The Impact

"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.'”

"The Impact will disrupt the ordinary to unveil the extraordinary. With a cohesive language that adapts to both grand and intimate spaces, pavements and building surfaces crack open to reconnect fragmented areas, allowing life to breathe through. Interactive water, nature, and light flow through these cracks like lifelines, stitching together the existing urban fabric while creating unexpected encounters. In doing so, we demonstrate how art and landscape design can reactivate public space and achieve low environmental impact, while delivering a powerful, socially driven transformation. As landscape architects and residents of Copenhagen, we are thrilled by the opportunity to help shape Ørestad’s future and celebrate its unique potential."