Denmark
About the designers
Annelise Bramsnæs (1941–99) worked in Sven-Ingvar
Anderson’s landscape architecture office (1967–70),
and as an Assistant and Associate Professor at
the Royal Academy of Arts School of Architecture,
Department of Town Planning and Landscape,
Copenhagen (1973–99). She was a teacher, research-
er and writer, mainly in the area of landscape plan-
ning, and her particular interest was in how nature
and natural resources relate to spatial qualities and
aesthetics in landscape architecture. Bramsnæs took
part in architectural competitions, but the Harbour
Park is one of her very few built projects.
Poul Jensen (1929– ) graduated as an architect from
the Royal Academy of Arts Architectural School in
- He was in practice with partners from 1962
until 1988, but then set up his own office. He was
chairman of the neighbourhood council of Islands
Brygge from 1972. ‘Poul Jensen made his first
proposals under the influence of international mod-
ernism.’ ‘During the 70s this influence lessened as
in the Town Hall of Struer.’ ‘The Nørrevangskirken
church represents a free interpretation of the
Danish church. Design and materials are regionally
orientated but the building contains a light influence
of post-modernism. Poul Jensen takes part in the
contemporary architectural debate, mainly concern-
ing the renewal of the Copenhagen harbour front’
(Møller, 1993, translated by the authors).
Project history
Islands Brygge is a landfill area dating from 1905–
- ‘Is’ is the Danish term for ice and the name
reflects the usage of this part of the harbour, for
it was here that ships trading with Iceland and the
Faroe Islands would berth. Islands Brygge is also a
neighbourhood housing 12,000 inhabitants in dense
five-storey blocks. The main road parallel to the park
is also called Islands Brygge. The harbour activities
changed rapidly after the Second World War, and the
area’s uses became more diverse. Trade declined
and the dockside railway activities stopped.
In the 1970s, the residents of Islands Brygge pointed
out that the housing densities were very high and that
the area needed a park. The activities of the residents
and an accidental explosion in a nearby factory drew
attention to the concerns of the district. In 1971, a
number of residents groups were formed to protest
against the proposal to build the Hotel Scandinavia
on the site. Although the hotel went ahead, it was
from these groups and from the neighbourhood
council that the idea of creating a park emerged. The
explosion in 1980 revealed that the authorities could
not handle an escape of chemical substances so
close to a densely populated area, and support for
the needs of the residents began to grow.
Following the urban renewal in other parts of the
city (e.g. at Nørrebro) and the explosion of 1980,
