I'm Moving To Sluseholmen!

Good bye American food. I want to spend the rest of my life in Sluseholmen.

An interior courtyard in Sluseholmen.

Before you ask 'What is Sluseholem?', and before I rant about how much I love Sluseholmen, let me tell you about some of the other amazing things that have happened in the last week. So pour your glass of wine and prepare yourself for the crazy exciting week I've had.

After getting lost a lot over the first few days of being in Copenhagen, as described in the previous blog post, classes finally started. There are some mornings when I can sleep in until 10AM, others where I have to be up 7:30AM. There are some days when I only have one class and I'm done by 1PM, and other days when I'm in the studio until 5PM. But, unfortunately, I also have days when I have a 8:30AM class and then a four hour class at 1PM (my Mondays and Fridays) and let me tell you, if I wasn't used to living in a studio like I do back at Wheaton, I don't know how id be able to function spending that much time in the same room with the same people twice a week.

You guessed it, my architecture foundations course! Definitely my favorite course that taking at DIS. Its a small class, only eight of us, and, after only two classes, we are already super close (we're planning on going to one of the harbor pools after studio on Friday together!). I've learned a lot over the span of just to classes, and like my professor said in class, I'm excited to see what this group eight will accomplish over the semester.

We just finished part of our first assignment which was making a 1:200 (1 meter = 200 mm) scale model of a museum garden, which will be used when presenting the final part of our project. We started off by visiting the garden and the museum, where we learned how to take pictures to determine the size of different objects, the angle in which photo should be taken, what is important to note down about the area, and that even in museum gardens, the Danes find is acceptable sunbathe.

**Below are two pictures: the top one is of some of my class and my professor in the museum garden, and the bottom one is of the Glyptoteket Museum.**

From there, we went back to the studio where we divided and conquered to create this beautiful 1:200 model of the garden. I volunteered to lead the making wire-trees. Now, some of you know that wire is one of my favorite materials to sculpt with, but I learned pretty fast that I could not make wire trees as pretty and as tree-like as my Wheaton classmate, Nathan, can. But the trees that I did make, worked, and they worked beautifully. Other groups worked on the facade of the museum, the paths around the garden and the hedges, and my classmates and I worked together to assemble all of the pieces at the end.

Last weekend, I had the exciting opportunity to go to the beach with a bunch of people who live in the building with me. It ended up being a full day excursion. First, my roommate, Julia, and I had to navigate the metro, having an exceedingly more difficult time than everyone else was (we didn't have metro passes from DIS). The machines didn't take bills OR cards, and that was all we had. That turned into having to drop into the closest 7-Eleven and buying waters to get change.

But, we did get there, and after spending all that time underground and in a stuffy train, we welcomed the fresh beach air with open lungs. We went to one of the beaches in Amager Øst that had a dock with varying heights we could jump off of (guess which one I jumped from). The water was absolutely amazing, and could be compared to the temperature of my pool at home when we first open it in the spring. Now you all are thinking that swimming in the Baltic Sea was a polar plunge, but it seriously wasn't that cold, and for those of you who think I'm crazy, maybe I am.

One of the many things I find cool about my world, is that sometimes it can be incredibly small. I've already met a couple girls who go to Smith College, which is in my home town. Most, if not all of them, are staying for the full year here. Now I have more friends who are sort of from Northampton.

Last night, one of the Smithies, Esme, and I went out because on Tuesdays, some of the bars have "American" nights, which is, what you would guess, a night where if you're American, you get either free beer, or discounts on drinks. We ended up at this one bar called the Old Irish Pub, and their American Tuesdays are super exclusive. An ID won't cut it, you have to join, and be accepted into, the pub's American Tuesdays facebook group in order to get your discounts there. We got there and the music was so loud, the energy was way up, and the two of us danced away the night (more like jumped around with like 200 other sweaty bodies for an hour). After that, we took a 1AM trip to Burger King, and called it a night, but not before making plans to have our ear drums blown out again next Saturday.

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Alright, now for what you all have been waiting for: the answer to what is Sluseholmen, and why do I want to spend the rest of my life there?

On Wednesdays, DIS doesn't formally have classes, and instead, leaves room for classes to do field studies. Field studies are where the class goes out around Copenhagen to apply what the class is learning to the 'real world'. Today, my European Urban Design Theory class (yes that's a mouthful, I call it EUDT, or 'oodt') had a lecture from Bo Chrisitiansen, who is the founder of Scaledenmark and one of the authors who helped write Exploring Copenhagen. His company, Scaledenmark, is a company that "help decision-makers make better cities" meaning more sustainable cities. His lecture was amazing, incredibly interesting (I ended up taking six pages of notes).

Then we went to Sluseholmen.

What is Sluseholem?

“Sluseholmen is Copenhagen’s new canal community, drawing its inspiration from Holland with quiet canals and distinctive façades. But apart from the stunning architecture in rural settings, Sluseholmen is also based on an idea: that living in a city apartment should be a total experience. Copenhagen’s population is expanding fast, which means we need to make the best use of all the available space we have. That makes it possible to build apartments where the focus is on aesthetics and function, whilst creating convivial outdoor spaces, communal facilities and the opportunity for collective activities indoors and out. That’s how we can create the perfect setting for a strong community.”

– André Scharf

I was blown away by Sluseholmen's beauty before I even crossed the bridge to get into the actual area of the community. Picture Venice, Italy. Picture Amsterdam. Sluseholmen's design was inspired by both of these places. As soon as I walked over the bridge, I was greeted with something that very much reminded me of one of my favorite places on earth (Provincetown, MA): boat restaurants. I immediately knew I was going to love the rest of the field tour.

The community of Sluseholmen pretty much has everything I could ever want. Streets? How about canals as the streets! Cars? Nope, just kayaks, paddle boards and boats. A YMCA where I could swim? Nah! Just jump off of the tiny dock off of the back porch that over looks the canal. There were courtyards between all the buildings, large walkways for people to run, bike, walk on, grocery stores and restaurants (boated and not) within walking distance, schools, and there were places to go swimming everywhere you looked.

Despite Sluseholmen having a 'cookie cutter' apartment appearance, I realized the Sluseholmen was like an onion, you had to peal back all the layers to get to the good inside (I read that metaphor somewhere and i'm not quite sure I said it right). At first glance, you see rows and rows of tall apartment buildings (and a lot fo construction). But if you look closer, your realize that each building is made out fo a different material or designed a little differently. Look closer, and you find that not all the balconies are the same before the glass railings allow people to customize the aesthetic of their balcony. Look even closer and you realize some of the windows are different too. Look even closer and you find that the interiors of the apartments do not have the same layout.

Don't believe me? See for yourself.

Another thing that I really liked about Sluseholmen is that it's 100% geared towards the people living there who are experiencing canal living. I saw rescue rings pretty much ever other block. While they don't have lifeguards, the city knows people are going to swim there, and can provide those, which is better than nothing.

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That pretty much gets you all up to date. Im excited for what the rest of the week will bring, hopefully some cooler weather (its been the hottest ever here for August) and looking forward to crawling into bed tonight because I am exhausted.

Wishing you all the best back home!

Lilly