BIG TO TRANSFORM ØRESTAD’S URBAN SPACES INTO A UNIFIED LANDSCAPE OF LIGHT, WATER AND LIFE

In collaboration with American artist Doug Aitken, NIRAS, Volcano and RWDIS, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group has won the competition to design Byens Scene (The City’s Stage) in Ørestad, Copenhagen. Titled ‘The Impact’, the project reimagines the three major public plazas surrounding DR Concert Hall, Bella Arena and Royal Arena. Spanning 56,000 m², the project introduces a new kind of urban space that supports both everyday life and performance. The transformation continues BIG’s two-decade presence in Ørestad, following the residential projects VM Houses, The Mountain and 8 House. With a calculated carbon footprint of 0.095 kg CO₂ per m² per year, the project is designed to incorporate reused materials, local water management and robust, native plantings. “It is with immense pleasure that we return to Ørestad 15 years after completing the 8 House. This time with the intention of breathing life between the buildings. With ‘The Impact’, we have taken an approach that breaks open the perfect, finished surfaces of the city like a meteor strike, creating space for all forms of life, plants and animals, nature and culture. Like a form of urban Kintsugi – the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold – the cracks and fractures will create a kind of accelerated patina on the otherwise very new district. In the words of Leonard Cohen: ‘There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.’” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG