Description of scenarios 
at the Opening,
after 6 months
and after One Year

The opening

9th of August 2020

We officially open the doors to the Inner City SustainabilityCulture Center’s first season on the 9th of August. Since we moved in, on the 1st of July, we have been spending our time on creating a sense of “a home where everyone feels at ease”, and with our group of volunteers we have made the most urgent adjustments to selected spaces, making them more welcoming and open and they already have a clear expression of creative hi-end upcycling. The sustainable approach is actually more inspiring and “nice” than expected on average and the rooms have become a vivid example of what we can do together, with what we already have. Sustainability is rich – not poor.

The concert hall has been turned into a multipurpose Community Space and has become the new meeting place of the center. It has been opened towards the lobby and made lighter during the daytime, cozily arranged with sofas, multipurpose tables and, of course, lots of air purifying plants, which brings nature a bit closer. There is room to read the newspaper over a cup of coffee or for meeting around the whiteboard for an exciting brainstorm, where everyone is invited to contribute and where the inclusive exchange and development of new concepts and ideas is stimulated. Already before the official opening, the Community Space has become a preferred meeting point for the target group of think.dk – everyone, despite age, background and belief. One experiences that there is room for differences and when that happens, new paths can be found across borders. Some come to relax or to work, others again to meet or get to know new people.

In the evening we will have our first concert featuring two local artists. The light is displaced with an exchange of curtains and walls and the sofas and plants are rolled aside, and by using the multipurpose tables, we create a back podium where people can sit during the concert. The floor is cleared and the hall is partially closed towards the lobby, where the bar is located.

We have temporarily set up our office in the annex while we wait for permission to install windows and partition walls in the rear meeting rooms. They will soon host both meeting rooms, a co-working space and additional initiatives conforming to the holistic company concept.

Tomorrow we will kick off our event schedule with a classic – Extinction Rebellion will give a scientific update on the climate crisis in the Community Space, while Anders will do his monthly Live your Legend meeting in the large meeting room on the 1st floor. On Tuesday we are hosting an event on Empathic communication and another on the future of energy. On Wednesday the Copenhagen Food Coop (KBHFF) has their first pickup day at their new outlet in Inner City, while an Education association teaches Spanish in the large meeting room. Thursday we will have a documentary screening and we are very much looking forward to our first Community Dinner at BIBy on Friday. We expect the menu to include a nutritious exchange of ideas. Next weekend we will have the first farmers market on the square, while Lianne is doing her Playfulness event in the Community Space, occasionally surprising the outside visitors with roars of great excitement.

After 6 months

10th of February 2021

The new Repair- and MakerSpace has been open for a couple of months now and it has accelerated the development of the interior spaces. The collaboration with Repair Cafe Denmark has created Denmark’s first permanent, open combined Repair- and MakerSpace. As it turned out, the city had previously bought a lot of expensive hardware that was never put to good use, and which has now found new meaning and joy here – and with the think.dk tool library the center now has the means to create and upcycle more – and even lend out tools to the locals. Yesterday Max had his vacuum cleaner fixed for free and Josh, one of the volunteers helped Susanne to print her prototype of a small greenhouse. Next time perhaps Susanne will help Henrik, who helped Max with the Vacuum cleaner and Max will lend a hand at the next Community dinner.

In the other end of the hall we have created a Mindful Movement Space, used by schools, dancers, yogis and other movement artists. There is room for meditation and physical exercise in a framed setting, soothing both body and mind. On Thursday Silvia and Tom start their series of events in this room. She participated in a Jumba session 3 weeks ago and when she met Tom in the Community Space, they were inspired to combine Yoga, Pilates, Tai-Chi, dance and mindfulness therapy in an entirely new form of movement art.

Our Community Space is well attended during the day – and known as the meeting point for sustainable possibilities. The scene has been extended with a flexible setup for live broadcasting, where Saimon and Ken host an open Community Radio several times a week.

The rear meeting rooms are done, partially opened towards the lobby. They are now the home of two holistic company initiatives as well as eight co-working seats and two smaller meeting rooms, whereof one has been fitted to co-function as a podcasting and radio studio.

