What If the Quickest Way From Point A to Point B Was to Walk Across the Sky?
LM Harbor Gateway / Steven Holl Architects
Site
Two piers forming the entrance to Copenhagen Harbor.
Program
A pair of towers with more than 600,000 combined square feet of office space, civic areas, and a suspension bridge providing a public circulation path 200 feet above the harbor.
Solution
Designed to create a dramatic new entryway to Copenhagen Harbor, this pair of towers designed by Steven Holl Architects symbolically represents the connecting point between the city and the water. The Langelinie Tower is located on a long, curving pier that serves as a berth for large ocean-bound ships. Its sister Marmormolen Tower stands on a pier more directly connected to the city center. At 25 and 23 stories, respectively, the buildings provide a combined 624,500 square feet of space. But the hallmark of this complex is not the increased density or height in a relatively low-rise context. It is the grand gesture of the cable-stay bridge that projects from both buildings to meet at an angle in the center, 213 feet above the surface of the water. “It is a statement,” juror Adele Chatfield-Taylor said.
More than just a way of connecting the two buildings for tenants, the bridge serves as a public circulation path, with escalators and elevators connecting it to ground level. The soffits under each side of the bridge will be vividly painted and lit at night to enhance the effect. Rather than write the bridge off as a gimmick, the jury was convinced that it is integral to the project’s worth. “You can make a fantastic gesture, but then you have to actually be able to make it work,” juror Stan Allen said. “And there’s a level of development here that makes me convinced that that’s possible.”
Project Credits
Project LM Harbor Gateway, Copenhagen
Client ATP Ejendomme
Architect Steven Holl Architects, New York—Steven Holl (principal); Noah Yaffe (associate in charge); Chris McVoy (project adviser); Rashid Satti (competition project architect); Justin Allen, Esin Erez, Runar Halldorsson, Fiorenza Matteoni (project team)
Structural Engineer HNTB Corp.—Ted Zoli (bridge structural engineer)
Mechanical Engineer Niras
Climate Consultant Transsolar
Size 624,500 square feet
