Throughout the duration of 2018 and 2019 EFFEKT has led the renovation of the historic Copenhagen cultural venue Amager Bio.

Originally built as a Movie Theatre in 1939-41 and operated as such until 1986. In 1991 the cultural venue ‘Amager Bio’ was born as an institution under the Copenhagen Municipality with a focus on theater, music, film, and other cultural activities.

During the past 20-30 years a series of smaller adjustments were done to the venue, but it was not until EFFEKT won the competition in 2009 that a coherent strategy was planned for all the spaces and facilities were formed around the ‘Music Plaza’.

The recent renovation includes a completely new entrance area with toilets, one overall audience wardrobe (to replace the two small, poorly placed ones that exist today), and a smaller audience capacity expansion optimizing flexibility in the use of main and secondary venues. The Backstage areas as well as the acoustics and PA are also getting a long-overdue upgrade.

The project not only includes the old movie theatre, but also the adjacent buildings which house the independent children's and youth theater ZeBU. The two venues now share a joint entry and access area as well as a series of service functions for an improved visitor experience.

The Amager Bio venue is one of the busiest concert venues in Copenhagen with more than 200 concerts a year. We are looking forward the see the venue back at full operation capacity post-pandemic.