Meet the JAJAs: Kaspar

Kaspar started as an intern at JAJA back in 2015 and joined our team again last year. Lately, he has been deeply involved in projects such as Korneuburg, Nypappen, Bagsværd Observation Home, and our latest win RA Gate. To get to know him better, we have asked him a series of questions.

How did you get into architecture?

To some extent, I didn’t even have to get into architecture myself, as my parents are both architects and have an office together. So it was part of my everyday life from the beginning and I would join them on construction site visits or come by the office after school and play around in the model workshop etc.

I think it made a big impression on me – even without really understanding it back then – to see the whole process from sketch to model to construction to the big opening day. So at some point during high school, I decided that I wanted to do the same and learn more about it.

What interests you most about your job?

To me, one of the best things about architecture (and about JAJA), is the opportunity to work on very different scales – you can work on larger strategies on a city level or on master plans and public spaces on a neighborhood scale and in the end, you get the chance of designing the spaces or buildings for our actual everyday life in detail and make sure that we as architects provide a healthy, sustainable and engaging surrounding for everyone. I strongly believe that architecture and urban planning have a societal function and can bring people together through participation, design and materiality.

What was it like to start at JAJA?

Amazing, as always! It wasn´t the first time I started at JAJA as I already did an internship at the office almost six years ago. A lot of things changed of course, but some things are still very familiar – some of the colleagues, the friendly and very open-minded atmosphere we have between us and having a sunny lunch on the roof terrace etc. I got to work on exciting projects & competitions from the start and just overall enjoy being part of JAJA again.

When you’re not at JAJA – what do you like to do?

I´m a somewhat outdoorsy person, but not the biggest fan of grey weather, so the winter is sometimes a bit tricky for me. In general, I like to go cycling outside of the city, in summer I´m swimming a lot and I love hiking, which in Denmark means to go on long, very flat (but still beautiful) walks. These days, on the other hand, I spend a lot of cozy time at home and me and my girlfriend try to cook a lot of things we haven’t tried before, go to the cinema when possible, read books and I go to indoor volleyball once in a while.

Favourite meal and movie on a Sunday?

Movie wise it´s ideally science fiction or something a bit dystopian – even if that means to watch something a second time. Movies like Arrival or Ex Machina always work.

The meal is probably a new recipe in one of our Ottolenghi books and there are so many good ones, that it takes a while to try everything.