Blue Planet: Denmark's National Aquarium

Into Another World: As soon as visitors arrive at The Blue Planet, the building will convey a sense of the extraordinary experience that awaits them inside. The walls and roofs form a single, continuous flow and the longest of the whirlpool’s arms follows the shape of the landscape and the building, moving in to the land inviting visitors inside. Here, the whirlpool has pulled you into another world – a world beneath the surface of the sea.

Flexible Flows Between Exhibitions: The Round Room is the centre of navigation in the aquarium, and this is where visitors choose which river, lake or ocean to explore. Each exhibition faces 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.

One with the Surrounding Landscape: Similar to a water current, the building is not static. Instead there is a continuous movement moving through the terrain, the pools and the sea surrounding the building, emphasising water’s constant state of flow.

Complex Building Project: The Blue Planet is a building of great complexity, and 3XN has taken on the role as project manager for 15 sub-consultants – including Kvorning Exhibition Designers and the Australian aquarium experts AAT. Ambitions have been sky high from the outset, and the construction of the special double curved facade has been a development project in itself, which has proven a great challenge to all parties involved.