8 House - Concept Design/Floor Layering

8 House is a large mixed-use development built in the shape of a figure 8 on the southern perimeter of the new suburb of Orestad in Copenhagen, Denmark. The bow-shaped building consists of 61,000 square metres of three different types of residential housing and 10,000 square metres of retail premises and offices. Bjarke Ingels explains the design, "that by mixing traditional ingredients, retail, rowhouses and apartments in untraditional ways, you create added value, if not gold." This is achieved by stacking the various ingredients of an urban neighbourhood into layers. They are connected by a promenade and a cycle track which reach up to the 10th floor, allowing businesses and housing to co-exist. The elevated street level provides a new level of social engagement.