The Benchmark of Hedeland
Transformation, midlertidighed og samtidskunst University of Copenhagen, Spring 2014 Lukas Andersen_kgs465, Muzdah Fallah_pnr449, Melissa Pestalozzi_xqm789, Julie Skajaa_hmr937, Rune Simonsen_ltf418, Maria Skytt_lwf816
General Concept - Area of Interest Hedehusene is a small city located nearby Roskilde, which is a growing city with many potential. The surrounding cities are giving Hedehusene some major challenges, which means Hedehusene has to work very strategic, when making plans. When we started working in Hedehusene, we found out that the city was very fragmented, with huge social and planning problems. When exploring the area further, we found out that city actually had lots of potentials, with Hedeland, as a large green area, the geographical location, reaching Copenhagen in 15 min. the rich retail trade, with many variety of shops, etc.
When choosing Hedeland
The nature guide, Thomas, took us on a guided tour in Hedeland, where he presented the history and the challenges of the area. The name “Hedeland”, comes from moor, the flat landscape, and as “Hedeland” is combing the moor with the land, the area is called Hedeland. The area has been used as a gravel pit and the lakes and water areas are the result of the graving. Some smaller areas are still used as gravel pit. We were presented to this huge landscape, where scales and the green colour was an ongoing theme throughout the area. There were a lot of things hap-
Team Building_Transformation, midlertidighed og samtidskunst_KU_Spring 2014
pening in Hedeland: model trains, bird watching, a ski hill, which had a lot of potential. But it was mostly for unions, one of the unions is the horseback riding club, where children from Charlottekvateret, often come and use the area. Exploring the place, we also found out, that the area lacked places where you could relax and enjoy the views, and not mentioning the other problems the area had. Lots of actions have been taken to make people visit the area, as the new entering sign, but according to Thomas, it hasn’t had the big effect on making people visit the area. Lack of information and awareness is still a major problem in Hedeland, and the area needs something that can give the town an identity.
areas of Hedehusene and Hedeland in a larger frame
Hedehusene
Hedeland
town of Hedehusene Kaffesurrogaten
Hedeland nature park
huge nature park of Hedeland
station area
General Concept - Signs & Benches The intervention aims to link Hedehusene more closely to Hedeland by installing signs from the station area to Hedeland. We are talking about two types of interventions, one leading from the station area to Hedeland and the other in Hedeland itself.
The Hedeland area Intervention
The installation in Hedeland are benches that interact through scale with the visitors and the landscape. We would like to play with the dimensions of the benches, making them either extremely large or very small. To make them easily recognizable from far away, we give them a bright orange colour which is part of our signalization code idea but also similar to the berries of the Hippophae rhamnoides that is a very common plant in the area.
The benches
A bench is a social interactive platform, where people are forced to sit on the same seat and represents the public space. A bench can also be used to highlight a particular view, and point out attractive places. Our bench design should also have a very standard look so that people can recognize it immediately. Our bench installation is made of one huge “XL” bench that is approximately twice as big as a normal one, placed on a hill top at one of the entrances of Hedeland. The second bench is a “XS” bench that is almost twice as small as a normal bench, placed far and at the low point of the hill from the XL bench. In this way, our “scale concept” of challenging people with scale perception will work.
Team Building_Transformation, midlertidighed og samtidskunst_KU_Spring 2014
The “scale concept”
We wish to give a new experience to people as they enter Hedeland, and by changing the size of the benches (oversizing and making them smaller) we wish to make them attractive and playful. The first bench should be oversized in order to make it visible and attract people into Hedeland, at this place where the entrance is not very inviting. It will be placed at the entrance on a little hill-top facing the landscape of Hedeland. The experience we wish to give people that sit on the XL bench is the feeling of being very small, and it also relates to the huge scale of the nature park of Hedeland in comparison to humans. From this bench another very small bench will be seen afar, along the road to invite people to enter Hedeland. The purpose of the XS bench will increase the perspective and surprise the visitors that might expect both benches to have the same size.
The Station area Intervention
The station and the square in front of the station is a natural center of the city and the place where people meet. Many people travel to and from Hedehusene by train and a lot of people pass by the station during the day. Combined with all the stores in the main street, the station would probably be the best place to interact with people. Because there is no obvious path to Hedeland from the station and many people don’t know the way, we think it is a good idea to brand our project here. By making signs, pointing to Hedeland (and the other student projects in Hedehusene) we want to create awareness to our and the other projects, hoping to evoke some curiosity in people and attracting them to Hedeland and our installations.
