LOOP - THE COPENHAGEN SUCCESS FORMULA FOR PEOPLE-CENTRED URBAN EXPANSION

The planning and architectural offices Ramboll, SLETH, Polyform and Cobe - the latter themselves located in the inner harbour of Nordhavn - jointly won the competition for the master plan of this conversion in 2008. In accordance with the Danish formula for success, the planning principles focus on human needs while anticipating future environmental conditions and technologies.

The zoning into distinctive districts is continued over existing canals and harbour basins and accentuated with the help of fillings and canal buildings to form an archipelago with island-like neighbourhoods, whereby the character of the individual zones is to be formulated in their idiosyncratic cultural heritage through adaptive reuse of formative existing buildings.

The green-loop, a planning pattern and spatial-functional loop, will connect the islands to each other and to the city centre via a green bicycle expressway, giving preference to active mobility and surrounding it with recreational public space. At each location, one will reach a public transport connection within five minutes and the individual neighbourhood sections will be interspersed with green corridors. These will be laid out radially from Urban Greens, i.e. still highly cultivated green spaces, in the parts close to the centre to Natural Greens in the outer areas. This combination of green and blue city - close to the water and permeated by nature - prioritises quality public spaces, ranging from promenades and parks to pocket parks as recreational hideouts, which allow for a small escape in everyday life.

The Intelligent Grid underlies the development planning as a dynamic planning principle. The islands are again planned in subdivided plots and the density of development and mix of functions are coordinated in such a way that open-city and dense-city aspects complement each other effectively; a combination of high-density development and looser areas, intermixed with housing, offices, retail, and cultural/public uses.

With the development of the inner North Harbour area, a solid reference area has already been created in Århusgadekvarter from which future development will be driven forward. The design of Sundkaj by SLETH symbolically shows the new direction. The wooden walkway serves as a public, connecting space of the neighbourhood, giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists and opening access to the water.

With the Silo, Cobe have adaptively converted the former grain silo into residential and public uses, with a restaurant and an event and exhibition space on the ground floor. The crystalline-edged façade made of galvanised steel plates meets air-conditioning standards and at the same time ensures the visual appeal of this landmark.

In the immediate vicinity of the silo, JAJA Architects with Konditaget Lüders have lent further meaning to a multi-storey car park by transforming the roof area into a sports and leisure facility. The façade, which in addition to its greening effect also functions as access to the roof, is symbolic in its design for the Red Neigborhood, as it is called because of its originally predominant clinker brick construction of the harbour buildings. Reliefs along the stairways cite the history and future of the area.