VISIONARY ARCHITECTURE AT ORDINARY PRICES

FAMILY HOMES: Six of Denmark’s most well-known architectural firms have joined forces to design individual family homes costing the same as mass produced standard houses. The concept has met with immediate success in Denmark and will now be offered abroad

Architect-designed or standard design?
For most people the choice has so far been determined in advance. The architect-designed house often costs a fortune and the building process is slow. The mass produced standard house which looks like all the others in the street, is on the other hand quickly built at a much more manageable price.

At least that was how it was until a few months ago. But then a completely new was launched on the Dan-has met with instant suc-Denmark’s trendiest architecarchitectural firms have designed a selection of fascinating and unconventional houses which can be built to prices matching standard houses. The architect-designed homes are marketed by M2, a company which handles everything from purchasing individual plots to complete urban development, and handles sales of ready-tooccupy houses which are built by MT Højgaard, one of Denmark’s largest building contractors.

The architects at Bjarke Ingels Group designed ’Hill House’ which can be attuned to hilly landscapes.

Sweeping lines

The designs are visionary, transcending all customary ideas of how a ’standard house’ should look. Sweeping lines and pure cubism are both employed. All the designs feature unconventional compartmentalisation and oblique angles, and great importance has been attached to a large influx of light. Sizes range from 185 – 220 m2, at prices, depending on the location, from around EUR 500,000. Ready to occupy on your own plot of land.

In 2005, when M2’s director Jesper Øhlenschlæger spotted the contemporary trend and consumer requirements for more individual and challenging architecture, he contacted some architectural firms which instantly leapt on the idea. Today six architectural firms are involved: 3 x Nielsen, CEBRA, C.F.Møller, Bjarke Ingels Group, schmidt hammer lassen and Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter. In addition to individual family homes, the idea has been expanded to include summer cottages which have the same groundbreaking design as the allyear- round residences.

The immediate success of M2’s concept on the Danish housing market – all 400 offered projects have been sold and building has started – has encouraged M2 to look towards neighbouring Sweden and Germany where M2 will launch the model: Architectdesigned houses at affordable prices.

CEBRA’s ’Delta House’ is intended for sloping ground.

Architectural firm 3xnielsen designed the ’Flower house.’

http://www.m2.dk

Not just a home, but a lifestyle

In autumn 2006, the share majority in M2 was acquired by the Nordic region’s largest property company Keops A/S in Denmark. Keops, which owns and administers properties worth more than EUR 2.67 bn (DKK 20 bn) in the Nordic region and Europe, saw that M2 would give it the opportunity to enter the high-end market for family homes. To date, the company has only been involved in housing complexes and commercial properties.

“The market for family homes is very difficult to enter,” says Development Manager Hans Christian Holm of Keops Development A/S. “With M2’s

super smart houses and the whole building and delivery concept, we saw an opportunity to cultivate a new trend which enables ordinary people to buy family homes adapted for future requirements without costing a fortune.”

Financial strength

Keops’ acquisition of M2 will not result in any immediate change to M2’s commercial basis. The company continues as an independent subsidiary of Keops A/S.

“Clearly we can give them financial strength and security, while they can give us market access and an innovation which we so far have lacked in this specific market segment,” says Holm. “M2 has found a giant gap in the market where it is not just homes, but lifestyles they are selling. And the synergy between us as a professional property company and M2 as creative and architectural masters is optimal.”

Risk management

Keops plans continued development of M2 with more architect partners and more housing types being added gradually as the market expands. According to Hans Christian Holm, Keops is already leading developments with housing projects in Spain and Turkey, both holiday village areas and large housing projects.

“We have large scale projects going on especially in Turkey, where our competence in project risk management is something so far unseen there,” says Keops’ foreign director Frank Heskjær. “And our principle of never starting to build before at least 50% of a project has been sold, gives us a solidity and security which does not otherwise characterise housing projects in that part of the world. In addition we are extremely good at discovering what new owners want for their homes. By breaking some traditions around fitting out and equipment in the residential units, we have helped to start a trend that appeals to the Turkish population.”

http://www.keops.dk

Hans Christian Holm (left) and Frank Heskjær