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The home of the ImperfectCity initiative is an architectural showpiece located in the suburbs of Aarhus, Denmark. This brutalist edifice’s architecture, defined by its three roofs’ geometrical contours and its wide hallways with staircases that follow the natural terrain, has often been criticized, and its psychology has been misunderstood.
For the ImperfectCity team, however, this architectural expression is crucial to understanding their mission. “Architecture physically represents imperfection — both in terms of buildings and cities and, more importantly, acknowledges that we humans are not perfect,” says Vibeke Jensen, Chief Project Manager of ImperfectCity.
The history of this brutalist building is anything but perfect. Once the headquarters of Denmark’s Journalism School, the building was neglected and narrowly escaped demolition. Brutalist architecture, often seen as unattractive, lacks support for preservation efforts.
In 2020, the building reopened as Kulturhus Bunkeren, a cultural hub and community center that serves as the home for the ImperfectCity project. The project’s team wanted a symbolic headquarters, one that, inside and out, expressed its goal: to address the complex and contemporary challenges of mental health and climate change through innovative urban development.
Regarding climate change, the brutalist building’s architecture muses on the problem of “imperfect” human-made structures, the urgency of rethinking abandoned buildings, and the art of new buildings. The construction and building materials industry is responsible for 11% of annual global greenhouse emissions, 5 times more than the entire aviation industry’s carbon emissions. Besides, there is only so much natural material left to exploit. ImperfectCity shows that, rather than being knocked down, buildings can be repurposed and retrofitted in a responsive way to meet local needs.
Kulturhus Bunkeren is located in the northern neighborhood of Skejby, an area of outer Aarhus surrounded by business activities but with very few residential spaces, resulting in a relatively dull community life outside of homes. The municipality has envisioned transforming this area from a business district into a mixed-use community with housing, leisure facilities, and businesses. In support of this vision, Kulturhus Bunkeren offers space for various activities that cater to all kinds of people: neighbors, nonprofits and public institutions, private companies, and authorities. ImperfectCity places a particular emphasis on supporting individuals with mental health vulnerabilities. “At the heart of ImperfectCity is embracing imperfection,” says Jensen. “None of us are perfect, yet many young people feel pressured by a culture of perfection that no one can realistically live up to. We are proud of our name, ImperfectCity, as it signals inclusivity and the understanding that not everything is perfect in this world. We all have struggles — young and old, in every family.”
Mental health vulnerabilities among young people are a growing concern globally. According to ImperfectCity, between 18,000 and 24,000 residents in Aarhus aged 14-30, out of a total population of 256,018, are facing growing stress about failure while striving for excellence and are experiencing increasing mental health issues such as anxiety, loneliness, and depression. As Jensen points out, it seems that far more people are struggling with mental health challenges than has been previously recognized.
In his book The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt blames the mental health crisis in all central Anglosphere countries on the mass adoption of smartphones and the advent of social media. He advocates for activities and play (away from phones) to improve children’s mental health. Mental health vulnerabilities can manifest in many forms, ranging from mild anxiety to more severe psychological diagnoses. “Our goal is to accommodate the full spectrum of needs through activities at Kulturhus Bunkeren,” Jensen says.
Read more: Museum Prescriptions for a Healthy City — Is Art That Good?
That the Ovartaci Museum has also moved to Kulturhus Bunkeren is not coincidental. Previously located in an old psychiatric hospital in Aarhus, this art museum exhibits works by the painter and sculptor Louis Marcussen, also known as Ovartaci, who was a patient in the hospital for 56 years. The museum also holds a collection of 12.000 works by other psychiatric patients and offers social programs directed at psychiatric patients, including an open atelier, creative workshops, and a café. When the museum was looking for a new space, the ImperfectCity team understood how housing the Ovartaci Museum in Kulturhus Bunkeren could bring their mission closer to the surface. The brutalist architecture of the building speaks to and for a different population, taste, and vision of the city, which enables a different psychology to work with imperfections in social relations and reduce stigma.
Often, mental health patients are marginalized, reducing their chances of participation in society and the labor market. ImperfectCity is testing new forms of collaboration between businesses, citizens, and associations, which can help to break down silos and create jobs for young people with mental vulnerability and, ultimately, foster a more cohesive community. The introduction of an art and cultural pathway, along with educational activities, aims to engage young people from new residential developments in the area.
In collaboration with the Ovartaci Museum, they have put together a workshop where individuals with mental health challenges meet daily to engage in creative activities. As Jensen explains, while some participants have experienced severe mental health issues, others face milder challenges, but “the focus is not on the diagnosis but on coming together through activities that stimulate and interest us.”
A key aspect of the ImperfectCity project is that Aarhus Municipality participates actively. They support, for instance, the Museum Ovartaci and collaborate with many local businesses and voluntary organizations, including the foundation FO Aarhus, which owns the building and promotes education, democracy, and citizenship for adults and young people.
For instance, in partnership with FO Aarhus, ImperfectCity runs the social economy enterprise Skejby Rangers, which creates job openings targeted at fleks workers. Fleksjob is an offer for individuals who cannot achieve or maintain employment under normal conditions due to a permanent and significantly reduced working capacity. These workers are often overlooked resources despite strong skills and experience from a longer working life. Skejby Rangers offers companies a wide range of services at the bottom of the to-do list, thus freeing up time for key employees who can focus on other, more critical tasks.
Another example of collaboration is with local businesses, which have recognized the potential for hosting staff events at Kulturhus Bunkeren. Jensen explains that many companies are tired of holding events in stiff corporate environments. “Since Kulturhus Bunkeren offers event spaces and various activities, it has become an asset for several businesses in the area to host their events. We also have strong connections with businesses through the local business network, and there is a small business association in the area that is a partner in the ImperfectCity project,” adds Jensen.
Since 2021, the Municipality of Aarhus has initiated a program to address the municipality’s “7 Wicked Problems,” using the Skejby area as a starting point to explore new urban development strategies that revitalize areas outside the city core. The program acknowledges that, given the complexity of challenges such as the climate crisis, health crisis, and democracy crisis, old solutions do not work anymore: “wicked problems call for new and wild solutions.”
Therefore, the ImperfectCity initiative focuses on art and connections between people and business, all under the psychology of brutalist architecture. It investigates how these three areas affect sustainable urban development and creates new solutions together.
In 2024, the ImperfectCity project received three years of funding from the European Union through the European Urban Initiative. The team aims to demonstrate that the harshness of béton brut is instantly softened when collaboration and cohesion happen inside its walls. It is a reminder that, while brutalism favors functionality over aesthetics, ImperfectCity is all about accepting urban imperfections, and its home, the Kulturhus Bunkeren, serves society and our planet.
