Project made during my internship at Karres en Brands - Landschapsarchitectuur + Stedenbouw bv. 

Area size: 2,4 ha
Project type: Competition entry
Team: Bart Brands, Darius Reznek, Søren Schaumburg and Katya Hamaniuk

In collaboration with: Jaja Architects and NIRAS

Marielyst is one of the most popular Danish beach towns. With its 1,500 inhabitants it attrackts in the summer roughly 50,000 people from Denmark as well as abroad. These fluctuations demand flexibility of the public space, so that it can function and be attractive both in high as well as low season.

Inspired by the beach landscape the proposal reinforces its vocabulary and the maritime milieu that is the true identity of Marielyst. The route runs perpendicular on the coastline and today lacks the character of beach life, promenade and meeting place like you experience elsewhere on the southern rambla’s. By replicating the shapes of the beach and borrowing its inventory, materiality and vegetation the project reinforces the connection to the beach, gradually transiting from urban to natural. The main grip of the plan consists of a curved infrastructure, which meanders horizontally through organic shaped islands and vertically inspired by the topography of the beach. The plan highly prioritizes pedestrian trafic, but at the same time encompasses possibilities for leaking though car traffic, which adds to the vibrancy of the place.

The islands mark private cadasters, zones for stay and planting that creates a natural hierarchy and an exciting dynamic when you move through Marielyst. They ensure their individuality without compromising the overall coherency thus making the proposal fexible. The small islands are also activated on a detailed level where, some places, are shaped as high planting beds while other as small depressions that can collect and delay rainwater. The topography of the town will therefore also change character as seasons change and ensure vibrancy accros the year.