Footbridge / Køge Nord Station project

Laudescher has deployed all its know-how alongside the Danish architecture agency Cobe , DISSING + WELTING Architecture, for the construction of the covered footbridge at Køge station (Denmark), the cornerstone of a vast urban transport project in the Copenhagen area. This project is a finalist of the MIPIM Awards 2020.

This vast urban and architectural project (32,000 square meters) includes a railway station, a huge covered pedestrian bridge and a park and ride facility, and is described as "the new gateway to Copenhagen": a hub for transport interconnection in the Copenhagen area. As such, the architecture of the bridge is intended to be attractive to encourage thousands of people, from the capital and the surrounding area, to use it and move towards a more sustainable and multimodal mobility. The huge footbridge (225 meters long) like a tubular and curved artery, plunges passengers into the heart of the surrounding sub-structural system. Made of aluminium cladding on the south side and glazed on the north side, the footbridge offers a 180-degree panoramic view on the motorway and railway parts. The solid wood panels from Laudescher (LINEA), inside of the bridge, act like a barrier against excessive light, extreme weather conditions and noise generated by heavy pedestrian traffic.

The Danish architectural firm relied on Laudescher and its design office from the very beginning to validate the feasibility of its project and to advance step by step in order to meet the many aesthetic and technical challenges of the construction of the covered bridge. It was also a question of accompanying the architects on the design of a tailor-made implementation system. Laudescher was able to understand the philosophy of the project, bringing all its know-how to faithfully transcribe the architect's design with its LINEA solid wood panel solution. The architect's objective was to create fluidity through the curves of the wood, while reducing the perspective to avoid the endless tunnel effect, without forgetting to give rhythm and warmth to this place of commute.

Laudescher made a tailor-made job for each of its panels, chosen in solid oak for this project. The challenge was to perfectly fit the walls of this faceless tunnel, with several challenges: on the one hand, to follow the cylindrical shape of the ceiling and, on the other hand, to adapt to the curve of the tunnel layout itself. In addition to this twofold technical constraint, a third, aesthetic constraint was added to present a gradient effect on the inner walls of the footbridge. This was achieved by using different LINEA wood panels, with the blades becoming increasingly narrower as they approach the ground. Laudescher also had to take into account the very numerous luminaires in the ceiling throughout. For Laudescher, the key to the success of this project was to carry out a complete modelling of the integration of the panels on the structure beforehand for a particularly precise technical adjustment, with an impressive result.