Cobe has completed work on a new outdoor concert space for Copenhagen they say will lend a rich cultural and green balance to the outcrop of new development in the city’s inner harbor area that has been reproduced in abundance over the past two decades. 

The artificial island space is dubbed The Opera Park and was constructed on a 231,000-square-foot plot adjacent to the Royal Danish Opera House. It serves as its visual counterpoint and is accessed via a landscaped bridge connector covered by a glass walkway.

Cobe’s Founder, Dan Stubbergaard, says: “The Opera Park is a place where nature comes first amidst Copenhagen’s bustling urban development. With its six gardens, winding paths, and carefully crafted viewpoints, the project seizes elements of Copenhagen’s historical, romantic gardens to tackle today’s challenges such as decline in biodiversity and water management. As you stroll through the park, you get the feeling of having left the city and being immersed in nature, almost forgetting you are in the middle of the dense city center.”

At the heart of the design lies a 680-square-meter glass greenhouse structure built to house a small café and topped by a floating green roof. A 300-space parking garage is included beneath it, connected via three underground terrace levels and a subtropic biotope descending vertically from the park above. 

The space is deliberately elevated to absorb flooding during significant rainfall events, echoing the intents of other recent large storm barriers and small sponge park designs that have sprung up around Copenhagen for the past decade.

Boasting a total of 80,000 plants and 628 different trees representing some 223 different species, the park’s vegetation system changes with the seasons and, as Stubbergaard describes, is organized into six geographically-themed plots that provide a vibrancy while offsetting the Opera House and harborway.

The project was begun following the culmination of an international competition in September 2019. The park is operated year-round thanks to The A.P. Møller Foundation. The Opera Park's completion follows slightly behind the new Kronløb Island, another artificial floating space in Nordhavn.