12 INSTITUTIONS

During the lockdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic, Danish civic life was stopped in its tracks, and with it, the institutionalised life of the city was put on hold. The closing of the institutions that normally create and uphold order and allow for the economic life of the state to thrive created a rare condition of clash and togetherness in a country where the welfare institutions absorb and systemise the time and care of families.

Children were seen interrupting incessant zoom calls, confronted with the work-life of their parents, and colleagues were suddenly forced to be part of each other’s familiar realities. People visiting lonely elderly at the nursing home suddenly became worthy news.

In the process of the gradual opening – for a few short weeks – the children were introduced to the city as citizens in their own right, suddenly inhabiting parks, playgrounds and museums. But quietly normality resumed, and the institutions reabsorbed those who created the most friction; babies retreated to the nurseries, toddlers to kindergartens, children to their schools – again orderly divided according to their age – and by now these sanctuaries of sameness again ‘make the wheels go round’.

I want to visit this city, this architecture, those spaces. The walk will be a walk through the course of this institutionalised life. In a radius of no more than 5 kilometers, I will visit the spaces of a lifespan of the institutionalised citizen from birth to senescence.

Trying to find cracks in its architecture and traces of the life of its citizens, I will ponder the question: what could it be if it was not what it is?

ROUTE
04:00 Introduction
05:00 The maternity ward
06:00 The nursery
07:00 The kindergarten
08:00 The elementary school
09:00 The after school club
10:00 The gymnasium
11:00 The university
12:00 The job centre
13:00 The senior housing
14:00 The nursing home
15:00 The hospice
16:00 The crematorium

Dominique Hauderowicz is an architect and partner in the multidisciplinary architectural studio dominique + serena. The studio is especially interested in the social potentials of architecture and the built environment. Having recently published the book ‘Age-Inclusive Public Space’, Dominique is particularily interested in the scandinavian welfare institutions and the role they play (or don’t play) in the urban built environment.