Nørreport Station

Nørreport Station is the busiest train station in Denmark, with more than 250,000 people passing through it daily. The station is composed of a series of rounded, floating roofs, mounted on distinctive glass pavilions. A study of pedestrians’ preferred routes has formed the basis of the station’s design, providing an open and welcoming public space with specific consideration for the needs of cyclists and pedestrians. Nørreport Station is not only a station but an urban landscape for people. It transforms Copenhagen’s busiest space into a single unified flow and becomes an integrated part of the pulsating city around it.

Before the car invasion, Nørreport Station was a lively place where bikes and people took center stage. The station later became a chaotic distribution line of trams, cars and buses, neglecting pedestrians and cyclists.

The station pavillions and the bike parking is arranged in between the main flow lines, which provides optimal access without disrupting the natural flow of movement. Once Nørreport Station was a difficult place to navigate - a traffic junction where you had to wait patiently for all the cars and the busses to pass. Now it functions as an important public space where pedestrians have reclaimed priority, and the cars have to drive around.

Thousands of bicycles used to fill up the urban spaces around Nørreport Station. Without an efficient structure, they were randomly scattered around, creating a messy and dysfunctional public space. The new sunken bicycle beds offer a clear indication of where to park and where to walk. At the same time, the lowered bicycle sections provide a calm visual expression and function as a rainwater containment in case of extreme weather events.

Roofs hover above the station elements providing cover for round glass buildings, parked bicycles and the entrances to the underground platforms.