A Danish Kasbah ? The Mediterranean-Islamic Homes and Town Centres as Models of Danish Dense-Low Housing (1950s-1980s)

Résumé En

This chapter examines the influence of Mediterranean-Islamic dwellings and town centres on dense-low housing (tæt-lav bebyggelse), a community planning movement that emerged in Danish welfare architecture during the 1960s. In ‘A Kasbah in Denmark’ (1976), the urban planner Hans Hartvig Skaarup was the first to suggest that architects used these vernacular architectures as resources for designing neighbourhoods. This chapter interrogates Skaarup’s assumption further by hypothesising that the architects aimed to balance two requirements. On one hand, economic sustainability with dense urban design and low-cost building. On the other, better welfare standards, particularly the sense of community and the benefit from a private courtyard as in Southern patio homes. To evaluate the narrative and the impact of the ‘Danish kasbah’ on inhabitants’ livings, the contribution of Mediterranean-Islamic typologies in Danish welfare housing is traced by focusing on three neighbourhoods: the Fredensborghusene (1959-1961) by Jørn Utzon, Albertslund Syd (1963-1968) by Fællestegnestuen and the training institute in Ksar El-Boukhari (1977-1982) by Hans Munk Hansen and Vilhelm Wohlert.