Torqued beside the rail lines at Dybbølsbro Station, the Kaktus Towers cut serrated profiles against the Copenhagen sky. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the seemingly—but not quite—twisted micro-living towers mark the edge of Vesterbro, a former industrial zone now undergoing a new wave of development. Rising from an elevated green plateau—about 65 feet above the street, spanning a neighboring highway and IKEA—the duplicate towers induce a vicarious sort of thrill. Two gigantic biophilic figures mimic each other in a game of suggested motion. With balconies arranged in different orientations, their protruding, puzzle-like facades are both amusing and difficult to track. They seem almost to beg for reverse-engineering.
