BIG, artist Doug Aitken Workshop, NIRAS, Volcano, and RWDI have won a competition to redesign three public spaces surrounding major music venues in Ørestad, Copenhagen. The initiative, titled Byens Scene (“The City’s Stage”), aims to revitalize the areas around DR Koncerthuset, Bella Arena, and Royal Arena, transforming them into an interconnected landscape for everyday use and public performances.
The winning proposal, titled “The Impact”, incorporates art and landscape architecture, reimagining the three sites as parts of a cohesive urban stage. Rather than treating them as separate plazas, the design connects them through a unified spatial language and pathway. Central to the concept is a sculptural “crack”, a pavement cutout that opens up space for greenery, circulation, and gathering. This crack integrates features such as local water management systems, native planting, and lighting, creating both a physical and visual link across the three sites.
Covering over 50,000 m², the project is designed to achieve a carbon footprint of less than 0.1 kg CO₂ per m² per year. Existing materials, including granite and concrete, are planned to be reused for surfaces and urban furniture. Rainwater will be managed on-site through open channels, topographic basins, and permeable layers, while native vegetation has been selected to promote biodiversity and improve microclimatic comfort.
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At the DR Concert Hall plaza, an existing water feature will be transformed into a stage with tiered seating and floating islands for rest, play, and performance. Reused paving will form new seating edges and steps, while the crack introduces a path of light and water. In front of Bella Arena, the crack runs up the building façade, forming a series of green rooms with sunken beds, microclimate niches, and seating. The project’s chosen materials combine natural stone, flamed concrete, and reused elements, with plantings selected for their seasonal variation. At Fields Mall, the design incorporates two artworks resembling meteorites. Here, the crack brings light into the space, guiding visitors along a promenade toward the Royal Arena.
With a cohesive language that adapts to both grand and intimate spaces, pavements and building surfaces crack open to reconnect fragmented areas, allowing life to breathe through. Interactive water, nature, and light flow through these cracks like lifelines, stitching together the existing urban fabric while creating unexpected encounters. In doing so, we demonstrate how art and landscape design can reactivate public space and achieve low environmental impact, while delivering a powerful, socially driven transformation. – Giulia Frittoli, Partner, BIG
This transformation adds to BIG’s broader presence in the area, which includes residential projects such as VM Houses, The Mountain, and 8 House. Other recent news from the firm includes a new mixed-use waterfront tower in Brooklyn, a masterplan to convert Dubai’s Jebel Ali Racecourse into a green, walkable district, and a timber-structured design for the new Hungarian Natural History Museum in Debrecen. Meanwhile, construction has begun on BIG’s armadillo-shaped ballpark in Las Vegas, and the CityWave project in Milan has recently topped out, featuring one of the world’s largest urban solar roofs.