Mette Margrethe Elf, Fighting indifference with architecture
Mette Margrethe Elf is the ”Head of Collective Impact” at Realdania, a member-based philanthropic organisation that initiate projects that address the structural challenges facing the built environment and society.
FILMED IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, 2018
EGA-TALKS is produced by Erik Giudice Architects: interviews with experts in the field of architecture, urbanism and related areas. EGA Talks is part of EGAs ongoing cross disciplinary research aiming to envision a sustainable future
Fighting indifference with architecture
Real Dania is a member based organization that works philanthropically. We constantly examine how the physical framework in planning or in architecture can somehow increase the livability among the people who are there.
We also deal with social challenges and social questions. Just like this theme about the inclusive and integrated city also touches. One way we start out is to ask: What is the problem that we will try to solve in a certain project or in a certain context?
I will give you an example, which is also our point of view when it comes to the integrated city. Within this question we often try to work with the meeting. We focus on the people who have their everyday in a certain place. Either in a building or in the community around a certain building with all kind of functions. How can the framework in such a place be as supportive as possible? We think of the target group and the people who are working there. If there is something that is relevant in the context, how can one facilitate that? Or work though the physical means such as a meeting point, meeting points or neighbor-ship?
Right now we focus quite a lot on neighborhoods and neighborship. Becasue our analysis is that as our cities, especially the big cities grow, they seem to make more division than communities. Things become more and more expensive and we become more and more separated from one another.
An example on a project is a place called ”Kofoeds Skole”. It’s an old institution in Denmark and it has a big location in Copenhagen with people who have a long history track of the use of drugs, alcohol and homelessness. They are very vulnerable people. At ”Kofoeds Skole” witch is a school and a place where you can be during the day. You have all kinds of things you can do. You can do sports. You can repair different kind of things. You can produce artistic things. You can repair different technical things, or repair bicycles etc.
We have worked with this place. It has been a little bit like an institution, where if you weren’t a part of the place, then you didn’t have any reason to go in there. People would never meet each other here unless they spend every day here.
This is a big project that we have just finished together with another big foundation. Where we opened up this institution towards the neighborhood. That meant that we had the facades to change from bricks into glass. That we re imagined and changed meeting rooms into shops. Social-economic shops. With the products of the things that were actually produced in the school, as well as all kind of new products. There was a clear signal that here you are welcome. You can come and and look at the things. Here you can even have your things repaired or leave clothes for reuse. The project also involved developing a cafe. Where the people that spend their every day at this school can be part of making the coffee, and take care of the customers. It was a project that had the purpose of opening up.
What is important for us while doing a project like that, is to have an understanding from the perception of the neighbors. To involve the neighbors as well. Because as Copenhagen has develop into a very expensive city to live in, it makes the neighboring area into a quite expensive place to live in. This can sometimes give people a feeling of unsecured, when we talk of people who are vulnerable and the meeting that that creates.
The way we try to work with it, is by involvement from the beginning. Because we want opens up a school and also invite the surroundings to be half of the project. What we experience doing this is that the fear can be turned into engagement and projects that you do together. When it goes both ways, then it is an example of inclusiveness and how to integrate different functions and places with different people living there, very close to each other.
How can you work with creating relations? Which is from a social point of view important to do. Because if you are vulnerable, a quick thing that happens is that you’ll get isolated. How can we through the physical places and their functions try to open up and connect these separated lives that never interact. This interaction could create a lot of value. It’s not just people who are vulnerable who can have a big joy of showing themselves from some more positive sides. Even though you have different challenges, we can all show that we interact. Also the other way around. People who have all kind of resources. They can have a more meaningful every day having this very local neighbor.
We believe in trying to open up with respect of the life and the functions. To consider that we have to take care of and be aware of the specific contexts. Here we have to give spots of privacy, but also work with with the process or the physical problem. Creating both the private room as well as the more common and public spaces. We try to facilitate this. In a way that that breaks this problem of just passing each other in indifference. It’s a good thing that we try to do things together. Not or every day, but just so it feels natural and there’s the right frame frame for it.







