The Blue Planet - architeria.eu

THE BLUE PLANET

Address: Kajakvej, 2770 Kastrup, DK
Client: Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority
Competition: 1st prize in invited competition
Project development: 2010 - 2013
Size: 9.000 m2
Budget: € 25m
Architect: 3XN

Inspired by the shape of water in endless motion, The Blue Planet is shaped as a great whirlpool. The new
Denmark’s Aquarium is situated in the borderland between the worlds of Poseidon and Zeus. The walls and
roofs form a single, continuous flow and are clad in a way which emphasises the wavy outline of the building,
thereby telling a story of this union. The first and longest of the whirlpool’s arms follows the shape of the
landscape and the building, movinginto the land.

As soon as visitors arrive at The Blue Planet, the building will convey a sense of the special experience that
awaits them inside. Here, the whirlpool has pulled you into another world - a world beneath the surface
of the sea. If you tilt your head backwards, you understand that you are really a part of this aquarium because
the roof above the foyer is made of glass, and at the same time it is the bottom of a pool. High above, through
the pool water, you can see the sky with sunlight being reflected in the water and forming flickering,
shimmering sunspots on the floor and walls of this light, welcoming and at the same time mysterious entrance
area.

The Round Room is a centre of navigation in the aquarium, and this is where visitors choose which river,
lake or ocean to explore. Each exhibition has its own face towards the Round Room, each with its own
entrance, starting with a buffer zone – a platform where sound and images are used to introduce
the atmosphere communicated in the ensuing exhibition room. Raised a few metres above the terrain, The Blue
Planet is a reflection of strong coherence; greatness in the smallest of things, all water in the world being
inextricably linked, from the enormous forces of tsunamis to the infinitely tiny, spinning molecules.
Overlooking the Øresund, the building connects land and sea, drawing both the great outdoors and visitors inside.

In the landscape, the great WHIRLPOOL continues through the terrain, the pools and the sea surrounding
the building. Like watery currents, the building is not static – the movement continues into the future by virtue
of always allowing possible extensions to add more, simply by letting the lines of the whirlpool grow further
out. Any expansion would cause a minimum of inconvenience to the contemporary exhibitions and the existing
parts of the building. The extensions can simply be added to an individual arm, solely closing this particular
section down during the extension process and not re-opening it until completion. Secondly, the key element
is that any new building volumes added will be extensions of the architecture, with any expansion of
the aquarium simply taking place in a natural dialogue with the building itself.

Nature and culture can be mixed, controlled by topics and ideas, on the basis of the stories to be told
or in interaction with the audience. The building is flexible enough to accommodate it all, and the dominant
whirl, with its endless scope for variation, but also repetition and rhythm, holds it all together. The curves
which define the absolutely unique and sculptural look of the building must be perceived as part of the
backdrops to the sceneries of the exhibitions.

3XN-A/S PRACTICE PROFILE