XL and XS benches
initial rendering of the XL bench
signs at the station area
first prototype of the XL bench
final installation of the XL bench
new groups
group analysis of Hedehusene pin-point locations ÂŤsugar mapÂť
idea brainstorming
the main concept idea has been decided: we want to bring awareness to the citizens of the assets of their town busy building phase
open house at Kaffesurrogaten
enjoy our installation
hand-in deadline
involving the local paint store
Bauhaus shopping
building-process
building-process
building-process
design, measurement, calculations
little bench prototyping
discussion on site to decide of the exact location
shift in the idea: focus on Hedeland for our intervention
#Team Building
small scale, pedestrian city
nature assets
mapping
Hedeland as branding of the town
unknown stories of Hedehusene
forgotten areas
divided neighbourhoods
where are the young?
Process - Timeline & Development of the Idea Team Building_Transformation, midlertidighed og samtidskunst_KU_Spring 2014
exam period 19th June final party in Hedehusene
Process - Timeline & Development of the Idea Our installation ended up being very different than the very first ideas the group had, but the main idea has stayed all the way. For a better understanding of this evolving process, we have divided our thinking process in a couple of steps that describe our work and how we reached the final result. step 1 - 15th of May
step 3 - 20th of May
Thinking about the feasibility of our intervention, we decided to narrow down our idea to one path focus: the link between the station area (central point in Hedehusene used by many people) to Hedeland (great asset of Hedehusene that is part of the branding of the town). This choice was done mainly because we had the feeling that the town and the Hedeland area were poorly connected, but also because of the incredible asset Hedeland is for the town.
With our first idea, we were willing to make the people of Hedehusene aware of their town. At first we discussed the idea of signs informing and leading people around with the goal of making common things interesting and more visible. Within this first idea, the aim was to involve people by asking them their own stories of Hedehusene, making citizens be part of the process and integrating their stories on the signs.
step 4 - 22nd of May
step 2 - 20th of May
Once we agreed on this first idea, the area of interest was the next discussion that had to be approached. At first we identified different locations that we thought had potentials, with a central focus on the train station. Our chosen sites were: Charlotte kvarteret, Nærheden, the elderly house, Hedehushalle, Hedehusene Dansk Invandre Kultur Forening, Hedeland and Kaffesurrogaten.
First decision making cession about the overall design of our intervention and about what location it should have in Hedeland. In order to make these first decisions, we all went on site, in Hedeland to discuss our ideas. On site, we had an informal meeting with some of the local users of the ridding centre and Hedeland which helped us to understand the way people use the area. By the end of the day we had shifted our idea of signs into benches. In addition, these benches should interact through scale with the visitors and the landscape of Hedeland. They would be oversized and undersized to accentuate the perception of the space. The big size and flashy colour is part of our signalization code idea, to make it seen from far and easily recognizable.
Team Building_Transformation, midlertidighed og samtidskunst_KU_Spring 2014
step 5 - 27th of May
For the mid-term presentation, a 1:1 “mock-up” of our bench has been set up at the chosen place in Hedeland. The same day, after the discussion with the professors a few new questions had arisen:
sept 6 - 29th of May
This post feedback session was mainly made up of discussions making our concept stronger but also talking about more practical things, setting up a “todo” list and thinking about the time needed and the left over time.
step 7 - 03rd of June
At this point the installation is well defined and we started calculating the measurements and drawing the design of the bench. As mentioned further up, the design should be easily recognizable in order to be able to play with scale and have the people still recognize that it is a bench. We built the XS bench as a prototype for the big one.
Why a bench? A bench allows a social interaction platform, where people are forced to sit on the same seat. It represents the public space. Our bench design should also have a very standard look so that people can recognize it immediately. In this way, our “scale concept” of challenging people with scale perception will also work. Why the “scale concept”? We wish to give a new experience to people as they enter Hedeland and by changing the size of the benches (oversizing and making it smaller) we wish to make them attractive in a playful way. The first bench should be oversized in order to make it visible and attract people into Hedeland, at this place where the entrance is not very welcoming. It will be placed at the entrance on a little hill-top facing the landscape of Hedeland. The experience we wish to give people that sit on the bench is the feeling of being very small, and it also relates to the huge scale of the nature park of Hedeland in comparison to humans. On this bench another very small bench will be seen afar, along the road to invite people to enter Hedeland. The purpose of the small bench will increase the perspective and surprise the visitors that might expect both benches to have the same size. How to make people go from the station to Hedeland? To this question we have not one answer but different suggestions. For example we could have put up a map whit Hedeland marked out or a small bench, built a normal size bench whit a map of Hedeland inside, build a model whit small benches placed in our area of interest, etc. In the end we decided to use our first idea of creating signs to with the same colour code to direct people to Hedeland.
