Arup and Cobe design two new stations in Copenhagen

The Nordhavn metro line extension has opened in Copenhagen, featuring two new stations designed by Arup and Cobe. The 2.2km extension is expected to help unlock the redevelopment potential of the city's northern docklands, one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe. There was no official opening ceremony due to restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19, but after normal conditions resume, the two metro stations are expected to serve 9,000 daily passengers by 2025.

The designers gave both stations distinct characteristics that reflect the surrounding urban areas. Tracing the outline of a shipping container, the overground Orientkaj station celebrates the large-scale volumes and brutalist features of the dockland’s industrial past, while opening up to reveal a more passenger-focused interior. The underground Nordhavn station borrows from features of the recently-opened Cityringen metro line – for which Arup led the architectural design - with the distinctive red cladding used for transfer stations.

Orientkaj was designed as a prototype for future stations under the ongoing Nordhavn development. This new city district, also designed by Cobe, will add over 1.5m sqm of sustainable mixed-use buildings and provide homes for 40,000 residents, together with workspaces for a further 40,000 people.

Dan Stubbergaard, architect and founder of Cobe, stated: “Nordhavn is a city of sustainable mobility, where it is easier to walk, bike or use public transport, than it is to drive your own car. The two metro stations unlock the potential of this new Copenhagen city district enabling more efficient and sustainable transport between the individual neighbourhoods, and to the rest of Copenhagen, while adding a new chapter to the story of the Copenhagen harbour front.”

Lucy Nordberg
TenderStream Head of Research

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