FIRST SECTION COMPLETED

Last friday the completion of the first section of Kauptún shopping-centre was celebrated with style - including cold beers, grilled lamb and a whole lot of sunshine.  

UGBL INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

Ugelbølle / Denmark are planning to build a new independent elementary school - as it has been decided to close down the local public school.  KRADS have been commissioned to be the architects on the project and the programming process. Here is a sneak peek at the first sketches of how the school could look like.

Website: Støt Friskolen i Ugelbølle

VILLA G - THE GROUND BREAKING

This week the first blocks for the Villa G foundation hit the ground.  Our first trip to the site during construction leaves us with a great impression of the house's geometry and its relation to the the building sites stunning view. 

KRADS INTERNSHIP IN ICELAND & DENMARK

We are looking for some creative talents to join us for an internship period in our studio - both in Iceland and Denmark. We are currently working on a variety of projects; small scale, large scale, in the developing phases, under construction, competitions, etc. If interested please send a mail to Kristján Örn.

NEW URBAN FURNITURE BY KRADS

BENCHMARK is a modular system with endless combinations fitting the urban enviroment.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS FURNITURE LET US KNOW!

BYOASE - HERNING - WORKSHOPPING

Several workshops have been held developing the BYOASE project in Herning // DK. At the moment the local authorities are writing the local-plan for the area. 

Here are some photos from a workshop we held with the planning dept. of Herning and the project´s developer; C.C. Contractor - as well as some shots from a session we had with the KaosPilots in Århus // DK. 

DESIGN DAYS IN ICELAND LAST WEEKEND

Last saturday, during the Iceland DesignMarch, we arranged a very interesting gathering in collaboration with Hugmyndahúsið - "The Building for Big Ideas" and Hugmyndaráðuneytið - "The ministry of Ideas". We held a workshop and got Paul Bennet from IDEO to speak and start a discussion on how design could be the next innovative force to get Iceland´s economy back on it´s feet. Around 100 people showed up and participated in an interesting discussion about the future of design and new innovative business opportunities. It left us all with the thougt that design, or creative thinking in general, is at the moment of the utmost importance. It was a great day and we would like to thank Paul, our collaborators and specially all the people that came, for a great afternoon. 

KRADS also gave a lecture last friday where we enjoyed telling about our latest work and thougts.  All in all it has been an exciting weekend, with lots of interesting input from the design community in Iceland, and we are looking forward to participating in it again next year.

KRADS PUBLISHED

This month KRADS is being published in two different magazines. In ARKITEKTEN 3/09 for our proposal in the CITY CHURCH REVISITED / GETHSEMANE CHURCH which received an honorable mention. In FORUM AID as we were among the nominees for the FORUM AID DESIGN AWARDS with the SKIN BAR DERMALOGICA INTERIOR project.

SHOPPING CENTRE-BUILDING SITE

Two shots taken this morning at the Kauptún building site.  

LANDSBANKINN HQ COMPETITION PROPOSAL

We were among the 21 pre-qualified teams in the internatioal competition for the Headquarters of the bank "Landsbankinn" in the year 2008. Our proposal was done in collaboration with aart Architects and LW-Planning. The winning entrys have finally been announced so now we are free to put our propsal on the web. Here are a couple of images -the whole project will be published next week on our webmag.

MODULAR BENCH

We are working on a urban furniture design based on a modular concept. The MODULAR BENCH can be used in various configurations employing the same basic unit.

GALTEN DOWNTOWN BUILDING PROGRESSING

This week we were able to send in the application for the building permit, this means that we soon can start construction. We are now developing details, zooming in on different key elements of the building.

KRADS NOMINATED FOR THE FORUM-AID AWARDS

We are honored to be among the finalists in this years Forum Aid Awards with our projekt for Dermalogica;  Skin Bar & Clinic.  The award ceremony will take place at the Rival Theatre in Stockholm on February 3.  Read more about Forum Aid Awards and the international jury.

NEW PROJECTS ON THE WEBMAG

Just updated our webmag with 2 new projects. You can now see our proposal for Union Station in Chicago and the project for Gethsemane Church, a competition which we were awarded "honorable mention" in. More to come in the next couple of weeks. Check it out by clicking the magazine here in the upper right corner.

RETURN FROM ICELAND

This past weekend we all gathered in Iceland.  We spend 4 days workshopping on a competition, planning ahead and finished the weekend by driving the old Volvo around Reykjavik and checking out all the KRADS building sites.  Things are actually getting build and it is great to see the progress.  We only had time to visit a few of the villas and the Kauptun shopping center.  The pictures show the great geometry of the roofs overhang and the the loading bays ready for concrete. 

BACK FROM HOLIDAYS AND UP TO SPEED

The office in Reykjavik and the office in Århus are both up to full speed again, doing projects. We are now feeling at home in the now office space in Reykjavik downtown, after moving in at the end of december. We are excited to meet and get to know our new interns starting at the office in february to spend the spring term 09 at KRADS.

KRADSMAS CARD 2008 - MERRY X-MAS

This is the two winning x-mas cards, in the KRADS x-mas card competition 2008 - congratulation to Kennet and Kristoffer and MERRY X-MAS to all of you.

KRADS GETS "HONORABLE MENTION"

KRADS is awarded "honorable mention" in the competition "Nyt liv i bykirken".  We participated  at a crowded award ceremony at Gethsemane Church wednesday afternoon.  

EXTRACT FROM THE COMPETITION TEXT.

THE CHURCH WITHIN THE CITY & THE CITY WITHIN THE CHURCH
The city church is evolving - not under closure... The future offers a strong relation between the cityscape and the internal space of the church. The activity and life within the church should reflect the surrounding society. The church will contribute to the multiplicity and balance of society in a positive manner. The contribution is based on the idea of openness and the basic compassionate values and principles of the church. The space and function of the church is not under closure but is evolving in sync with it’s surroundings.

A focus on open-mindedness, humanity within the church and the dynamics and diversity of the city, will position the modern city church as a cultural hub and again include it in the social and cultural awareness of the citizens. The city church is a historically founded asset in the future evolution of the city.

Based on the qualities of the city and the church, future relations between Lithauns Square and Gethsemane Church will blossom. Lithauns Square, partly sport grounds and partly a park, has direct physical relations to the nearby elementary school and recreation center. Lithauns Square is bussing with activity and reflects the diversity of Vesterbro.

Gethsemane Church is situated just next to Lithauns Square. The physical and mental boundary between church and square can nevertheless seem difficult to overcome. If the boundaries are overcome a new field of possibilities emerges and relations between city and church will blossom and the two will nourish each other.

LINK TO AA AND THE JURY'S REVIEW.

KRADS AT A ROUNDTABLE TALK AT LYNFABRIKKEN

KRADS (Mads) participated in a "ROUND TABLE" talk//workshop at LYNFABRIKKEN last thursday. The subject was the public urban space of Aarhus and how to activate it more. At the table were, amongst others,  Fidel and Emilio from the great design studio WALKING - CHAIR based in Vienna  -  and of course Lasse and Jeppe from LYNFABRIKKEN. We at KRADS like to thank LYNFABRIKKEN for a great and intense evening.

NEW PICTURES OF VILLA CHESS