Place: Copenhagen, Denmark
Team: MASU Planning (Main advisor / Landscape architect), Søren Knudsen Rådgivende Ingeniører (Engineer), Køge Bugt Anlægsgartner (Contractor)
Client: Municipality of Copenhagen and HOFOR
Size: 400m2
Timeline: 2019-2022
Classensgade Courtyard
The transformation of the courtyard at Classensgade combines sustainable water management with courtyard renovation.
At Classensgade courtyard we utilized every square meter with carefully selected elements and high-quality materials designed to support everyday life for many years to come. The new courtyard combines greenery with a wide range of recreational opportunities for relaxation, play, and activity.
A water logic
Water is treated as a recreational resource in the courtyard’s new design. All roof and surface water is collected and directed to the courtyard’s green areas via open channels. Roof water from the street side is conveyed to the courtyard through the basement level, which also houses a storage tank for recycled water used in the new laundry facilities.
Water flows through open ditches and channels along the length of the courtyard, where it infiltrates and is slowed down in rain gardens, depressions, and basins before ultimately being collected in the “lake” at the southern end of the courtyard. Here, a basin capable of handling a 10-year rainfall event is connected to an overflow channel leading to cloudburst drainage route outside the block.
Additional plantings strengthen recreational character.
One of the greatest inherent qualities of the existing courtyard was the presence of many mature trees. These were assessed through a thorough tree evaluation report and have largely been preserved due to their quality and conservation value. The new LAR system has been carefully integrated among the existing trees, and new trees and planting typologies have been added to create variation and diversity. The replacement of trees not deemed worthy of preservation, along with the introduction of new species, has ensured a natural and necessary rejuvenation of the vegetation. The courtyard now offers a far more seasonally varied and recreational character.
As part of the transformation, the courtyard has been made accessible to residents of the adjacent rental apartments and to the neighboring daycare center.
