Sankt Annæ Plads

The renovated square was originally built in the 1700s. Today, it is part of a detailed, future-oriented plan to mitigate the impact of torrential rainfall.

Sitting smartly beside the Danish royal family’s winter residence of Amalienborg Palace in majestic Frederiksstaden, a clean-lined old square has been reimagined for pleasure and practicality alongside Ofelia Plads.

Originally created during the area’s development in the 1700s, Sankt Annæ Plads now forms a green belt linking stately Bredgade to the harbour front, where Skuespilhuset’s walkway descends to Ofelia Plads. With this waterside area drawing more visitors, a better experience was needed for arriving and lingering.

Now Sankt Annæ Plads is less a through-road and more a destination. Its design prioritises pedestrians and cyclists, with two single traffic lanes each sandwiched between wide pavements and a grassy, flower-planted central expanse, whose trees form a soft barrier between its modern playground and the traffic. The addition of benches and good coffee spots encourages visitors to stop, play and stay.

The redesign is also part of Copenhagen’s future-facing cloudburst plan of 2012. Boosting Sankt Annæ Plads’s climate adaptation abilities was vital after the 2011 cloudburst flooded the area at lightning speed. Now its green sunken ‘bowl’ handles high volumes of rainwater with pipes hidden underground, while directing surface run-off out to the harbour.