagen. By creating a public space that’s angled, pedestrians are allowed to feel more comfortable walking onto it from the street. Prior to the construction of the Volunteer House, the front of the main building housed nothing but a parking lot and a couple of flagpoles. There was nothing engaging about it, even though it had previously served as the Copenhagen County Hall. If it weren’t for the presence of Red Cross flags, it would’ve been a totally faceless building, set back from the street just enough to allow people to walk by without ever noticing it. The Volunteer House gives the headquarters a new identity that couldn’t possibly be missed.

“The Volunteer House has an open and inviting architecture that is in keeping with our ambition of being an organization in continuous dialogue with the community” says Anders Ladekarl, Secretary General of Red Cross Denmark.

Underneath the plaza sits an impressive auditorium. Through floor-to-ceiling windows in this space, volunteers can peer out onto a triangular park that sits between the Volunteer House and the main building. This space offers a cool spot to take breaks on hot days and is decidedly more relaxing than the concrete seating above. Further below grade are multifunctional spaces for volunteer training, cultural events, presentations about initiatives taking place in faraway countries, classes for seniors, and activities for kids.

“With the Red Cross Volunteer House, we wanted to create a place that provides optimal settings for the heroes of everyday life — the thousands of volunteers who make an extraordinary effort to help marginalized people,” says Dan Stubbergaard, architect and COBE founder.

The Volunteer House reflects the ambition and humility of an organization known for helping those in need. The architecture expresses the spirit of the Red Cross by raising its profile just enough to be noticeable, but not so much that it looks garish. With this new face, the headquarters of the Red Cross Denmark is now able to function as yet another tool to promote recruitment and fundraising. It’s a symbol of compassion that unites volunteers and the general public in support of healing the world.

The post The Bold Modesty of Denmark’s Red Cross HQ first appeared on Dornob.

At the base of the school are the common areas, including a library, three gyms, a cafeteria, and facilities for the performing arts. When classes are not in session, those areas are made available to the general public. The rooftop over the common area is occupied by a playground, with a glass wall around the perimeter to keep the kids from falling. The school’s classrooms are subdivided into four towers, each one dedicated to a different academic level: early years, primary school, middle school, and high school. All in all, the building takes up 269,097 square feet. Designed by C.F. Møller, it’s contained within in a whimsical façade that doubles as a pedagogical instrument.

What qualifies CIS Nordhavn as a power plant is the presence of over 12,000 solar panels on its façade. Capable of producing 200 MWh per year, over half of the school’s electricity is generated by these panels. The data collected from monitoring the energy produced by the panels is in turn incorporated into the curriculum. Understanding one of the city’s major commercial functions helps introduce the students to the reality of the national and global economies. Moving way beyond theoretical lessons comprised of fictional numbers, the CIS Nordhavn curriculum uses real data to teach its students about the world around them.

The students also learn from things happening inside the school. Captured rainwater is used to flush toilets, organic waste is converted into animal feed, and horticulture is promoted via the growing of one’s own fruits and vegetables.

With a student body made up of kids from 80 countries, CIS Nordhavn is undoubtedly a desired school for those parents who want their children to receive a hands-on education. You might expect to see such an institution in a quiet residential neighborhood, in low-rise building on a tree-lined street with a park nearby. But when you want to prepare the youth of the world for the future, a new perspective on teaching is required. CIS Nordhavn offers students bright spaces for learning, where critical thinking and creativity are practiced with the real world right outside the window. In this sense, the adjacent urban context becomes an extension of the blackboard.

The post Copenhagen International School Unleashes the Power of Education first appeared on Dornob.

Dambo explains, “As humans we often have a way of choosing the beaten path and the main roads. So when the municipalities of west Copenhagan contacted me about a project it seemed natural to make something which could get people out and explore the beautiful nature in hidden outskirts which you wouldn’t usually see.”

Whether he’s designing furniture, interior spaces, or huge art installations, Dambo likes to integrate the people and places around him into all of his work. Since 2013, he’s made 25 recycled sculptures that have been placed around the world. His ”Six Forgotten Giants” were completed last year, and they have since been positioned next to boulders with poetry inscribed on them. By using these snippets (and a map) as clues, travelers can successfully make their way from one “forgotten” giant to the next. With the help of local volunteers, Dambo made these sculptures out of old floorboards, over 600 wooden pallets, a fence, a watermill, and “whatever else [they were] able to scavenge.” As a token of gratitude to his helpers, Dambo has named each giant after a different volunteer.

