Connecting the city and the campus, the Accordion Houses create a new visual centrepiece for the city of Frederiksberg. Brick and pavers shape their identity, strengthen their appearance and foster community between the apartments.
They serve as a refuge, while keeping the bustling city as a backdrop to the student’s everyday life: the Harmonikahusene – the Accordion Houses, as the two buildings are popularly known – quickly became every student’s dream of urban living. Their characteristic expression with hundreds of bay windows waves appear almost like an accordion playing across the cityscape.
Originally called UMEUS and NOLI their names refer to their purpose rather than their appearance: U, Me and Us and Northern Living offer 700 tiny apartments for both students and scientists in a community driven, Northern atmosphere. Situated along the Åboulevard, a prominent boulevard connecting Frederiksberg with Copenhagen, the seven-storey buildings blend seamlessly into their environment. The zig-zag façade with generous windows creates a vibrant look, while the red metal cladding resembles the city’s heritage of red brick work.
At Åboulevard, prestigious five- to seven-storey houses follow the busy road, many of which with brick façades, and now the area incorporates the two bold Harmonikahusene. The big windows create small niches, serving as meeting points and quiet retreats. While the boulevard facing front appears extroverted and extraordinary, the façade toward the courtyard speaks a softer language and lets in plenty of daylight through floor-to-ceiling windows and occasional balconies. The architects played with brick, metal and vegetation and matched the colour scheme to the city’s red and green palette.
The base is clad with hand-sanded EW3521 Blauwrood bricks supplied by wienerberger. René Lemming, consultant at egernsund wienerberger, assisted the architects in selecting the right brick. He explains: “The base forms the architectural foundation and sets the tone for the rest of the building.” The tactile quality of the brick creates a human dimension at street level, anchoring the façade and creating a visual bridge between contemporary design and historic context.
To separate the houses from the busy Åboulevard, they were surrounded by a belt of trees and green spaces. The masonry at ground level engages in a dialogue with the surrounding architecture and reflects the warmth of traditional brick buildings in Frederiksberg and Copenhagen. Following this material concept, the pavers were carefully selected to match the overall appearance. Paved with Juist bricks, the roof terraces add a grounded character to the outdoor areas on the highest level. The paving complements the architecture through its clean, contemporary expression.
“It was chosen for its durability and aesthetics – and because it works well in interaction with the building’s other materials and the green expression in the landscape”, Lemming says. The bricks and the paving together form a harmonious material transition from the vertical façade to the horizontal public space.
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