There was sound and fury when Erick van Egeraat’s housing project for Krøyers Plads in the harbor district of Christianhavn was unveiled. It seemed as if the contemporary Dutch architect was trying to mess with a part of Copenhagen that a Dutch engineer (Johan Semp) had built 400 years before.
The once progressive borough in Copenhagen was no longer open to new ideas and change. A strong local movement arose opposing an ambitious plan from the Mayor and City Council to build up the city’s branding through spectacular architecture in the city center. Of course, notorious architectural mishaps over the past decades – such as the clumsy block-like buildings along Kalvebod Brygge – were enough to turn neighborhood opinion against any other attempts at modernism.
Erick van Egeraat’s development for Krøyers Plads now rates as one of the best projects never built in Copenhagen.