Copenhagen, Denmark
Cobe in collaboration with Arcgency and Drachmann Arkitekter designed the Future Danish Parliament, a building that the architects envision as open, accessible, and home of an engaging public governance.
The project expands and reorganizes the Danish Parliament entrance experience with a new visitor center, and includes the restoration and transformation of the listed historic buildings vacated by the National Archive into a citizen-oriented parliamentary meeting center.
The new visitor entrance, which is the ‘centerpiece’ of the project, is designed as a circular amphitheater and staircase, with a single symbolic tree as a marker at its center, and is an integral part of the urban space in the publically accessible Parliament Courtyard.
The Parliament is located in Slotsholmen, an island within the city which has been the center of governance throughout 1,000 years of history.
The architects introduce contemporary architecture and up-to-date functionality with respect to the protected cultural heritage on Slotsholmen Island.
Cobe understand that the Parliament Courtyard is “an important, historic, and multi-functional urban space that even today is accessible to all of us.”
Thus, the new visitor entrance is designed as an open, inviting meeting place and an integral part of the Courtyard.
“We want to preserve the existing flows of the square and its ability to host events critical to our democracy,” Cobe said.
With its inspiration from the historic democratic meeting place of the “Tingsted”, the entrance is shaped as a circular, open meeting place with amphitheater stairs for seating.
At the foot of the stairs stands the “People’s Tree”- a single imposing tree that symbolizes the roots of democracy and gives the urban space a sensorial and welcoming character.
From the circular meeting place, visitors are invited inside, to a generous and bright space with archways.
This space is divided into three zones: a security section, a connecting concourse, and a visitors center. The visitors center is an open space that features an exhibition about the Danish constitution, and people’s government, and activity rooms on either side.
The former National Archive Buildings will be restored and transformed from a static mono-functional use to a living and multi-functional house.
The former National Archive Buildings will accommodate new committee rooms with seats for the public and the press.
On-site recycling of materials will create visible layers of history on the building. Shelving from the former Archive Buildings will be refined and repurposed into wall panels for committee rooms.
The floor decking will be repurposed as suspended acoustic ceilings. The interior brick walls will be conserved. Any additional bricks can be recycled as aggregates in new cast floors or can be incorporated into the arches that support the square and permit its subterranean construction.
Project: The Future Danish Parliament
Architects: CoBe Architecture et Paysage
Design Team: Bastian Weinreich, Christian Kamp Iversen, Christian Schmidt, Dan Stubbergaard, Eik Bjerregaard, Emanuele Biscaro, Felix Wise, Iselin Bjørnevik, Jacob Blak Henriksen, Nina Mathiesen, Mark Aron Thomsen, Max Neumeister, Mikkel Reedtz Morris, Sidsel Hellström, Stine Bærentzen, and Susanne Skov Kunert
Collaborators: Arcgency, Drachmann Arkitekter, Sweco engineers
Client: The Danish Building and Property Agency for the Danish Parliament
Photographs: Courtesy of the Architects
