The Blue Planet, National Aquarium Denmark, Kastrup, Denmark

New aquarium
The Blue Planet opened in 2013 in Kastrup, a suburb of Copenhagen. It resembles a whirlpool when seen from above. It often is, being close to the Copenhagen Airport. It was designed by Danish architects 3XN. To reduce energy consumption the building is equipped with cooling units using seawater from Øresund and double glazing. It covers a total of 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft), including the 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft) building and 2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft) outdoors (excluding parking spaces).
In the first year of existence, the aquarium received approximately 1.3 million visitors – twice as many as expected. As a consequence of this extra wear, as well as a wish of improving public education, 12.5 million DKK (approx. 2.3 million US$; 1.7 million €) will be used for changes and renovations of the aquarium.