Day 46. Architecture, Part 4: Free rein.

I went with my coworkers to Ørestad, a neighborhood in Vestamager that has seen a recent boom in ambitious and wildly designed buildings. Up-and-coming designers like Bjarke Ingels (<<website is awesome) have been given relatively free rein to dream up and construct living spaces and office buildings that Europe often shies away from, a result of strict zoning that prevents bold new architecture from mingling with quaint old architecture.

With tons of open land and license to experiment, architects have bent glass and steel into crazy apartment blocks like 8TALLET and the Tietgen Students' Residence. Honestly, the trip to Ørestad felt a bit like a trip into Orbit City - all that was missing was a Spacely Sprockets factory.

Inside 8TALLET

Ørestad Plejecenter: the coolest nursing home on the planet?

Day 39. Skyline.

It's rarely hazy in Copenhagen. Strong winds blow straight across the North Sea and meet little resistance passing over the flat, open lands of Denmark. Yesterday, however, the wind died down as I was biking from the southeastern part of Copenhagen back toward downtown. I stopped and faced the city. With the sun hanging behind and the air above it fuzzy, the famous spire-filled skyline was drained of most of its color. I drained it only a bit more for the silhouette.

The tallest of these spires the famous spiral tower of Vor Frelsers Kirke. Immediately to its left is Rådhus (City Hall).

Day 38. Crow-steps.

Across Europe - but particularly in Scandinavia and the Netherlands - crow-step gables are a popular architectural detail. The design is most commonly found on churches, from the small one from Amager pictured below to the big ones like Grundtvigs Kirke and Roskilde Cathedral. It's a subtle quirk that adds a lot of character to these otherwise stark buildings, and I love spotting them throughout the city.