by Karsten Mangor
Just five km from the centre of Copenhagen the city's new beach park has now been unofficially opened in spite of the fact that construction works are still ongoing. The official opening is on 18 August but the interest for the new beach has been so great that part of the beach was opened for the public at the beginning of the summer holidays.
The shoreface of the existing beach was very shallow, which resulted in the lack of wave exposure and water exchange. These conditions resulted in a poor beach quality and a poor water quality at the shallow water. These conditions were mitigated by constructing a new beach in deep water on the sea side of a new island, which is located at a water depth of 3-4 m. The beach was built of good quality marine sand. The new beach is divided into two sections separated by a headland and both beaches are secured by terminal structures. The two sections are orientated against the prevailing wave directions NE and SE, respectively, whereby both sections are made stable. The shallow area between the new island and the coast is excavated to form a lagoon and the excavated material was used to form the body of the island.
The concept for the beach park has been developed in close collaboration between DHI Water & Environment, Hasløv & Kjærsgaard I/S, Architects and Planners, and NIRAS, Consulting Engineers and Planners in close liaison with authorities and stakeholders. The critical coastal and hydraulic elements in the project are the stability and the quality of the beaches and the water quality in the lagoon. These conditions have been optimised by the application of DHI's numerical models.
Upper left: architectural drawing. Upper right: aerial photo June 2005, lagoon not flooded yet. Lower: Beach life and final construction works, June 2005.
Amager Beach Park is owned by the Copenhagen Municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality and the County of Copenhagen. The owners have formed the partnership Amager Beach Park Ltd. being responsible for the construction and operation of the beach park.