We are honored to have been chosen to transform the urban spaces of Ørestad into a unified landscape of light, water and life 🌟

Designed in collaboration with Doug Aitken Workshop, NIRAS, Volcano and RWDI, The Impact merges three distinct public plazas surrounding the DR Concert Hall, Bella Arena and Royal Arena into a singular, interconnected stage for everyday life and public performances. Instead of adding to Ørestad’s existing surfaces, The Impact removes sections of the pavement to uncover and reactivate the ecosystems beneath, opening space for greenery, gathering and movement. With a calculated carbon footprint below 0.1 kg CO2 per m2 per year, the project is designed to integrate reused materials, local water management and robust, native plantings.

At its heart, a sculptural ‘crack’ in the landscape carries water, light and movement across the site. The crack traverses all three plazas, forming a physical and visual thread that unites them into a single story.

“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.

📸 PLAY-TIME, Ping Pong Space and BIG