Blox
The BLOX unites different uses under a cover made of glass cubes, which were placed irregularly on top of each other. The name BLOX derives from this block like structure. The blocks adjust in height to the respective surrounding buildings. To the west the historic city has two-storey houses, to the south are 4-5 storey buildings from the 19th century and in the north is the new Royal Library.
The BLOX was completed in 2018 and designed by Dutch architectural firm OMA Rem Koolhaas. The building houses the Danish Architecture Center DAC with shop and exhibition space. Tip: The Danish Architecture Center offers guided walking tours.
Other buildings by Rem Koolhaas:
De Rotterdam Casa da Música Haagse Tramtunnel Seattle Central Library OMA Residential Tower IIT Chicago Springer Campus Berlin
Tivoli Hjørnet
The Tivoli Hjørnet is a narrow building on the northwest corner of the Tivoli amusement park. Opposite is Copenhagen Central Station and Arne Jacobsen's SAS Hotel. Tivoli Hjørnet was also designed by the famous architecture firm of I.M. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. The building, which houses an international food court, has a glass facade that curves around the corner. The two upper floors are offset. Anyone walking through the building ends up on a large terrace from which one can look into the Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Hjørnet opened in 2017 when Pei was 100 years old. I.M. Pei died in 2019.
Other buildings by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners:
Bank of China Louvre Pyramide Deutsches Historisches Museum
Industriens Hus
The Industriens Hus stands between Town Hall Square and Tivoli, a very prominent address in Copenhagen. The building houses the representation of the Danish industry. The office building consists of an L-shaped part on both street fronts, a stepped part with green terraces facing the Tivoli garden and an atrium in the middle. The Industriens Hus was built in 2013 by the architects TRANSFORM from Aarhus.
The front part of the double facade, consists of a diamond-shaped glass wall, that is held in place by a steel structure. LED lights provide colored lighting at night.
www.transform.dk/da/project/industriens-hus
Axel Towers
The project Axel Towers consists of 5 round towers with different heights. The tallest of these towers is about 61 m high and has 15 floors. The five towers are all interconnected and are enveloped by a single facade. The metal elements of the facade shimmer dark brown to gold. The windows are a little bit behinde the facade and are shaded by the horizontal and vertical metal struts. The square under the Axel Towers has been planted with trees, while the ground floor has shops and cafés. The Axel Towers was designed by the architects Lundgaard & Tranberg and opened in 2017.
SAS Hotel Copenhagen
The current Radisson Hotel was designed in 1956 by Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen. Jacobsen is still world-famous for his chairs. For the SAS Hotel he also designed the armchairs swan and egg. The building was the first skyscraper in international style in Copenhagen. To built a skyscraper directly in the center, was still unusual for Europe at that time. The SAS Hotel is located near Copenhagen Central Station.
The shape was based on the New York Lever House, which was built in 1952. On a flat pedestal rises the tower with a horizontal facade. As with all modern skyscrapers, the facade is hung in front of the underlying structure and has no static function. This made horizontal bands of windows possible. At 69.60 m, the SAS skyscraper was the tallest building in Denmark until 1969.
The SAS Hotel scepticism prevailed among the population, and the professional world was not happy with a bad copy of the Lever House. But the quality of Arne Jacobsen was more in furniture design. The hotel was a work of art in which Jacobsen had designed every detail. Unfortunately, not much is left today, because the interior was not preserved.
Royal Danish Library
The Royal Danish Library is right on the Copenhagen harbor basin. Because of its black granite facade, the library is also called Den Sorte Diamant (The Black Diamond). The building, erected in 1999, is an extension to the historical library, which is located across the street. For this reason, the extension consists of two structures. A narrow structure that connects directly to the old building and a large structure on the water. The two components are connected by 3 bridges across the street. In the middle of the larger building is a glass atrium from which the various functions of the building can be accessed. In addition to the library, the new building also includes conference rooms, a cafe, a bookshop and several museums. The Royal Library in Copenhagen was designed by the architects Schmidt, Hammer and Lassen.
Skuespilhuset
This new structure was built in 2008 for the Royal Danish Theater on the port of Copenhagen. The Skuespilhuset stands at the end of Nyhavn, one of the sights of Copenhagen. The theater juts out into the water and the promenade now meanders around the playhouse. On the wooden promenade there are several cafes from which you can watch the boats passing by. The Skuespilhuset has significantly upgraded this part of the city center.
The building by Lundgaard & Tranberg architects consists of different colored glass surfaces and brown bricks. The large atrium is transparent and is dominated by the rehearsal rooms above. Due to the large glass facade, the Skuespilhuset is shining bright at night.
Operaen
The Copenhagen Opera House stands just opposite of Amalienborg, on the other side of the harbor basin. The building is dominated by the protruding roof, under which the glass foyer is located. Henning Lasen's opera opens onto the water. From the square in front of the entrance, you have a beautiful panorama of Copenhagen. Behind the glass facade there is an atrium from which walkways and bridges lead to the opera hall, which is characterized by a wood-paneled curve. There is a restaurant directly under the roof with a great view of the city.
Since the Operaen was sponsored by a shipping company, there were many discussions whether private donors should finance such a structure for the state.
Superkilen
The Superkilen square in the district of Norrebro is the result of BIG and TOPOTEK 1. Superkilen consists of 3 different subareas. Between Norrebrogade and the Norrebro halls is the red area, with many different shades of red as flooring and red poles on which Russian and Chinese symbols can be found. The connecting link of the 3 parts is the bike path, which touches all areas. The second area is Den Sorte Plads with white lines on black asphalt. It contains Chinese palm trees, a Moroccan fountain and a Japanese climbing octopus. The signs from different countries symbolize the different cultures of Norrebro.