Process - Timeline & Development of the Idea step 8 - 05th of June
The final measurements and calculations on paper for the XL bench have been made and a team is going to Bauhaus to buy the needed materials while one of us is creating a precise 3D drawing that will help to visualise and build the installation.
step 9 - 10th and 12th of June
At this point all we need to do is build, build and build. A few modifications are done once the wood has arrived, because of its exact measurements. In addition to building we have also been to the local - Fl端gger Farver - store to ask if they would want to sponsor our installation. They were very pleased to do so and we could further discuss the colour of the paint with them.
Team Building_Transformation, midlertidighed og samtidskunst_KU_Spring 2014
Future development of the installation
Through our working process we have ended up focusing of the link and area of Hedeland mainly because in the given time it would have been impossible to do more. If our installation had to expand, we think that our final product (XL bench, XS bench and signs) is a combination of elements that could also work in other locations, such as the ones we had interest in the beginning. If we had to go further, we would first analyse and observe how exactly people use this installation, who enjoys it most and when people use it. Once we have these informations, we could expand this concept to the other places in town and adapt it a little depending on the target group of the area. Here in Hedeland our focus has been on the main users of the place, which are families with children and young people, but we think anyone, at any age could enjoy the installation.
Communication with Hedeland Fra: Rune Simonsen Sendt: 29. maj 2014 13:20 Til: hedeland@hedeland.dk Emne: Att. Erik Juhl
Hej Erik. Vi er en gruppe landskabsarkitektstuderende fra Københavns universitet, der har kursus i Hedehusene, i den gamle kaffesurrogatfabrik. Vi har fået til opgave at lave midlertidige installationer i byen og området omkring, til gavn for byen og dens indbyggere. I vores gruppe har vi valgt Hedeland som fokuspunkt, og i den forbindelse ønsker vi et lille møde (evt. over telefon hvis det passer bedre) for at drøfte vores projekt og høre om muligheden for at placere vores installation i Hedeland.
Team Building_Transformation, midlertidighed og samtidskunst_KU_Spring 2014
Fra: Rune Simonsen Sendt: 14. juni 2014 18:03 Til: I/S Hedeland Emne: SV: Att. Erik Juhl
Hej Erik og resten af Hedeland I/S Vi har nu fået installeret vores store bænk på bakken ved indgangen til Hedeland. I den forbindelse holder vi et åben-hus arrangement/fernisering torsdag d. 19 juni i den gamle kaffesurrogatfabrik og vi vil gerne invitere jer. Vi har vedhæftet en flyer med program og detaljer og håber på at se jer.
Det drejer sig om maksimalt 5 træbænke i en karakteristisk farve og forskellige størrelser placeret rundt omkring i området. Det er en midlertidig installation, der kun skal stå nogle få uger, så det er ikke noget permanent.
Med venlig hilsen
Vi har vedhæftet en hurtig visualisering af projektet, så i kan se hvad det drejer sig om.
Rune Simonsen, på vegne af
Vi håber på et samarbejde, og ser frem til at høre fra dig/jer. Mvh. Rune Simonsen, på vegne af Lukas Andersen Julie Skajaa Melissa Pestalozzi Maria Skytt Muzhda Fallah Fra: I/S Hedeland [hedeland@hedeland.dk] Sendt: 2. juni 2014 11:57 Til: Rune Simonsen Emne: SV: Att. Erik Juhl
Kære Rune Simonsen Erik Juhl er positiv overfor jeres projekt, så ring til ham for nærmere aftale, tlf. 20 41 63 81 Venlig hilsen Lis Hansen I/S Hedeland Tlf. 46136318 www.hedeland.dk
Telephone Conversation with Erik Juhl
Tuesday the 3. of June 2014 at 13.02 (duration 20 min.) Erik was really positive towards our idea! He thought is was a fun and great way to attract people to Hedeland and that it could be an iconic landmark. With his own words, “the bigger and crazier - the better”. He liked the idea with a bench, because it could interact with people and give them a place to stay and relax. He asked what was gonna happen to the bench after our exam, and was open to the idea that it could stay for a longer period. Erik was really fun and enthusiastic as a person, and it was nice to have a stakeholder that was totally in to the project! We have sent a mail to Erik and Hedeland, inviting them to come for the opening, thursday the 19. of june.
Lukas Andersen Julie Skajaa Melissa Pestalozzi Maria Skytt Muzhda Fallah
Finding sponsorships
When doing local projects, it is a very good idea to give the local people and the local retail trade ownership by involving them in the process. We considered the Hedeland A/S and the local Flügger Farver shop, as some of the people who could help our project. Flügger Farver – a local paint shop, was contacted by us, and was asked to sponsor the orange paint. They showed big interest, and helped us getting the “retro” orange and other painting accessories. Not directly sponsor but someone that helped us a lot in the construction and design of the bench was our teacher Carsten. He has been a great help in making the oversized bench stable and secure.
References & Brainstorming
Team Building_Transformation, midlertidighed og samtidskunst_KU_Spring 2014