Meet the JAJAs: Kasper
We are delighted to welcome Kasper to the team! To get to know him better, we have asked him a series of questions.
How did you get into architecture?
Since my early childhood, I’ve always been extremely curious. Roaming around on bikes and rollerskates in the southern suburbs of Copenhagen fulfilled some of my needs of expanding my habitat and seeing new things and environments and different ways of living. I also loved drawing and was attracted by the new growing graffiti movement in the middle of the eighties which maybe, unconsciously, was about setting a mark in the society and built environment. In high school, I was heavily influenced by a teacher who, in a very fluid and seamless way, introduced us to a dense abstract fabric of art, architecture, design, music, and literature that opened my mind and made me realize a lot of structures and connections, that I was only aware of in an intuitive way. So after drifting and travelling, going to art school and moving to Vesterbro in Copenhagen, I stumbled into architecture school in 1995 and found that it was the place for me.
What interests you most about your job?
My biggest interest is to bring value to the users. To have the ability to change or create a built environment to strengthen and support social structures and well-being, by using a clear and playful strategy with a focus on sustainability, healthy materials and clear tectonics. I’m super happy to be with JAJA and feel the intense willingness to do better and introduce new ways of planning mobility, new ways of building buildings and transforming existing ones. Right now I work on the Mini CO2 project which is a Realdania funded research project, where we create a scaleable multi-storey building made out of wood. This building will over time be monitored and compared to two similar buildings made out of respectively bricks and concrete to bring empirical data to base the further research on. I find that approach super relevant, and I’m so excited to be part of the team!
What was it like to start at JAJA?
Starting at JAJA has been great! I’ve both hooked up with some dear old colleagues from Henning Larsen and also I worked with Kathrin, Jakob and Jan about 15 years ago, at first at Plot and then at BIG. So there’s a good feeling of reunion even though most things feel new. The atmosphere is great here. Great laughter and knowledge and good discussions on various topics. And I’m looking forward to experiencing Jakob’s wine hour next Friday!
When you’re not at JAJA – what do you like to do?
My life is somehow split up. Every second week I live with my daughter in the countryside of northern Zealand and the other weeks I stay mostly at my girlfriend’s urban place in Nørrebro, just 3 minutes away from the office. It’s a good mix of nature, beaches, open fields, running trails in the forest, bonfires, restaurants, seeing friends, music venues, art galleries. I collect art and have a big interest in integrating art into built projects, to add that extra unexpected element that might twist your thoughts. Right now I’m pretty hooked on artists Theis Wendt and Thorbjørn Bechmann.
Favourite meal and movie on a Sunday?
Sunday is my indoor football evening, where I hang out with a lot of old friends from high school and the school of architecture and eat pizzas afterwards. The friends are more important than the actual food. And a movie? So many good ones. I love all by Paolo Sorrentino. Oh, and just finished the Watchmen series on HBO.