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3XN with British team bags Copenhagen arena jackpot

date added: 08.06.2012

Danes 3XN, working with a team of British architects, landscape specialists and engineers, has won the international competition to design a £120 million indoor arena in Copenhagen.

3XN with British team bags Copenhagen arena jackpot_1

3XN with British team bags Copenhagen arena jackpot_1

The Danish practice, known best in this country for its Museum of Liverpool project, collaborated on its bid with the London office of HKS Architects, the Manchester and Leeds studios of engineers Arup and emerging Altrincham-based public realm starlets Planit-IE.

The team saw off fellow finalists Foster + Partners with architects A78 and CF Møller with Grimshaw to land the scheme for a 15,000 seat indoor venue in the emerging Ørestad neighbourhood of the Danish capital.

3XN with British team bags Copenhagen arena jackpot_2

3XN with British team bags Copenhagen arena jackpot_2

It is understood 3XN has never lost to Foster + Partners when they have both been shortlisted in an open architectural contest.

More than 40 multi-disciplinary outfits and collaborations responded to the competition tender when it was published last autumn (2011).

Shortlisted teams led by Hopkins Architects and Populous (see AJ 01.03.2012) failed to make the final ‘cut’ when the field was narrowed down in March.

3XN with British team bags Copenhagen arena jackpot_3

3XN with British team bags Copenhagen arena jackpot_3

According to the contest jury, the scheme had a ‘distinct Nordic identity’ and, with its open ground floor and a first floor ‘plateau’, would invite in ‘a rich urban life with staircases and attractive urban spaces for residents as well as visitors to enjoy the sun or seek shelter for the wind’.

Copenhagen’s lord mayor Frank Jensen said: The arena promises to be yet another stunning element in the Copenhagen skyline, and the setting of world class experiences. The arena will create jobs for Copenhageners and be a launch pad for the city as the centre of growth and investment in eastern Denmark and the Øresund Region.’

The chief executive of strategic built environment foundation Realdania Flemming Borreskov added: ’The winning project is based on a consistent architectural idea. It has major urban and building qualities and holds the potential that can make Copenhagen Arena the hub of both spectacular experiences and a lively and active urban life.

With the design team in place elected, the company behind the construction of Copenhagen Arena, Arena CPHX, will now begin to prepare the tender for the ‘turnkey contract’. Construction is scheduled to start in the spring of 2013.

Source: www.architectsjournal.co.uk

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