Building Communities. Vandkunsten’s Lines of Thought

Abstract

The Danish collective Vandkunsten adopts graphic resources capable of expressing their deep social convictions. The pioneering low-rise, high-density residential communities in Tinggården, Herfølge (1971–1978), Trudeslund in Birkerød (1979–1981), Hedelyngen in Herlev (1981) or Jystrup Savværk (1983–1984) promote the participation of residents in the design process and in community life. Through the models, Vandkunsten architect’s dialogues with the future residents and incorporates the users in the design process. The simultaneity of scales represented in their drawings reflects the scope of the social ideals of these industrial and vernacular residential communities. Their continuous experimentation in different registers of graphic language is analyzed, from their initial drawings and sketches that illustrate the shared design process to the expressiveness of the soft pencil that emphasizes the technical documentation of the projects. For Vandkunsten, drawing is a way of understanding architecture and sharing it.