Copenhagen Rail Way Cut
Location: Copenhagen Central Station, Denmark
Client: Danish Broadcasting Corporation
Team: Stig L. Andersson, Thomas Kock, Jonas R. Sangberg, Marie Priem, Martin Birch, Malin Blomqvist
Design phase: Two days in 2005
Cycling home from work. First trip to Copenhagen . Or running to catch the train. Every day up to 75,000 people pass by the subway trench in Copenhagen (an uncovered part of the subway). But what if the Station Square was so attractive that you felt like sitting down for a while? If your routine route from A to B became a special experience, full of surprises.
The subway trench’s biggest attraction today is the life going on here: Sounds, smells and people moving in all directions, above and below you. SLA proposes to give everyone full access to the city life of the subway trench by placing a huge glass floor over the trench. In this way the surface area that can be used is enlarged. The floor in the new city space reflects light and provides views to the trains, and the glass is supported by large, rough-cut concrete elements. Seen from the trains the light streams down through small shafts in the rocky landscape, and from above the trains can be watched with butterflies in the stomach. Two layers of the city are revealed and the space is doubled.
The project is a part of the TV programme "Byens rum" (Urban Space), which was shown on Danich Broadcasting Corporation's channel 2 in November 2005.
Further information on the programme on the Danish Broadcasting Corporation's website (danish)
In the rain the square will turn into a reservoir with drumming, dripping and splashing everywhere. Sound and light. The glass surface is filled by water surfaces that reflect the shifting colours and patterns of the sky. An open and accessible space.
Here there could be Christmas markets, salsa training and dog shows – all at the same time. Down below the trains can be seen in what for a brief moment has become a Copenhagen aquarium.