In Hakkemosen, on the shore of a picturesque lake in Høje Taastrup, ”Teddy Friendly” forms a small bridge with his outstretched arm while sitting on the opposite side of a narrow stream. Four unemployed people, and a teacher from a local activation center named Teddy,volunteered to help build this giant, whose fur was made from the cutoffs of locally felled trees.

”Sleeping Louis” was put in a part of Rødovre that had previously attracted a lot of homeless people — food waste, pieces of trash, and old sleeping bags were found scattered across the site. In an effort to alleviate this problem, Dambo hollowed this giant out to allow people to sleep inside of him. The real-life Louis is none other than the artist’s personal assistant, who hails from Bristol.

”Little Tilde” peeks out from behind a tree in Vallensbaek Mose, an area prone to extremely cold weather. Inside Tilde are 28 birdhouses, which were inserted into the giant for birds and squirrels to take shelter in during the winter. Even an 86-year-old craftsman offered to lend a hand in Tilde’s construction!

In Ishøj, you’ll find ”Oscar Under The Bridge,” a giant whose fingers clutch the bridge running over his hideout. He’s made from the scraps of an old watermill and takes his name from the Chilean artist who helped build him.

Elsewhere, two other sculptures provide the perfect vantage points for viewing their surrounding nature. ”Thomas On The Mountain” reclines on a small hillside to look out over Albertslund. While you might think this piece is referencing Dambo himself, it was actually named after an intern who worked on all six Forgotten Giants. In Hvidovre, ”Hill Top Trine” reclines as she overlooks the grazing sheep and picturesque meadows of Avedøresletten.

Ultimately, Dambo ”[hopes his] art will inspire people to see the big potential in recycling and taking better care of our planet.”

The post Artist Hides Giant Sculptures in Copenhagen Forest first appeared on Dornob.

One of the project’s most contentious aspects has been its method of procuring funds for its chimney. In 2015, BIG launched a Kickstarter campaign asking for $15,000 in public donations to fund construction. Many questioned why this money hadn’t been included in the building’s initial budget and whether the steam ring generator was truly an architectural consideration or an artistic one. However, a lot of people still believed that BIG was trying to create something beneficial for the environment. The firm’s initial goal was reached less than a week after their campaign began. In total, 399 backers came together to pledge nearly $30,000 toward the completion of the smokestack.

Be sure to check out our site for updates on this monumental feat of design and architecture.

The post World’s Cleanest Power Plant to be Completed This Year first appeared on Dornob.

In a densely-packed neighborhood of Copenhagen sits a rather lovely old co-op with plenty of windows and nice views for its residences, but no communal garden.

The owners thus got together and formed a plan, each contributing some of their roof space toward the creation of little lawn and playground zone – conventional in some ways, but certainly not in terms of its altitude.

JDS architects created bridges, stairs, a deck and even a grass-seeded slope to make the addition look and work like any patio on the ground might, also using fence-like railings to give reinforce the earth-in-the-sky aesthetic.

Usually a roof denotes closure – the end of the usable space of a structure. In this case, it’s practically just the beginning, which was JDS’ objective all along. 

“The driving concept is to create the ‘missing garden’ at the top of the existing housing block in association with 3 new penthouses, so all residents gain access to a genuine outdoor garden. In order to qualify ‘ the missing garden’, JDSA looked at the Copenhagen gardens, which characteristically has an associated functionality. Therefore, a rooftop garden is designed as a space of functions and an associated materiality.”

“This is reflected in a playground with shock-absorbing surface and a playful suspension bridge, a green hill with varying accommodation backed by real grass and durant vegetation, a viewing platform, an outdoor kitchen and barbecue, and a more quiet wood deck.”

“The concept for the BIR, is to optimize and fully exploit the situations the site has to offer, and thereby design a potential for the future exploitation of the roof to the delight of all the co-op’s residents. It is a concept which is not limited to establish the 3 new apartments, but a concept which both creates a useful roof garden as well as a beautiful landscape for the co-op’s neighbours and city residents in general.”

The post Hilly Rooftop Play Space Atop a Co-op Apartment Building first appeared on Dornob.