THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Our solution, depicted here, is a bold attempt at placing an architectural statement where it wants to be - on the Kvaesthusgade , this historical promontory which is worthy of a new piece of modern architecture. Past a new public square created at the intersection of the Sankt Annae Plad's axis, the park continues, eventually linking up with one side of Nyhavn, thus completing the city "edge" in a definitive straight line.

We make no attempt at concealing the building. Instead we celebrate the tremendous power of the site and subtly allude to the site's glorious maritime past through a counter play of arched lines and curves on the Playhouse. The final form has paid tribute to the site's historical eminence by placing the bulk of the fly tower at the furthest point of the platform whilst the gentle curve line of the roof descends to reveal the elevations of the protected buildings beyond.

In terms of theatre design, we broke away from the brief with an unconventional solution of stacking the small theatre on top of the large. By use of large lifts to connect with ancillary parts of the playhouse, we help animate the end wall of the playhouse, one that is most visible to passing ships, to Amalienborg and to the new Opera House at Dorken.

DESIGN REPORT
The immense architectural challenge of this competition has been to find the perfect response for this powerful and historical site in terms of massing and form, and a sensitive urban approach to the waterfront edge of this city. Coupled with this challenge is the need to reconcile the complex requirements of staging theatre and the vast amount of supporting technical and spatial needs. Our architectural objective is to deliver a building that is outstanding when viewed from the sea but of a human scale when viewed from the square and surrounding buildings. A series of concepts pertaining to various aspects has allowed us to organize this brief into a building and can be summarized as follows:

Concept for the Building
Theatre is an ancient art, an ancient form. Our building is inspired from a slice of the ancient Roman amphitheatre as we believe it to be the ageless embodiment of a timeless art form. It is a form that inspires. It is a form that connects us in this modern world to antiquity and back again as we re-evaluate the values that are timeless in this uncertain millennium. In essence, a single form grows out of the ground taking the notion of external steps and seating with it, concealing everything within it yet focusing out onto the square. A single roof steps up to a high point out at sea, organizing all the various theatres beneath it and giving spatial coherence to its interior. Two single storey wings on either side of this sweeping form connects the people and street scale back to its surrounding.

Concept for the Site
Of overriding importance in this regard is that reclamation shall be kept to a minimum with its final configuration merely reinforcing its existing shape. The new theatre shall define the new edge of the city in a way that leaves buildings along the quayside unaffected in their original context. The high portion of the building simply flows away from the from the urban edge to this commanding position on the waterfront. It is at this end of the sitting that the high portion of the theatre acquires a prominence of its own to become one of three important points within the competition site, the other two being the new Opera House and the Amelianborg.

Sankt Anne Plads shall be remodeled into a green boulevard stretching from Bredgade to a new square fronting the water at the end of this boulevard. This new square shall become the focal point at this part of the city for accessing the theatre to the left, public gardens and small scale shops to the right and the waterfront promenade beyond. On the axis of this square is proposed a landing point for the Queen's Royal Yacht. The square shall also be the place for the formal entrance of the Queen and VIP patrons of the Theatre.

At the southern end of Kaesthugade, we propose a low rise U shaped block of commercial units set in a public park. In addition to concealing the access ramp, the intention is that they extend the commercial interest of Nyhavn across this park setting to the new square. At the other end of the theatre is proposed a green public park sculpted from the ground up and to be planted with trees with an informality to contrast those of Amaliehaven. This sloping park which houses is directly accessible from the small experimental theatre. It promoting the possibility that plays can occur outdoors during the summer months.

Our site plan attempts to continue the Danish urban tradition of creating public spaces and squares. The concept of the square has been taken into the heart of the building, called "Theatre Square". It from this square that access to all the theatres can had. Externally, the two 3m wide curved lanes between the wings and the main building reinforces the urban tightness that we wish to recreate within the promontory itself. From the square, they lead eventually to the promenade. On the inner harbour side, a pedestrian bridge link is proposed to extend the promenade walks from Amaliehaven to the new Theatre.

Concept for Theatre Layout
Our concept is not for a sprawling collection of rooms and foyers under different roofs. We have chose to work within a linear envelope that we believe is most elegant for the site. Our concept for the layout is a compact theatre on theatre, in which small theatre is stacked on large theatre to maximize the use of available height within the chosen envelope. Strong vertical circulation cores link the floors together on the public side as well as on the theatre side. Supporting functions (offices and restaurants) are separated into two wings, leaving the central building a hive of theatre activity. Along the public foyer on either side are the rehearsal rooms, deliberately located to create interest and to foster the mingling of actors and spectators. The process and practise of "play" is an extremely interesting aspect of theatre that should be made visible to the public at close quarters. These rooms are the physical link between the outside square and the internal "Theatre Square". It is in the internal square that intermission activities will be held.