In the yard we are upcycling three office pavilions, which will soon be connected to the main building and become the home of more holistic initiatives and an extra training-, education- and/or meeting room. We are continuously in dialogue with more potential initiatives from the building sector, so the center can represent alternative approaches to all sectors of society.

The café and the kitchen has been opened towards the lobby and is now fully integrated with the house. A sustainable and varied lunch is served every day, clearly mirroring the importance of access to healthy food – thus the price is low – for the regular residents as well as others who work in the neighborhood or just pass by. You might want to reserve your seat in advance because there is frequently a full table. You can bring your own food by paying a small service fee (for dishes and cleaning) and water is of course ALWAYS free.

think.dk is now hosting around 25 events a month, ranging from challenge, collaboration, education and culture, while the rooms are being rented out to other initiatives, schools and education associations for the remaining time. With the latest extensions think.dk has now become the primary tenant at BIBy. Only the large sportshall is still being administered by the Culture division of Copenhagen, who also still has their office on the first floor. The café is run by a sub-tenant of think.dk, who is also a part of the holistic company concept.

After 1 year

25th of August 2021

We have just seen the conclusion of a successful Copenhagen2021 mega event and brought all the volunteers together in BIBy’s volunteer hub. Through a series of events we added a sustainable perspective to the party and rewarded the volunteers with healthy food, insights and a couple of new skills.

In collaboration with the Copenhagen2021 team, we also found funding for restoring and decorating the exterior of BIBy – and get more tables, chairs and sun sails, making the square and more natural extension of BIBy.

think.dk is ready for the opening of another season. The event schedule has found a good balance with roots in citizen needs and interest – with a consistent regenerative sustainable angle.

The Repair- and MakerSpace has been extended with a library of things - now you can borrow all kinds of things and equipment one typically only need rarely and for shorter periods of time. Maria wanted to borrow a blender for her party on the weekend, so she booked it on the website. The blender had been brought in and fixed a few weeks ago and repaired by Søren. Anders and Mette borrowed two tents in the summer break to go camping with the kids, and Hans who usually borrows a child seat for when he rents a shared car, would really like to borrow a kids chair for his bike – we just need to safety test it first. We are consciously working on reducing consumption and creating awareness of consumer habits. We are hosting education courses for schools and individuals as well as upgrading and qualifying courses for teachers, enabling them to bring technology and upcycling into their classrooms. Obviously the place is open for everyone, who has the desire and skills to create on their own.

On the square outside a car is parked. With a team from DTU we are working on the first prototype of gasoline car upcycled to be fully electric. Locals drop by and contribute with hands and good ideas.

In one of the co-working spaces, Karl is sitting every day, developing an open game development platform, in collaboration with Espen from Aarhus and Troels from Svendborg. A team of volunteers and upcoming game developers are contributing as time allows, learning from each other along the way.

On the roof, the process of building a structure for BIBy’s roof terrasse, green- and chicken house has begun. Soon it will be used to convey the cycles of nature and it’s amazing ecosystems. The work is progressing fast, helped by the advances made when we installed sunpanels on the roof earlier this year. The savings on the electricity bill allowed us to start building the rooftop terrasse 2 months earlier than planned.

BIBy now hosts 7 holistic company initiatives, each representing new, sustainable approaches to business and work culture, across different sectors and who solve old problems in new ways. They collaborate freely and the crossfield has already given birth to 2 new independent initiatives, who moved to other locations in town. One focuses on qualifying citizens on the edge of the work marked, and we promised not to say too much about the other initiative – they want to keep it a secret until the soon to come advertising campaign launches. The 7 initiatives work as showcases for regenerative sustainability and helps inspire young and old entrepreneurs to seek and create new paths.

On Thursday we are being visited by a delegation from Japan, seeking to be inspired and learn about how holistic sustainability can work in practise. Before the summer break we had a visit from Mexico. The chairman of the culture institution in Tijuana, delayed his return to spend more time in documenting all the new ideas and approaches to successfully bring them back for implementation at home.