Uptown Nørrebro
Uptown Nørrebro is a residential complex with apartments for 700 students. On the property, near the Nørrebro metro station, there are 5 low rise buildings and a residential tower by Arkitema architects. The skyscraper has 29 residential floors and is 100 m tall. There is a public viewing platform on the top floor. The facade of the tower consists of inclined metal elements and floor-to-ceiling glass surfaces. Uptown Nørrebro was completed in 2018.
Niels Bohr Bygningen
The Niels Bohr Bygningen was built for the University of Copenhagen in 2019. The glass structure consists of two parts located on different sides of Jagtvej street. The two buildings are connected by a bridge and a tunnel. The institute was named after the Danish physicist and Nobel laureate Niels Bohr. The architects Christensen & Co. and Vilhelm Lauritzen have covered the building with pyramidal glass elements. Incisions in the building and atria allow light to penetrate into the lower floors.
The building north of the road stands at a right angle to the Jagtvej, while the southern building (photo) runs parallel to the road. The Niels Bohr Building houses science faculties, with lecture halls, lobaratories, offices, resting areas and cafes.
VM Bjerget
The project VM Bjerget by BIG is a very unusual building with two different sides. From the north and west you can see a range of metal, whose holes represent Mount Everest. Behind it hides a parking garage whose shelves are on sloping levels. The parking garage with 650 parking spaces is colorfully painted in the interior. Above it rises a residential building, which continues to descend until it reaches the ground. The VM Bjerget looks quite different from the south and the east, from here you can see many small residential units with wooden facades, which cover the entire structure on an oblique plane. On the ground floor there are restaurants and a district library. The VM Bjerget unites a major urban project with a suburban terraced housing estate. The project of Bjarke Ingels Group was completed in 2008. The building is located directly on the elevated railway line, which opens up the new district Ørestadt.
Other buildings by BIG:
VIA 57 West New York
8 Tallet
Another project by BIG is the residential complex 8Tallet in the district of Ørestadt. From above, the structure looks like the number eight. Two blocks were connected with each other in the middle. At the southwestern corner the otherwise closed block opens up and light can shine into the green courtyard. The large opening offers a view from the apartments into the nature, as the district ends here and you can see over a water surface, the meadows and woods behind. The residential block offers many different types of flats, there are small single flats, two-storey flats and spacious penthous apartments. On the ground floor you will find social services, day-care centers and a restaurant with a terrace on the lake with delicious smørrebrød. The 8Tallet from Bjarke Ingels Group was built in 2010. The facades are covered with aluminum panels. In the middle area, the passages are covered with gold-colored metal plates.
Bella Sky Hotel
The AC Hotel Bella Sky stands right next to the Bella Convention Center Copenhagen. The hotel consists of two towers, each 75 m high, with an angle of 15 °. The two structures are also bent to allow the best view of the center of Copenhagen. This makes the Bella Sky Hotel look very unusual. The facade elements are made of glass and metal, which also have angled shapes.
The hotel has 25 floors and 814 rooms on an area of 42,000 m². The Bella Sky Hotel was designed by 3XN Architects and opened in 2011.
Other buildings by 3XN architects:
Museum of Liverpool The Cube Berlin
https://3xn.com/project/bella-sky
Amager Bakke
A waste incineration plant with a ski slope, that's Amager Bakke designed by BIG architects. The old power plant was demolished and replaced by this spectacular new building. At the highest point, the power plant looks more like a skyscraper. From the very top, the ski slope winds down to the very bottom. Copenhagen wants to be the first CO2 neutral capital and this waste incineration plant makes a big contribution. The building should serve not only its purpose but have another benefit for the inhabitants of Copenhagen. There is a hiking trail next to the ski slope that leads to the summit, and at the top there is a cafe overlooking the city. From up here you can see the Little Mermaid sitting on her rock about 1.5 kilometers away. Amager Bakke was opened in 2020.
Copenhagen bike-friendly city
Copenhagen is considered one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world. The bike paths are up to 4 m wide and, if possible, are separated from car lanes and pedestrians. The cycle paths are marked in blue at crossings and are easy to recognize. You can safely overtake other cyclists on the wide cycle paths. If a van is parking on the bike path, there is enough space to pass by. Pedestrians watch out for cyclists and almost never stand in the way, as they too have enough space on the street.
Cycling is very relaxed and safe in Copenhagen. In addition, new cycle paths and bridges are constantly being built, making the bicycle the fastest means of transport in the city center.
Parking in the center of Copenhagen is very expensive, so fewer people drive into the center. Fewer cars mean fewer parking spaces, and more space for cyclists and pedestrians.
In addition the M3 Cityringen was built, a subway ring under the inner city, which significantly improves public transport in Copenhagen. This means that residents living in the suburbs do not have to rely on the car, to get into the city center. The space gained, ensures a better quality of life in the heart of the city.
(The photo shows the Lille Langebro bridge)
Cykelslangen
The "Cykelslangen" bicycle bridge in the port of Copenhagen is also called the "bicycle highway" because it is only allowed to be used by cyclists. You can cross the industrial park and the harbor basin without junction by bike. The bridge meanders over the water basin and playfully overcomes the difference in height between the harbor basin and the elevated railway overpass. The Cykelslangen opened in 2014 and is part of a 13-kilometer bicycle route. The bicycle highway stands on 7 m high supports, the lane is orange and has a dashed mark in the middle. The bicycle bridge was designed by the architects Dissing & Weitling together with the engineer Rambøll.
https://dissingweitling.com/en/project/bicycle-snake
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