Asger Jorn

a part of the community

Situated in Ørestad, Copenhagen, the Asger Jorn Car Park challenges the conventional image of a parking facility. With space for 616 cars, it integrates community functions such as a street-level recycling hub and an urban rooftop garden, accessible through a sculptural staircase winding along the west façade. The building thus becomes both functional infrastructure and a lively contribution to the local community.

CCO joined the project at the authority phase and guided it through to completion as advisors to E5 Byg A/S. Building on the concept by Nordland Arkitekter, our role focused on optimizing and further developing the design for execution. This included refining drawings, plans, elevations, sections, building details, and schedules, ensuring a seamless transition from idea to built structure. Throughout this process, the project’s ambitions for material honesty and community value were fully realized.

Material Expression and refinement

One of the defining challenges was the façade, clad in eelgrass and composed of modular elements such as lamellae, planter boxes, and softboard panels. CCO oversaw the redesign and coordination of these components, integrating cladding joints and ensuring clean transitions to the existing structure. On the west façade, adjustments were required to accommodate structural beams supporting the external staircase, prompting a new subdivision and reconfiguration of the façade modules. These refinements ensured that the building’s expressive exterior could perform technically while maintaining its architectural clarity.

The car park is wrapped in eelgrass, a biogenic material historically tied to the Amager coastline. Its tactile, aromatic, and acoustic qualities redefine the building’s experience, making it a warm, sensory presence in the city. Beyond parking, the structure incorporates a series of urban functions: a ground-level recycling hub with partitions made from surplus mussel shells, and a publicly accessible rooftop garden. The external staircase becomes both a circulation element and a sculptural landmark, drawing residents upward to a communal space overlooking Ørestad.

Building Infrastructure for People

Certified to DGNB Gold, the project pushes the boundaries of technical infrastructure by combining circular resource strategies and community-oriented programs. It demonstrates how utilitarian facilities can evolve into active urban spaces that contribute to social life rather than remain purely functional. CCO’s contribution ensured that the architectural vision was realized with precision, performance, and durability, while staying true to the ambition of creating a new benchmark for civic-minded mobility structures.

With eelgrass cladding that reconnects the building to its coastal heritage, mussel shells repurposed into robust interior partitions, and a rooftop, Asger Jorn becomes more than a storage facility. It stands as a warm, sensory, and inclusive part of Ørestad’s identity, a piece of everyday infrastructure transformed into a public asset.

Client: By & Havn
Area: 20.000 m2 / 215.277 ft2
Year: 2025
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Collaborators: E5 Byg A/S
Images: Niels Nygaard