Copenhagen Airport

Facts

Airport masterpiece

By Charlotte Iversen, Arkitekt MAA (1 story)

In 1939, a modern new airport terminal was added to Copenhagen Airport. The building was designed by architect Vilhelm Lauritzen and was built with a concrete structure that also contains all the technical installations. Above the arrival and departure hall was a self-supporting, corrugated concrete ceiling only seven centimetres thick, clad in sheets of acoustic muffling material. The terminal's facade was clad in sheets of grey asbestos cement. In 1999, the building was moved to Vilhelm Lauritzen Allé 2 in Maglebylille, and was recreated in the year 2000 based on the original plans. It is now listed.

Public place

Selected entry

The night the terminal took off across the runways

Story written by Charlotte Iversen

Time / Periode 1939

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It was a September night in 1999 and Copenhagen Airport was in a state of alert. The terminal from 1939 stood in the way of the airport extension and was to be moved across the runways to Maglebylille. Moving the 2,600-ton, 110-metre-long building meant setting up 50 steel reinforcing structures supported by connected flatbed trucks (744 wheels) with reciprocal height adjustment. Slowly, the building rolled out into the night across the runways – followed by a procession of bulldozers that would clear the runways before the morning traffic began if the building collapsed. Luckily that wasn't necessary. The building reached its destination in Maglebylille where it functions as a terminal for special VIP arrivals, now that an area for planes to stand has been built.