Project Overview

At more than 20,000 m2 Karen Blixens Plads is one of the largest public squares in Copenhagen.

Project Commissioner

Danish Building and Property Agency / A.P. Mller Fonden

Project Creator

COBE

Team

Ben James, Birk Folke Daugaard, Caroline Nagel, Christian Sander, Dan Stubbergaard, Joachim Makholm Michelsen, Karoline Liedtke, Ludvig Holtens, Maria Aufegger, Matilda Andersson.

Project Brief

Located between the newly built University of Copenhagen and the nature reserve Amager commons, makes Karen Blixens Plads a hybrid of both park and square in one. The square has a unique undulating landscape with bicycle hills and plant beds, and has room for more than 2,000 parked bicycles, two-thirds of them in covered spaces inside the bicycle hills. In a soft transition, Karen Blixens Plads brings together the university's need for urban spaces and bicycle parking with the open landscape of the neighbouring common, promoting green transportation, climate change adaptation and biodiversity.

The combined public square and university plaza are designed as a carpet that covers an undulating terrain of small hills and breaks the large space up into smaller zones with room for activities both on and inside the hills (domes). The three bicycle hills were created as cast concrete shells clad with hand-laid tiles in colors echoing the exteriors of the surrounding university buildings. In addition to serving as an active meeting place for students, employees, and locals, the square also contains a high-capacity bicycle parking space for the many users of the university, including 16,000 students and 2,000 employees. The innovative and unique design has room for 2,000 bicycles.

Project Need

Copenhagen is one of the world’s leading bicycle cities, with more than 40% of the city’s inhabitants riding their bikes for their daily commute. For a decade, the University of Copenhagen has faced a big challenge: how to provide inadequate solution for the massive amount of bicycles parked in front of the main entrance to the university.

The result is a combined urban space and park area that accommodates and promotes green transportation, climate change adaptation and biodiversity.

Sustainability

To the south, hilly, undulating meadowland connects the campus with the commons. In addition to bringing nature into the campus the landscape also contributes to climate change adaptation by adding a capacity to handle stormwater. Delaying rainwater in depressions in the landscape utilizes the recreational values of the water and creates small wet biotopes that support biodiversity, enable rainwater evaporation and supplements the canal in case of extreme precipitation, thus contributing to climate change adaptation. The design uses simple, sturdy and durable materials, just as lighting and furnishings are kept to a few, simple elements to ensure a sustainable urban space. All the selected elements are low-maintenance and contribute to the square’s green profile.