Blue Planet

A model of The Blue Planet.

Project details

• Project Name: The Blue Planet
• Location of Site: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Design Team: Kim Herforth Nielsen, Jan Ammundsen, Bo Boje Larsen, Stig Vesterager Gothelf, Eva Hviid-Nielsen, Majbritt Lerche Madsen, Rasmus Hjortshoj, Peter Feltendal, Mans Nijkamp, Ulrich Pohl, Kasper Guldager Jorgensen, Mogens Bruun Jepsen, Carsten Olsen
• Project Type: Aquarium
• Client: The Blue Planet Building Foundation (Realdania, Knud Hojgaards Fond, Tarnby Kommune)
• Site Area: 9.000 m2

Words from the architect

Bent Frank, Chairman of the consortium behind The Blue Planet has great hopes for the future of the new Denmark's Aquarium

The ocean tank.

"The 3XN winning proposal is based on the clear idea and strikes one as a very convincing piece of architecture. It has the potential for making the new Denmark's Aquarium a pivotal point for extraordinary experiences and new insights into the world of science. With this extraordinary design I believe The Blue Planet will become a true landmark for Copenhagen and Denmark and for all visitors, whether they arrive by plane, by boat or passing over the bridge from Sweden."

The aquarium brings together the elements.

The Blue Planet, the new Denmark's Aquarium, is inspired by the whirl streams of the sea, shoals of fish, and swirling starlings turning the sky black. Indeed, from the round centre hall of the building the different parts are ' whirled' in the slightly curved sequence of rooms. The Blue Planet building site is in Copenhagen, at the island of Amager, right at the coast of oresund, north of Kastrup Havn, close to the Copenhagen Airport, and viewed from a plane the whirlpool shape will show in its full.

Aerial view.

Entering The Blue Planet, the building will convey a sense of the special experience that awaits them inside. Here, the whirlpool has pulled you into another world - a world beneath the surface of the sea. If you tilt your head backwards, you understand that you are really a part of this aquarium because the roof above the foyer is made of glass, and at the same time it is the bottom of a pool. High above, through the pool water, you can see the sky with sunlight being reflected in the water and forming flickering, shimmering sunspots on the floor and walls of this light, welcoming and at the same time mysterious entrance area. The Round Room is a centre of navigation in the aquarium, and this is where visitors choose which river, lake or ocean to explore. Each exhibition has its own face towards the Round Room, each with its own entrance, starting with a buffer zone - a platform where sound and images are used to introduce the atmosphere communicated in the ensuing exhibition room.

Credits

• Text: Christian Bundegaard
• Photographs: Adam Mork (model), 3XN architects (renderings)