Æbeløgade block Aarhus, Denmark
The Æbeløgade block’s 136 apartments and 10 townhouses are located in the historic Øgade district in Aarhus, neighbouring the city’s botanical garden. The development interprets the much-loved area and marks the first addition to the neighbourhood since around 1900. A cobbled street divides the traditional, often introverted, perimeter block, creating an active, communal space with room for traffic, play, and common activities, connecting the residences to the botanical garden and the wider public and urban fabric.
To make the most of this prominent location and historic context, we applied a reversed design approach compared to most residential developments. We decided to add a new street to the area, Æbeløgade, around which the buildings' programming and design revolve.The design of theapartment buildings and townhouses emerges from an architectural “sampling” of the surrounding urban context. We have mixed, combined, and reinterpreted the Øgade area’s distinctive architectural elements, such as dramatic roof pitches, accentuated dormer windows, brick facades, green courtyards, and cosy streets. Together, these elements create a new and contemporary Øgade architecture that builds on the area’s inherent atmosphere to form a dynamic and varied expression.
The dormer windows and large window sections create jumps and surprising variations throughout the facades. The roof pitches create a recognisable identity, reduce building heights, and ensure optimal daylight conditions and views. Another characteristic design feature is the buildings’ monochrome colour palette. All building elements, from bricks and window frames to balconies and from mailboxes and downpipes to the interior elevator shafts, follow the same colour scheme; a warm red, a light grey and a dark brown. Consequently, the new street façade appears vertically divided into a row of individual but attached buildings – just like the rest of the old district.
Furthermore, the botanical garden’s green and blue elements continue throughout Æbeløen and “colour” the outdoor areas. A SuDS-based drainage strategy utilises rainwater as a visible, recreational element, combined with minimal-maintenance areas where plants can grow wild and new species appear naturally. In this way, the area supports a wide variety of flora and fauna, while the many gables are fitted with trellises for climbing plants, extending this planting onto the built structures.
