Our Urban Living RoomRealized

Year: 2016, 2018, 2020
Client: The Danish Architecture Center (DAC), Laituri, Aedes Architecture Gallery
Program: Exhibition and book
Size: Varying

Our Urban Living Room is a travelling exhibition and a book created by Cobe. The theme is based on the first ten years of Cobe’s practice in Copenhagen. Grounded in social livability and urban democracy, our aim is to create buildings and spaces that invite Copenhageners to use and define them as extended living rooms, where the boundaries between private and public space become fluid. Based on specific Cobe projects, Our Urban Living Room tells stories about the architectural development of Copenhagen and explores the progression of the Danish capital from an industrial city into one of the world’s most livable places.

"Our Urban Living Room’ is not just an exhibition, but a 1:1 Cobe project. By creating an exhibition and a book that urges to interaction and play, visitors will help us define the urban living room of the exhibition space – the same way we all help create the urban living rooms of the cities we work in."
–Dan Stubbergaard, architect and founder, Cobe

The travelling exhibition "Our Urban Living Room" has been shown at the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, at Laituri in Helsinki, Finland and at Aedes Architecture Gallery in Berlin, Germany.

The exhibition was first developed for the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) in Copenhagen, and the huge wooden bookshelf that makes up the exhibition structure was inspired by the timber structure of the old warehouse that was the exhibition venue.

The exhibition is divided into seven areas, each with its own theme based on specific Cobe projects that tell a story about Copenhagen’s architectural development.

The exhibition offers unique insight into Cobe’s working methods with creative options and sketch models in abundance.

The Helsinki exhibition hall Laituri invited the visitors to step into Cobe’s giant cubic bookcase, which contained models, images, text, drawings and many other exhibits that the exhibition visitors could climb into, touch and listen to.

The Laituri edition of the exhibition differs from the 2016 exhibition at the Danish Architecture Center in that it compares Cobe’s projects in Copenhagen with current and future projects in Helsinki.

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark; Helsinki, Finland; Berlin, Germany

Collaborators: Arvinius + Orfeus Publishing, Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST, Rama Studio

Partners for exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark: Realdania, Knud Højgaards Fond

Partners for exhibition in Helsinki, Finland: The Danish Arts Foundation, Knud Højgaards Fond, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Danish Ministry of Culture and Kulturfonden for Danmark og Finland

Partners for exhibition in Berlin, Germany: Dreyers Fond, Johannes Fogs Fond, Knud Højgaards Fond, KUKURUZ

Partners for book: Nykredits Fond, A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til Almene Formål, Dreyers Fond, Danmarks Nationalbanks Jubilæumsfond

Team: Adam Lyko, Alexander Ejsing, Anna Brøns, Anne-Gaëlle Elin, Antonia Szabo, Caroline Nagel, Christian Sander, Claes Nilsson, Clara Kynne Schmidt, Dan Stubbergaard, Daniella N. Eskildsen, David Boss Jessen, Eik Bjerregaard, Evan Wakelin, Greta Tiedje, Hendrik Sell, Igor Klyus, Johanne Holmsberg, Kristoffer Harling, Line Wej Herdel, Mads Birgens Kristensen, Maiken Høj, Maja Tini Jensen, Marie Haaning, Marine Pierson, Merete Kinnerup Andersen, Mikkel Reedtz Morris, Milan Milenkovski, Monika Jachimowska, Morten Andersen, Nikolaj Harving, Otto Closs, Rasmus Bernhard Nielsen, Rasmus Jessing, Stine Lund Hansen, Thomas Krarup, Ulrich Pohl