The White Meat City

Socially and economically sustainable development of this central area in Copenhagen requires the historic identity and the meat production facilities to be preserved and turned into an attractive urban context for galleries and restaurants, which in turn will attract new investments.

MUTOPIA’s master plan for the meat packing district will transform the deserted meat industry area into an active and open urban district, integrated in the public and recreational network of the city.

By connecting the most significant human and programmatic flows of the adjacent urban areas, a characteristic K-shape emerges. The K-shape defines the outline of the area which will initialize the process of revitalization of the entire district, while in the same time defining a programmatic and infrastructural area of intervention.

By re-structuring the intense traffic and superimposing culture, design and gastronomy related program to the unique collection of existing companies, the district’s central location, outstanding qualities and generous spatiality are brought into play.

The K-plan has been developed in dialogue with the stakeholders and users of the area, and features an infrastructure plan, a strategy for program distribution, a business plan, as well as a spatial strategy for developing the three branches of the K figure into three programmatically different areas with each its own identity.

Since its approval in 2007, a significant part of the masterplan blueprint has been implemented. High-end boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, cafés and nightclubes have contributed to the dramatic transformation of the area from industrial site to one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in Copenhagen.