Parking House Ejler Bille

Ejler Bille’s Parking House introduces a human scale to the infrastructural facilities that (still) occupy our cities. The ambition has been to transform parking houses from being mere functional necessities for cars, into attractive places for people and our urban environment.

Commissioned to design the façade only, we created a patchwork pattern of brick and stretch metal that varies in scale. On the upper part of the façade, the scale of the pattern is larger, relating to the vast size of the actual parking house structure. As the façade meets the street, the patchwork pattern becomes smaller and creates inviting spaces for people.

The aesthetic expression differs depending on the distance of the viewer. From afar, the large patterns are the prevailing experience, while it becomes more intricate in detailing when experienced up close.
The façade is also designed to provide a space for building and nature to interact. Assisted by the stretch metal patchwork, vines will eventually cover the building’s four facades and create a beautiful contrast between the rigid façade pattern and organically growing plants.

Ejler Bille’s Parking House was completed in January 2018.

Program: Parking house
Size: +17,000 m2
Location: Ørstad, Copenhagen, Denmark
Client: By & Havn
Year: 2015 - 2018
Type: Commission
Collaborators: Max Bögl Group, Skanding, AI Architects and Engineers
Role: Main architectural and landscape advisor
Status: Completed
Team JAJA: Jan Tanaka, Jakob S. Christensen, Kathrin Gimmel, Jonathan Hansen, Giacomo Pizzo, Peter Jørgensen

Gradient scale

The scale of the patchwork pattern varies from large on the upper part of the façade, relating to the size of the structure and its urban environment, to a smaller human scale where the façade meets the ground.

Gradient scale

The scale of the patchwork pattern varies from large on the upper part of the façade, relating to the size of the structure and its urban environment, to a smaller human scale where the façade meets the ground.

Structure and nature

The expression of the façade is a continually morphing play between sharpness and softness, the structural and the organic. Plant vines growing on all façades adds a contrasting element and allows time to be an active co-creator of the experience of the building.

Structure and nature

The expression of the façade is a continually morphing play between sharpness and softness, the structural and the organic. Plant vines growing on all façades adds a contrasting element and allows time to be an active co-creator of the experience of the building.

Program: Parking house
Size: +17,000 m2
Location: Ørstad, Copenhagen, Denmark
Client: By & Havn
Year: 2015 - 2018
Type: Commission
Collaborators: Max Bögl Group, Skanding, AI Architects and Engineers
Role: Main architectural and landscape advisor
Status: Completed
Team JAJA: Jan Tanaka, Jakob S. Christensen, Kathrin Gimmel, Jonathan Hansen, Giacomo Pizzo, Peter Jørgensen