Ørestad

Ørestad is a developing city area in Copenhagen on the island of Amager. 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. 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 centre water basin. View from DR television series Broen III / The Bridge III

Competition

The winning project of an international architectural competition held in 1994 revealed an overall masterplan for Ørestad, dividing the area into four districts. 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 192,100 m² of office space in Ørestad. In addition, a total of 13 buildings are under construction.

Ørestad is noted for its attractive location and excellent infrastructure, which apart from the metro includes the Oresund 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 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.

The area of Ørestad is 3.1 km², being about 600 metres wide and 5 km long. The central part of Ørestad, Ørestad City, is located 4.5 km west of Copenhagen Airport Kastrup and 5 km south of Copenhagen city centre.

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

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 57,000 km² mixed-use building 8 House by Bjarke Ingels Group and the residential building Stævnen by Wilhelm Lauritzen Arkitekter are located.

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.