Gladsaxe City Hall Park
Category
Location
Gladsaxe, Denmark
Client
Gladsaxe Municipality
Collaboration
DOMINIA, Urban Creators, Fortheloveoflight
Contract period
2024 (Project submitted)
Contact
Viktor Forchhammer Mortensen
Landscape area
3950 m2
Construction cost
11 800 000 DKK (expected)
Image Credits
Kragh & Berglund
In 2024, Kragh&Berglund designed a competition proposal for the area around the new light rail station at Gladsaxe City Hall.
The proposal was a public space that facilitates new meeting points and communities. The park provide space for a plethora of trees, plants, and even wetlands – an urban nature that improves biodiversity. Instead of creating something monumental, we wished to make space for greenery and let the park fill in the gaps.
Besides being used as a passage, the park becomes a hyper-urban public space that invites people to stay and almost functions as a public living room for nearby education institutions.
The paths wind around a flexible parking lot. On weekdays, the parking lot is used for parking, but on weekends and special occasions, it transforms into an area for sports and social gatherings.
The surface covering on the forecourt and the paths is cast-in-situ concrete. The concrete moves freely and gently between the existing trees and rises up to create playful skate edges.
The change in speed – from the road and the light rail to the forecourt and paths through the park – is central to the project. In a nod to Gladsaxe Municpality’s emblem of a swallow, “Svalereden” (“swallow’s nest”) has been used as a title and motif for the project, because we wish to slow down the pace and create a place that feels safe. In this context, materials are chosen with the aim of making the texture felt and perceived – like a swallow’s nest made of soil, feathers and brushwood.
The cast-in-situ concrete pavement with characteristic swallow-imprint will be the new unifying floor for the station forecourt. Together with iconic swallow benches the concrete floor will frame a hyper-urban public space with opportunities for hanging out and activities for skating, roller skating and ball games.
Both the benches and concrete imprints take their form directly from a swallow’s nest and refer to the swallow as historic symbol for Gladsaxe.
The lighting in the station forecourt and in the city hall park creates a sense of security, and lighting in different layers and hierarchies allows the public space to be experienced as an invitation, evoking a sense of wonder and inspiring further exploration.
The traffic junction at Gladsaxe City Hall Park forms the heart of the district and will play a significant role in strengthening urban life, culture, business, housing, trade, education and green growth in general.
Want to learn more?
Contact Viktor Forchhammer Mortensen
vfm@kragh-berglund.dk
+45 24 42 91 24
