A Day in the Danish Asserbo forest with The OBEL AWARD's Jamiee Ma Williams
Educated as an architect and urban planner, Jamiee Ma Williams' career within architecture has primarily been focused on innovation and strategy, with climate, nature based solutions, social inclusion and accessibility as a running core interest. Jamiee has held several positions within the architecture and cultural scene in Copenhagen ranging from CHART Art Fair, Head of Architecture at SPACE10, Development lead at Co-living company Almenr, Grants Lead at re:arc and now Head of Projects and Partnerships at The OBEL AWARD.
5:30am: No alarm required — I wake by the coo of my seven-month-old daughter who without fail stirs sometime between five and six-thirty. Unfortunately without a snooze button, it means leaving the duvet and beginning the daily morning baby ritual so that my wife can catch those extra precious minutes in bed.
I’m not so much of a routine person; I like to see how the weather is, what my mood is motivating me to focus on, be drawn into replying messages that came in overnight or be swallowed into a news story that requires attention. However, all of that gets pushed when you become a parent, and routines all of a sudden become so important. I'm still easing into that.
Between Birch. Photography by Hampus Berndtson.
7:00am: With the most important element of the morning prepped — a fresh thermos of coffee — I take my daughter for a walk so she can fall back asleep to the sounds of the birds waking. There is something so special about early morning walks — encounters with foxes on their way home, deer enjoying the fresh dew on the grass. The morning is a peaceful time to gather your thoughts for the day ahead. I also love to use this time to catch up on a podcast, usually an episode of The Guardian’s Today in Focus followed by something more work related. This morning, I listened to The Architecture League of New York's podcast, ‘I Would Prefer Not To,’ episode 3 which is all about collective architectural practice.
8:00am: Back to the cabin with sometimes tired legs but a fresh mind to find breakfast and more coffee! We bought a slice of forest in 2019 and together with Office Kim Lenschow — Lenschow Pihlmann at the time — designed a sixty square meter cabin, or as the danes call it, a Sommerhus. This is a long-standing tradition in Denmark through which families escape the hustle and bustle of the city and spend the weekend or entire summers at their little slice of paradise.
The project titled ‘Between Birch’ was a way for my wife and I to both gain extra square metres with lesser cost than buying in Copenhagen, and, for me, to be closer to similar nature that I grew up with in Wales.
Between Birch interior. Photography by Eriver Hijano.
9:00am: Work begins. I set myself up in the extruded window of the cabin, within touching distance of the surrounding birch. The house is designed to nestle itself humbly between the trees and float above the forest floor, leaving as much untouched and preserved as possible. Having dedicated the past few years to researching and developing affordable, regenerative housing models at SPACE10, it was a priority for us that the climatic impact of the house was minimal.
10:00am: By mid-morning all of the priority emailing is often done and I try to spend a few hours of focused time before lunch. As Head of Projects and Partnerships at The OBEL AWARD this means strategizing on ways to develop the organization long term as well as set up collaborations and initiatives for the short term. The OBEL AWARD is an international prize that rewards potential. We look to expand the definition of architecture, exploring its pluralities and how architectures can respond to planetary challenges. The aim is to honor outstanding architectural contributions to social and ecological development globally. Therefore, a large portion of my work is to scout for influential ideas and solutions that can spearhead and seed future architectural developments and discourse.
Tinggården Farm Shop and Restaurant. Photo by Jaimee.
1:00pm: Lunch time and a moment to get out of the house, breathe and cycle through the woods to the Tinggården Farm Shop. We prioritise local and organic food where possible and this is such a gem to be found in the north of Zealand. All their vegetables are grown on site of this traditional Danish farmhouse. The chef himself calls it a working museum.
2:00pm: Back to work and I jump on a few calls. We are a small dispersed team at OBEL, so keeping connected is super important. Weekly check-ins and brainstorms are always a pleasure to spark new ideas and discoveries that everyone has made. Every year the jury chooses a theme to focus the award and its activities on, and this year's theme is “Architectures With.” It builds on the design principles guiding last year’s winning project, Living Breakwaters by Kate Orff from SCAPE, highlighting that we need to work with nature rather than against it, and work with local communities not just for them. With rapidly changing climates; atmospheric, political and economic, comes challenges for all demographics and all species. Therefore architects and designers need to find a way to manage the complexity required to secure innovative, safe and responsive environments for diverse communities to thrive, both human and non-human.
5:00pm: Wrapping up work, it’s time to head to the beachy sand dunes and wash the day off with a dip in the sea. I am a huge sauna goer, is that what you call it? And I am a member of winter bathing and sauna clubs in Copenhagen and here on Tisvilde beach. That means spending fifteen minutes in the sauna, a sprint down to the sea for an icy cold awakening, rinse and repeat three times and you are ready to tackle anything. It is what keeps me sane in the long dark Scandinavian winters and ensures I am out connecting with nature all year round. During the summer, the sauna is removed and so it is all down to keeping your fingers crossed that the sun is shining, the wind is calm and building the courage to run into the beautiful blue waters we are so lucky to have here.
The OBEL Award ceremony prep. Photo courtesy of Jaimee.
6:30pm: Prep, Putte, Prioritise, Plan — the four Ps of this summer. Prep dinner, usually something vegetarian, right now we are enjoying the pre-planned twenty-minute vegan or vegetarian food boxes from Aarstiderne which directly translates to The Seasons. Receiving the boxes on a weekly basis full of bright and fresh local veggies is so enriching and the fact it only takes twenty minutes to make dinner is just perfect when the next P comes into play. Putte, the Danish word for essentially the putting to bed our daughter, as all parents know you dream of it taking a few minutes, and sometimes it does, always feeling like a win! But it can also take the good part of an hour. Meaning our evenings are constantly changing at the moment.
8:00pm: Prioritising time for my partner and I is so important. Spending time together on small summer house projects like seeding new plants, cosying up and watching an episode of something or just taking the time to catch up on the day over a glass of wine. We have fallen in love with the show ‘Betty’ a cute, funny, queer series that follows a group of female teens skating around New York. And finally the last P, Plan! We are married but hosting a big three-day wedding at the end of August and let me tell you, that takes some planning.
10:00pm: With early starts come early bedtimes. Right now I aim to be in bed by this time, and must admit sometimes it's earlier. I currently have Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer on my nightstand. It explores reciprocal relationships between humans and the land through indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. The audiobook format helps me drift off.