Superkilen

Copenhagen’s Superkilen park has transformed a portion of the city into a multicultural celebration by mixing design elements from across the globe with futuristic high art touches including a massive public thoroughfare that is completely covered in bright pink geometry.

Located just north of the bustling city center, Superkilen park is located in what is considered one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Copenhagen; an aspect of the city that the park was created to celebrate. The space itself if broken up into three different zones: The Red Square, The Black Market, and The Green Park. Each portion of the space lives up to the colors described in their names with The Red Square covering a wide public walkway in angular neon pink, orange, and red shapes; The Black Market consisting of black asphalt which is given texture by a series of tight white lines that curve and zag across the space, and which is centered on a glistening black octopus whose abstract form also acts as a children’s playground; and finally The Green Park is more of a traditional series of lawns formed into round shapes and blobs of nature. The main themes of each section is presented in a stark, high art motif, making it look like a psychedelic park of the future.

In addition to the large-scale design themes, the sections of the park are filled with benches, lamps, and features that have been taken from over 50 different countries. Here there are some benches imported from Brazil and a streetlamp from Iraq, there a trash can from England and a neon sign advertising a Chinese salon. All together the park creates a sense of futuristic global culture coming together to mix and collide in one space.

The Superkilen park was opened in 2012 to unsurprisingly international acclaim and continues to stand as a symbol of not just one Copenhagen neighborhood’s growing diversity, but the entire world’s growing interconnectedness. Also the color pink.