MAST is a young firm that develops architectural and research projects to improve the relationship between city and the sea, to create healthier sea spaces and to allow more people to enjoy them. Their straightforward and unambiguous claim is “We work with water to create open, innovative & sustainable spaces”. Founded in 2021 by Australian architect Marshall Blecher and Danish maritime designer and architect Magnus Maarbjerg, MAST is located in the shipyards of southern Copenhagen, where designers work closely with boat builders and ship engineers to draw inspiration from and to build and test prototypes and installations like ‘Land of the water‘, a floating architecture resistent to rising sea levels. This modular construction system, which has been designed in collaboration with the Danish firm ‘Fragile’, has already been used for floating houses in Seattle, floating campsites on the Oslo Fjord, saunas on the riverfront in Hobart, Australia. The project will include a new public walkway, wellness centro, restaurant and floating accommodation as well as boat rental facilities. The system was inspired by ‘gabion construction’, an ancient technology which utilises mesh cages filled with rubble to create sturdy, lowcost foundations. In the case of MAST floating architectures the system is inverted: the modular ‘cages’ are filled with up-cycled floatation material which supports the weight of the structure above. Dyppezone is a modular open-air bath for the port areas of Copenhagen: the movable structure consists of eight floating units which are assembled around a pool in the middle, which is equipped with an adjustable bottom which can be lifted up and down according to season and needs. In this way, the project can be used both as a children’s pool in the summer and as a cold water basin in the winter. Platform C has been designed to provide public access to the waterfront for swimming, relaxing, kayaking and canoeing. The space, modular and to be copied, includes a semi-circular protective bench with a high backrest to protect from the wind. The structure, consisting of 900 metres of oak stata, is inspired by the traditional construction techniques of Danish boats and was handbuilt in Copenhagen shipyards. Finally, the tiny wooden floating atolls called ‘Copenhagen Islands’ are a set of islands that can be grouped in a continuous and compact layout, a floating stage on the occasion of festivals, concerts and events. Like all projects by MAST, each tiny artificial oasis conceals a keen attention to detail: the first prototype was made up with recycled material using boat construction techniques, kept afloat thanks to 4000 recycled plastic bottles, with mussel beds and algae in the lower part for continuity with the habitat of fish and marine organisms. Read more on mast.dk