A New Concept for the Stage
There is no surrounding proscenium, the whole opening is the viewing area in front of you. Here we move beyond the traditional rectangular opening that defines the stage opening that has for centuries separated them (the actors and actresses) from us (the viewing public). We have in this scheme removed the "framing" surrounding the scene to open up the entire stage to the naked eye. In other words the entire volume forming the front, back and right through to the other side of the assembly area can potentially be opened up as stage. Perhaps a new form of audience participation and even acting can occur when boundaries fade.

A CONCEPT FOR A CENTRAL ACCESS

People Access
The main entrance for the audience to the theatres is from the new Square for those arriving on public transport. The formal grand entrance for members of Royalty and VIP is also from the Square whereby we envisage such vehicles to be taken up onto the square. Staff arriving on private vehicles descend the ramp to the staff parking bays. A below ground car park for 500 vehicles is planned for at the southern end of Kavesthugade. Lifts connect this car park to the piazza level. We will connect the future tunnel from this square to Christians Holm area.

Service Access
Paramount to the idea of the compact theatre is its servicing strategy. We have created a single point of entry and egress for heavy vehicles serving the theatre at the southern end of Kvaesthugade. This entrance point springs off the side of the suction plant building, runs along the axis of Kvaesthugade dipping under the new piazza to a series of drop off areas below the foyer. This area is in turn segregated into unloading bays for goods/scene/props and drop off bays that lead directly to foyers for actors/dancers and members of the orchestra. On either side of this vehicular ramp are side ramps that take private vehicles to the future car park for 500 vehicles.

Building Materials
Stone and glass are the principal façade materials. The roof surfaces shall also be clad in stone. The façade is built up from composite panels comprising a stone outer layer and a reinforced internal lining packed with insulation. These panels are in turn bolted to a light steel frame cantilevered off the main columns supporting the roof. The same stone that is so characteristic of Royal Copenhagen shall be used on the floor internally and externally on the piazza. Backstage functions such as the assembly areas and lifts shall be enclosed with glass facades whose transparency, or degrees of transparency, can be controlled by use of motorized shutters and blinds. The concept here is that the backstage is capable of being transformed into an experimental area that is visible from the water's edge, from people passing by on ships and from the public at the Opera House buildings. Here is the hope that backstage scene preparations can become the advertising for the next play.

Structure
The stepped form of the main theatre building is formed from a series of giant louvers 4,800mm wide, supported on tapered columns and straddling the width of the building. These louvers that span the cross section are fabricated box beams from plated steel that contain heating and ventilation ducting, lighting and daylight control baffles. The columns in turn carry light steelwork to support the cladding elements.

The whole arrangement is braced by ties at the top of these tapered columns that are eventually anchored back to the lift and stair cores. It is a deliberate part of the design that small theatre and the rehearsal rooms are directly below the louvered roof. The louvered roof have vertical slots that allow daylight to wash these large spaces enabling acting to occur under diffused daylight conditions. Motorized baffles or blinds can be triggered to block out daylight at this level.

The floors are generally constructed from reinforced double layer concrete. Their voids are used to house and conceal lighting, mechanical and electrical installations and other services. Our aesthetic intent here is to build clean soffits in white concrete with no additional surface decoration. Concepts for Installations.

Main building
The heating and ventilation of the building envelope above ground shall occur along the perimeter of the building. Air ducts are to run within the tapered steel columns and across the roof within the voids of the box beams. All such fixtures are concealed within structure. Below ground accommodation shall be heated and ventilated using conventional HVAC systems within structural voids.

Theatres
Heating to these large internal volumes shall be conducted through under floor service ducts and be distributed evenly across the seating area, discharging at floor level. Exhaust air shall be removed at ceiling level. At higher floor levels, vertical air shafts conceal ducting to serve the upper small theatre. Crucial to the functioning of the theatre on theatre concept is the installation of two 9.6m x 4.8m hydraulic platforms that will bring scenery, props and large numbers of people up and down the floors. The lifts shall also be capable of lifting the 8mx8mx4m built up scene envisaged in the brief. Large theatre ceiling shall be constructed as a waffle type slab within which will be installed remote controlled telescopic acoustic baffles that could pan and swivel to configurations conducive to the play in question.

Wings
The two wings are fully glazed envelopes requiring a high degree of heating in winter and cooling in summer. Here, it is proposed to use insulated double lites with air return occurring within the two leaves of glass. Heated air shall be supplied at floor level and extracted at ceiling level.