The redesign and redevelopment of Nørreport Station is the result of the collaboration of COBE Architects and Gottlieb Paludan Architects (GPA), from Denmark itself and Canada respectively. The urban life, passenger flow, transparency and accessibility are the project's key values. Obviously, organizing parking for the bikes was also a key issue in the design of the station. How do you organize thousand of bikes in a very dense urban setting, without creating clutter and visual eyesore?
Nørreport Station in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the busiest station in the country with roughly 250,000 people bustling through it daily. Since the 60s, the station has developed into a vast and chaotic intersection in the middle of the city. The new Nørreport Station is composed of a series of rounded, floating roofs, mounted on striking glass pavilions. A study of pedestrians’ preferred routes has formed the basis for the station’s new design, providing an open and welcoming public space with specific thought directed to the needs of cyclists and pedestrians. In order to create a clear hierarchy between the area for bicycles and the area for city life, all bicycle parking is placed 40 cm below the city floor - as sunken ‘bicycle beds’. In this way, the new Nørreport Station becomes a different kind of station – a completely open space consisting of variations of organic suspended roofs and pathways that fluently integrate with the city around it. It is a space of constant flow that one gradually becomes part of as one moves with the stream of people to and from the many underground platforms.
The station forecourt creates cohesion and direct pedestrian access to the medieval city. Cyclists reach the station via Nørre Voldgade, and their needs have been considered with recessed bicycle ‘beds’ for 2,500 bicycles on the station forecourt. The project fell into three parts: modernization of the platform for long-distance trains, renovation of the bridge structures supporting the ground deck above the station tunnels as well as the urban space sub-project with new designs of the station forecourt and buildings, pavings and surfacings, bicycle parking, access and traffic arrangements. GPA was involved in all three sub-projects and coordinated among the members of the client organization.
Nørreport Station in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the busiest station in the country with roughly 250,000 people bustling through it daily. Since the 60s, the station has developed into a vast and chaotic intersection in the middle of the city. The new Nørreport Station is composed of a series of rounded, floating roofs, mounted on striking glass pavilions. A study of pedestrians’ preferred routes has formed the basis for the station’s new design, providing an open and welcoming public space with specific thought directed to the needs of cyclists and pedestrians. In order to create a clear hierarchy between the area for bicycles and the area for city life, all bicycle parking is placed 40 cm below the city floor - as sunken ‘bicycle beds’. In this way, the new Nørreport Station becomes a different kind of station – a completely open space consisting of variations of organic suspended roofs and pathways that fluently integrate with the city around it. It is a space of constant flow that one gradually becomes part of as one moves with the stream of people to and from the many underground platforms.
The station forecourt creates cohesion and direct pedestrian access to the medieval city. Cyclists reach the station via Nørre Voldgade, and their needs have been considered with recessed bicycle ‘beds’ for 2,500 bicycles on the station forecourt. The project fell into three parts: modernization of the platform for long-distance trains, renovation of the bridge structures supporting the ground deck above the station tunnels as well as the urban space sub-project with new designs of the station forecourt and buildings, pavings and surfacings, bicycle parking, access and traffic arrangements. GPA was involved in all three sub-projects and coordinated among the members of the client organization.
