Ørestaden

Project details

Location
Ørestaden, Denmark

Size
120,000m²

Built
Not built

Project description

The local master plan dictates a tight and orderly architecture that is addressed in this competition winning scheme. The proposal incorporates a humor and excitement in a dynamic architecture visible in both the internal spaces and from the adjacent motorway. Contrasting forms are juxtaposed to activate internal spaces and human scale.

A leafy cardinal route stretches from the World trade center in the east, to the generously proportioned Kalvebod Fælled to the west. The route passes over Hannemanns Allé as a foot/cycle bridge landing firmly on the green; an airy open space culminating in an urban park-like plaza at the base of the two towers and thereafter descending to a mature tree lined park to the west.

Perpendicular to this green belt the planted internal streets fan out to form a leafy link between the park, the plaza and Hannemanns allé. The terrain is manipulated to create a broad amphitheater giving a prominent placement to the elevated buildings in the south.
The project's northern elevation projects vitality towards the motorway through the collected, organic and instantly recognizable form. Curving both vertically and horizontally from east to west this building extends into two high rise towers adding a dynamic backdrop to the clean and simple forms of the office blocks to the south.

The project is given an intentionally resonant form that lingers long after passing.
The proposal gains a marketable organic icon, that stands in respectful contrast to the otherwise wholly blockish structure of the Ørestaden urban fabric.