“See-you-at-the-bridge“ kind of place
Cirkelbroen in Christianshavn
Celebrating pedestrians
Cirkelbroen is a pedestrian bridge comprising five circular bridge platforms spanning Christianshavn Canal to connect the Christiansbro area with Applebys Plads. For years, it has been a goal of the City of Copenhagen to create a contiguous boardwalk along the inner waterfront.
Cirkelbroen celebrates pedestrians. It reflects the daily life and intimacy that you find around the canal in the Christianshavn neighbourhood, its houseboats and sailing boats, the unique life on the ramparts. Copenhagen’s harbour was once a centre of maritime activity, and Cirkelbroen is a testimony to that history. While working on the bridge, the artist Olafur Eliasson remembered the fishing boats he saw as a child in Iceland. In the harbour, the boats were often moored right next to each other, and it sometimes seemed that you could even cross the harbour just by walking from boat to boat.
A different perspective
The bridge is made of five circular platforms, and it contributes to a larger circle that will form a pedestrian route around Copenhagen Harbour, where people – cycling, running, walking – can see the city from a very different perspective. As many as 5,000 people will cross this bridge each day. These people shall use Cirkelbroen as a meeting place, and that the zigzag design of the bridge will make them reduce their speed and take a break. To hesitate on our way is to engage in bodily thought. The designer sees such introspection as an essential part of a vibrant city.
Designer
Studio Olafur Eliasson
Christinenstraße 18/19, Haus 2
D — 10119 Berlin
Team
Sebastian Behmann, Robert Banović, Jan Bünnig
Client
Nordea-fonden
Inclusion and tradition
In Denmark, there is a strong tradition of focusing on inclusion, on accepting the other – welcoming ideas that we have not yet had, people we have not yet met, and unpredictable encounters. It’s something we all have to work on together, and one way of addressing this is in how we plan public space. Cirkelbroen will contribute to improving the quality of life and the development of a hospitable and inclusive city.
Cirkelbroen is a gift from Nordeafonden to the City of Copenhagen. Nordea-fonden is a non-profit and charitable foundation supporting activities that promote good living in Denmark. Cirkelbroen creates new spaces along the waterfront. It brings people closer to the water and encourages them to slow down a little and take a break. It has already become a meeting place, a “see-you-at-the-bridge“ kind of place.
Allow it to grow
In Copenhagen, progress has been made in thinking about what constitutes quality in urban space and about the atmosphere of a space. Obviously, one cannot plan atmosphere, as it is co-produced by the people who use the space, but it is possible to nurture an atmosphere, to allow it to grow. As an artist, designer Olafur Eliasson works with abstract and emotional qualities, so this is where art can play a role. Politicians, urban planners, and developers need to expand their toolbox by bringing in what Eliasson calls creative reality producers – artists, social scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, dancers, poets, environmental activists, and philosophers – to rethink urban spaces.
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