Rosenhøj

Rosenhøj is a holistic and sustainable transformation of a social housing area in Viby Syd, Aarhus, DK. The main vision for the transformation was to open up the area towards the surrounding city and to create a new sense of identity and community inside the neighbourhood. This is done through a series of different architectural moves - new housing typologies are introduced, and in some of the existing housing blocks, the middle section is demolished to create variation in the building mass and better visual connection to the surroundings. New infrastructure opens up the neighbourhood to the immediate surroundings, integrating the area in the city, and two new internal roads break down the large housing area into smaller neighbourhoods. Different designs and materials are used in the facade renovation to create greater variety and a sense of place. The blocks are paired two and two with matching facades and shared courtyards in between, creating new smaller shared communities with their own local identity. Finally, the parking lot is transformed into a new shared park.

Since the completion and re-opening in 2017, the Rosenhøj Urban Renewal has recieved a number of awards, including the Aarhus Municipality's Architecture Award (Århus Kommunes Arkitekturpris) 2017, as well as RENOVER prisen 2017 for best social housing transformation, and received a very positive 5-heart review from Danish newspaper Politiken.