The Future Danish Parliament

With the vision of open, accessible and engaging public governance, the Future Danish Parliament project expands and reorganizes the Danish Parliament entrance experience with a new visitor center, and includes the restoration and transformation of the listed historic buildings vacated by the National Archive into a citizen-oriented parliamentary meeting center. The new visitor entrance is designed as a circular amphitheater and staircase and is an integral part of the urban space in the publically accessible Parliament Courtyard. This inviting meeting place features a single symbolic tree as a marker at its center. A simple and highly calibrated insertion into its historic context, the proposal introduces a contemporary architecture and up-to-date functionality with respect for the protected cultural heritage on the island that is home to the Danish Parliament called Slotsholmen.

Denmark's democratically elected People’s Assembly has historic roots in the “Tingsted”- a highly defined outdoor space for local debate and governance. Scattered throughout all of Denmark, and dating back to ancient times, these places were demarcated in the landscape by stones and wood, providing a physical framework for early governance. The “Tingsted” is the functional and physical prototype for today’s houses of Parliament and for modern democracy in the Nordics.

We would like to show everyone – visitors, employees and elected representatives – that the Danish people’s parliament is something special. We would like to communicate that it is open and it is for everyone – while still effective, safe and secure. We wish to show that it respects our historic and cultural heritage- that the new Parliament is the modern “Tingsted” for the whole of Denmark.

Slotsholmen in Copenhagen is a place of a living and dynamic cultural heritage and of public governance – an island within the city and the center of power throughout 1,000 years of history. It has been in constant evolution from the days of Bishop Absalon from 1128–1201, to the absolute monarchy from 1660–1849, to the rise of a people’s government.

The project expands the Parliament’s buildings with a new visitor entrance in the Parliament Courtyard, provides new security facilities and transforms the former National Archive Buildings into parliamentary uses and citizen-oriented spaces.

Future capacity and flow will be improved significantly by including the buildings vacated by the National Archive to the building stock of the Parliament. A new underground extension will connect the Parliament with the former Archive Buildings and ensure a continued and a common functionality.

With its inspiration from the historic democratic meeting place of the “Tingsted”, the visitor entrance will be shaped as a circular, open meeting place with amphitheater stairs for seating. At the foot of the stairs stands the “People’s Tree” – a single imposing tree that symbolizes the roots of democracy and gives the urban space a sensorial and welcoming character.

The former National Archive Buildings will be restored and transformed from a static mono-functional use to a living and multi-functional house. The new uses are placed so that synergies occur and the building’s existing, spatial qualities come into play. An eatery, exhibition space, committee rooms with public access and internal workplaces are among the planned functions.

The former National Archive Buildings will accommodate new committee rooms with seats for the public and the press. The parliamentary committees are a central element in the function of the parliamentary system. It is the Parliament’s desire to make the people’s government more open, accessible and engaging by empowering visitors to get a peek into its engine room.

Materials will be recycled on site and will add new, visible layers to the building’s history. In the former Archive Buildings the shelving will be processed, refined and reused as wall panels in the committee rooms. The floor decking will be reused as suspended acoustic ceilings. The brick interior walls will be preserved. Existing surplus bricks can be both reused as aggregates in new cast floors, or can be included in the arches supporting the square and allowing for its underground construction.