Thomas B. Thriges Gade – From busy road to sustainable district

Photo: Fra Gade til By

For years, Thomas B. Thriges Gade (TBT) stood in the way of a coherent town centre in Odense, Denmark, by splitting the heart of Odense in two. In 2008, Odense Municipality thus kicked off the project “From Street to Town”, which aimed to transform the four-lane main thoroughfare Thomas B. Thriges Gade into a new, dense urban space with room for homes, offices, cultural institutions, restaurants, cafes and a large underground parking garage.

The vision is for the new district to densify Odense town centre and make it more coherent and sustainable. The urban development project is to help drive the development of Odense as an attractive big town and attract more residents and businesses to Odense, by virtue of the new appealing and sustainable town centre.

And sustainability will form the foundation for the new quarter, in terms of environment, resources, social diversity, transport and economy. Environmental considerations are taken into account during construction and when the new district is complete. It also includes green, recreational areas and all built-up areas will be given green features in different ways.

The new district must also encourage sustainable green transport. Therefore, the district must be car-free and all traffic will be on foot, on bike, by citybus or light rail. In the future, the through traffic will be led around the town centre, and a large underground parking garage will be established to allow people to leave the car to use the green transport.

COWI planned and held an international two-phase project competition on a masterplan for large areas in cooperation with the Danish Association of Architects. Subsequently, COWI was client consultant to Odense Municipality during realisation.

Arkitema Architects, which is part of COWI today, is also carrying out a building project on Thomas B. Thriges Gade. Read more here.