into a climate park

Location Copenhagen, Denmark

Client/operator City of Copenhagen, Greater Copenhagen Utility (HOFOR)

Architect Tredje natur – Third nature DK – 2200 Copenhagen www.tredjenatur.dk

Team Flemming Rafn Thomsen (Partner in charge), Anders Juul Jensen, Kirstine Lorentsen, Christian Kuczynski, Anna Sissela Michalsdotter, Sofie Mandrup Andreassen, Jeppe Ecklon, Max Moriyama, Manabu Yamaya, Liane Filtenborg Laustsen

Consultant COWI

Public participation process Platant

Author Tredje natur

Photos Flemming Rafn, Tredje natur Drone photos: Astrid Maria Rasmussen

Official opening December 2019

Construction costs DKK 125 million (EUR 16.8 million)

READY FOR THE NEXT 100 YEARS

MODERNISATION OF ENGHAVEPARKEN INTO A CLIMATE PARK

The historical Enghaveparken has been transformed in accordance with the masterplan by Tredje Natur and is now the largest climate project in Copenhagen. With a 22,600 m³ water reservoir, the park responds to the need to handle future water challenges. The challenges are positively transformed into a large variety of new recreational, relaxation and sensory opportunities to be used both in an everyday situation and in the event of cloudbursts. The park will continue to be a unique space with its own poetic, lush, fairy-tale-like atmosphere.

Historical breathing space in the city Enghaveparken has been an important green space at Vesterbro for more than 90 years; a place of refuge for the working class living in the neighbourhood. The park is built as a strict neoclassical park with a reflecting pool, geometric axes, playground and stage. With such challenges as rising population growth and more frequent heavy rain events, there is a need to rethink our urban spaces in a smarter and more multifunctional way. Enghaveparken looks like its (old) self The large green and popular park is fenced off and protected from the outside world. The avenue of trees creates space and room for each function: the foyer, the Fountain Garden, Rose Garden, Multi Pitch, stage, playground and Library Garden. Everything in its place. Everything is like before, and yet not. Time and climate change have caught up, which is why some of the parks spaces have been lowered to collect water during heavy rain. A levee has been

created around the park’s perimeter to retain rainwater – both everyday rain and quantities of extreme rain. In dry periods, the levee can also be used for play and as a bench for sitting. Enghaveparken is now ready for the next 100 years of water challenges.

The Multi Pitch is specifically designed for in-line hockey with general use of a variety of urban sports featuring skateboards, scooters and roller skates. People use the court for core and cross training and also pulse-related training, where the steps are used for parkour-like activities. Recycling of delayed rooftop water Carlsberg Byen is the water catchment area for Enghaveparken, which means that the rainwater that falls in the area naturally will flow towards Enghaveparken through underground pipes. The everyday rain from the roofs of Carlsberg Byen will be fed to Enghaveparken and be collected in a 2,000 m³ underground reservoir. The collected rainwater can be used for sweepers and watering the trees of Copenhagen. The recycling of rainwater will save having to use clean drinking water. The remaining rainwater will be filtered and reused for recreational activities and contribute to the park’s renewed identity.

Local cloudburst protection The Multi Pitch, Rose Garden and Water Garden are lowered so that they can collect water. When the underground reservoir is filled, the water is fed to the Reflecting Pool and thereafter to the Rose Garden reservoir. The park’s existing 1-metre terrain drop from west to east has been used to establish a levee. The levee is a little more than one metre high at Enghavevej street and functions like a “dustpan” that can retain 14,500 m³ of water. In extreme cloudbursts, the fifth reservoir will be filled to the park’s total capacity of 22,600 m³. In this case, the park will be closed to the public. After 24 hours and when the sewer system is ready to take water in again, the water will be drained from Enghaveparken and the park can be accessed again. The levee – water management and play The levee is the final reservoir in the surface water management in Enghaveparken and it is only supposed to function in extreme cases of flooding. In extreme cloudbursts, the gates in the levee will automatically be raised and the park will be filled with water. In daily use, the water will tell the story of the climate park and the water will be a recreational and educational element. The daily rain will be collected in the underground reservoir under the Rose Garden, filtered and reused for recreational purposes in a trench at the top of the levee. If there is water in the reservoir, water will also flow along the trench.

A neoclassical design According to the original design and drawings from 1927, Arne Jacobsen’s stage and pavilions were the central objects

every day rain 10 years rain 100 years rain

in Enghaveparken. In today’s park design, the park’s structure has been preserved and reinforced with the restoration of the avenues of trees going through the park that were historically placed there. The different areas of the park are formed in Enghaveparken’s original character and designed with great additions of new experiences. The original pavilions by Arne Jacobsen have been rebuilt and placed at the entrance of the park.

A clear structure provides space for different activities Neoclassicism is characterised as robust architecture. Its clear structure gives way to the contrast, framing and emphasising of details in a simple and understandable geometry. With a clear structure, the spaces are programmed with great variety. The access to the park has also been renewed with two new entrances. The spaces within the park have been visually and physically connected. The number of benches has been increased and supplemented with informal recreational areas on the edges on the lowered part of the Multi Pitch and the Rose Garden. The levee functions as an elongated element for play and seating. The plants and trees around the avenues are stressed and repeated in the main axis. The park has been supplemented with lights along the main routes, with integrated lighting in the levee for increased safety and for lighting up the Multi Pitch. Rainwater has become a part of the renewed identity of Enghaveparken. The water is visible in all spaces and will communicate the important message of climate change.