Innovative living space in the west of Aarhus

A. Enggaard A/S is a construction company rich in traditions. The company builds, develops and invests in urban development, focusing on urban life and liveability. 

Rooted in their office in Aarhus’ new neighbourhood Ceres town, the company is building a 23.000 m2 office space in Gellerup in collaboration with Aarhus municipality. A space of 1.200 m2 on the ground floor will be home to a budding entrepreneur environment and as early as the project planning phase, the company has had an innovative approach to creating the right setting for liveability, in a part of Aarhus that is going through gigantic changes.

“Things are transforming, and now we are looking strategically at project planning with regards to urban development early in the process. It’s all about creating the highly demanded urban life and this means that it is essential to work on all parameters. In this project, we include up-and-coming initiatives by collaborating with local entrepreneurs”, says Project Manager from A. Enggaard, Jens Skinnebach. The working community is named ‘Nice City’ in Danish and will work alongside many other functions such as a coffee house, café, restaurant, auditorium and meeting rooms available to the public. “Aarhus is our city, and we want to contribute with our ideas and values in creating a whole new life and perception of Gellerup. If you make the right setting available, the possibility of creating something unique appears”, Jens Skinnebach elaborates. 

Christian Fumz from GivRum (‘Give Space’) is the Project Manager for the entrepreneur community and works with an online platform as a means for collaborating on new visions for urban development. A temporary house for entrepreneurs is built in a unique partnership between A. Enggaard A/S, Aarhus Municipality and the local Brabrand housing association. It is named ‘the Gazelle Farm’ and Christian Fumz works with planting seeds for creating activities in the buildings from day one: “It is exciting to see more players taking responsibility in making the city work. This is about building in stages, where liveability is incorporated even before the buildings are completed, and it is quite a new approach. The buildings can be changed into different functions afterwards, so the flexibility is even visible in the architecture.” Christian Fumz also works with creating ownership in the area and is developing a course in entrepreneurship for unemployed residents in a partnership with Aarhus municipality.

“There is a blossoming of startups in Gellerup. The Gazelle Farm and Nice City can be used as a stepping stone for starting new things. It is positive how people are pragmatic in regards to actualising their own ideas and dreams”, Christian Fumz elaborates, “The project requires a great deal of trust from A. Enggaard and collaborators. Flexibility is seen throughout the phases of the project. It is an attempt to do urban development on all parameters – including the social and economic”.

Facts:

// A central theme of Aarhus 2017 is Liveability, understood as the framework surrounding people’s lives, work and thinking.

// Throughout the year as Capital of Culture, we will focus on how to promote liveability in developing the cities of the future.

// At the conference, Rising Architecture Week, you will get insight into innovative approaches to city development and liveability. The conference offers exiting challenges and presentations from among others the world-renowned Danish architect Jan Gehl and city architect of Aarhus, Stephen Willacy as well as a range of international speakers. The conference will take place in Aarhus from 11.-15. September. Read more about the event here.