Denmark’s new National Aquarium named The Blue Planet, designed by 3XN, has won the Display Award at the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF).
Project: The Blue Planet Aquarium
Designed by 3XN
Project Team: Kim Herforth Nielsen, Jan Ammundsen, Bo Boje Larsen, Stig Vesterager Gothelf, Eva Hviid-Nielsen, Majbritt Lerche Madsen, Rasmus Hjortshøj, Peter Feltendal, Bodil Nordstrøm, Christina Melholdt Broegaard, Nis Timmer, Christian Bundegaard, Ida S. Greisen, Martin Rejnholt Frederiksen, Torsten Wang, Simon Hartmann-Petersen, Mans Nijkamp, Ulrich Pohl, Kasper Guldager Jørgensen, Martin Jonsbak, Lasse Lind, Jesper Thøger Christensen, Mogens Bruun Jepsen, Carsten Olsen, Pernille Uglvig Jessen, Stine de Bang
Client: The Blue Planet Building Foundation (Realdania, Knud Højgaards Fond, Tårnby Kommune)
Location: Kajakvej, 2770 Kastrup, Denmark, Copenhagen
Design Concept by the Architects
Inspired by the shape of nature whirlpool shapes: water streams, shoals of fish, flocks of birds in the sky Denmark’s new National Aquarium, The Blue Planet is shaped as a great whirlpool. This way the shape of the building itself tells the story of what awaits inside.
The Blue Planet is located on an elevated headland towards the sea, north of Kastrup Harbor. Located by the seaside the whirlpool shape connects sea and landscape. The building’s distinctive shape is clearly visible for travellers arriving by plane at the nearby Copenhagen Airport. The facade is covered with small diamond-shaped aluminum plates, known as shingles, which adapts to the building’s organic form. Just as water aluminium reflects the colours and light of the sky and thus the buildings expression varies with the changes in its natural surroundings.
Into another world
Visitors reach the entrance by following the first and longest of the whirlpool’s whirls. With a smooth transition the landscape surpasses for the building, while the outdoor ponds mark the unique experience that awaits the aquarium visitors as they enter The Blue Planet: the whirlpool has pulled them into another world – a world beneath the surface of the sea. Read more.