Surely no one could, or indeed would, live in a real iceberg as it floated around in the sea. However, living in an apartment that's part of a building inspired by the shape and stature of an iceberg may not be so bad. Isbjerget (the Danish for Iceberg) is an apartment complex built on the waterfront of Aarhus in Denmark, with its unique shape providing sea views for (almost) all residents.
Isbjerget was created in a collaboration between four architectural firms: JDS, CEBRA, SeARCH, and Louis Paillard. It took 5 years for the project to be completed, and is one of the first projects to be completed within De Bynære Havnearealer, the new docklands quarter of the city. The area was once a container port but is now being transformed into a sprawling development designed to house 7,000 inhabitants and provide 12,000 jobs.
With The Iceberg as an early focal point, the dockside is on course to have a truly striking skyline. Like the X House before it, this is one architectural project for which the shape of the building is the ultimate innovation.
The 200-plus apartments that make up the Isbjerget complex are spread across four L-shaped wings, all either seven- or eight-stories high. On the ground floor are a mix of two-story townhouses and commercial properties, on the medium levels are one- or -two-story apartments, with luxury penthouses completing the layout in the pointed peaks of each building.
The resemblance these buildings have to icebergs -- albeit a stylized version of the non-uniform natural wonder -- isn't purely for aesthetic reasons, though it does afford Isbjerget a rather unique style.
There are also practical reasons behind the design. The shape of the buildings means all the apartments are bathed in as much natural light as possible, and by varying the shapes and sizes of the buildings most apartments have at least a partial line of sight to the sea.
Source: SeARCH via Designboom