Ørestad

Ørestad () is a developing city area in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the island of Amager. When the area was planned it was expected that 20,000 people would live in Ørestad, 20,000 would study, and 80,000 people would be employed in the area. However, so far the area has failed to attract even half of those numbers. The area is being developed using the new town concept with the Copenhagen Metro as the primary public transport grid, connecting the area with the rest of Metropolitan Copenhagen.

Ørestad is noted for its attractive location and excellent infrastructure, which apart from the metro includes the Øresund Railway and Copenhagen Airport, as well as the nearby Øresund Bridge. The regional Oresundtrains reach Copenhagen Airport in six minutes, Copenhagen Central Station in seven, and 29 minutes to Central Station in Malmö, Sweden's third largest  city. Ørestad has once been referred to as "the largest crossroad in Scandinavia". However, Ørestad has also been criticized heavily for its modernist planning approach, focusing exclusively on real estate development and infrastructure connections. This has resulted in wide, open spaces that are void of any human life. The plans for the area have been remade several times to account for such mistakes, but so far without much success.

Ørestad is divided into four districts: Ørestad Nord, Amager Fælled kvarteret, Ørestad City and Ørestad Syd. Among the most notable institutions located in Ørestad are the DR Village, the headquarters of the national Danish broadcaster DR, Copenhagen Concert Hall designed by Jean Nouvel, Field's, the largest shopping mall in Denmark, and Bella Center, the largest exhibition and conference center in Scandinavia, with Bella Sky Hotel, the largest hotel in Scandinavia.

Geography
The area of Ørestad is , being about  wide and  long. The central part of Ørestad, Ørestad City, is located  west of Copenhagen Airport Kastrup and  south of Copenhagen city centre.

Ørestad borders Islands Brygge to the north, Tårnby to the east, and the extensive Kalvebod Commons to the west.

History

The legislation regarding Ørestad was enacted in 1992 because the unused areas were regarded as being too valuable. Ørestad Development Corporation (Ørestadsselskabet I/S) was founded March 11, 1993 to manage the growth of the city district. The corporation is owned 55% by Copenhagen municipality and 45% by the Ministry of Finance. The development is expected to take 20 to 30 years at a cost of about €175 million, and it is expected that 20,000 people will live in Ørestad, 20,000 will study, and 80,000 people will be employed in the area.

At the beginning of 2008, 53% of the area had been sold.

The winning project of an international architectural competition held in 1994 revealed an overall masterplan for Ørestad, dividing the area into four districts. The Finnish design office APRT and Danish KHR Arkitekter established a joint-venture and presented a final plan in 1997.

The first office building was completed in 2001. The first residential buildings were completed three years later. Currently, there are more than 3000 flats as well as  of office space in Ørestad. In addition, a total of 13 buildings are under construction.

Areas in Ørestad
Since the turn of the millennium, a total of 65 buildings have been built, including more than 3000 flats,  for educational use and  of retail stores in the whole of Ørestad.

Ørestad North

Ørestad North is the most developed of the four areas of Ørestad. It is developed according to a masterplan by KHR Arkitekter from 1997 around a central "village green", the Landscape Canal and the north-south-oriented University Canal.

Major institutions in the area include the DR Byen, which includes the Copenhagen Concert Hall, and several educational facilities such as the IT University of Copenhagen and University of Copenhagen's Southern Campus.There are around 1,000 residential units in Ørestad North, half which are student housing in Tietgenkollegiet and Bikuben Kollegiet.

Amager Fælled
The protected Amager Fælled district remains largely undeveloped.

Ørestad City

Ørestad City is the area in Ørestad which has seen the most new construction since 2001 when the Ferring Tower was completed as the first building. The dominating features in the area include the Field's shopping mall and the Bella Center convention and exhibition center. In 2006, Daniel Libeskind created a master plan for the remaining area of Ørestad City, referred to as Ørestad Down Town, located between Field's and Center Boulevard. In 2009, the 709-room Cab Inn Metro Hotel was completed to the design of Libeskind as the first building in this project.

Ørestad City has seen considerable construction of residential buildings since 2003, most of which are centered around Byparken. The most distinctive residential buildings in the area are the VM Houses and Mountain Dwellings by Bjarke Ingels and Julien De Smedt, while another noteworthy building is Ørestad College by 3XN.

Ørestad South
Ørestad South will be dominated by large-scale commercial buildings in the northern part and residential developments in the southern part. A new headquarters for international consulting firm Ramboll and the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers hotel, part of the Copenhagen Towers development, are located just south of the Øresund highway. Both are designed by Dissing + Weitling. In the southernmost part of Ørestad South the  mixed-use building 8 House by Bjarke Ingels Group and the residential building Stævnen by Wilhelm Lauritzen Arkitekter are located.

Future development

Within the next 5 years the remaining three building sites in Ørestad Nord are expected to go under construction.

Only eight building sites remain to be built in Ørestad City apart from the so-called Libeskind site situated west and south of Field's. The masterplan for this  area was revealed in 2006 and suggests a significant all-curved complex consisting of some 11 office buildings including a 704-room Cab Inn Metro hotel and two 20-storey office/hotel buildings. There will be a central square and a partly glass-roofed arcade. Construction began late 2007 and will go on for the next 5–10 years.

The district plan for Ørestad South was approved in 2005.
The overall master plan follows the initial design as seen in the winning proposal of 1997.
Apart from the Copenhagen Towers complex adjacent to the motorway, two other master plans for two other complexes have been presented: One by Niels Torp for Ørestad Business Center and one by KHR arkitekter for The Hannemannsparken complex. All together these three complexes, situated just south of the motorway, will consist of some  of office space.
Construction of the Copenhagen Towers started late 2007.

Copenhagen Arena, a multi-use indoor arena, is under construction in Ørestad Syd, planned to be opened in 2016. A new school is also planned to open in 2015 as the Ørestad school reaches projected capacity.

Transport
The main arterial road from the north to the south is Ørestads Boulevard which runs along the southern part of the Copenhagen Metro line M1. The Øresund motorway E20 and the Øresund railway cuts through Ørestad, separating the two districts Ørestad City and Ørestad Syd. To the east the airport and the fixed railway and motorway link to Malmö can be reached within few minutes.

Ørestad Station is the main railway station in the area and is served by regional as well as inter-city trains on the Øresund Line. Copenhagen Airport can be reached in five minutes and Copenhagen Central Station can be reached in seven minutes. It offers interchange with the Copenhagen Metro line M1, serving the rest of Ørestad as well as an alternative link to Copenhagen City Centre. The metro has six stops in Ørestad: Islands Brygge and DR Byen in the Ørestad Nord district, Sundby in the Amager Fælled district, Bella Center and Ørestad in the Ørestad City district and Vestamager in the Ørestad Syd district.

In addition, bus lines serve the Faculty of Humanities of the University, Bella Center, Ørestad City and Ørestad Syd. Bus stops in Ørestad City are along Ørestads Boulevard.

References

External links
 
 Official website 

Category:Geography of Copenhagen
Category:Transit-oriented developments
Category:Urban planning in Denmark
Category:Amager