Arup builds 217-metre arrow viewpoint over Fehmarnbelt Tunnel site

Arup has completed Pilen, a 217-metre-long demountable viewpoint in Denmark that gives the public a direct view of the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel construction site.

The name means "the arrow" in Danish. The shape earns it: the ramped structure points toward the spot where the tunnel emerges on the German side, working as what Arup calls a large compass needle for visitors.

The tunnel itself is the real story. It runs 18 kilometres underwater between Rødbyhavn in Denmark and Puttgarden in Germany, carrying both road and rail to tighten the link between continental Europe and Scandinavia. When finished, it will be the longest tunnel of its kind.

Why 217 metres?

The length is not arbitrary. Each of the 89 concrete elements that will form the tunnel measures 217 metres, and the viewpoint copies that figure at full scale. Visitors walk the exact length of one tunnel segment, 24 metres above sea level, on a zigzagging landscaped path.

"The arrow-shaped design points towards the location where the Fehmarnbelt tunnel emerges on the German side, acting as a large compass needle for visitors," project architect Kristian Winther told Dezeen.

"At 217 metres long, the viewpoint also reflects the length of one of the tunnel elements," Winther continued.

"We hope the viewpoint will create a closer connection between the tunnel project, the local community, and visitors, giving people an opportunity to experience the scale of the project more directly."

A number on a page stays a number. Walking it is something else.

Who commissioned it, and what happens after?

Contractor Femern, which is overseeing the tunnel's construction, commissioned the viewpoint to open the site to the public. The location was chosen for two reasons: proximity to the tunnel portal, which maximises views of the construction work, and the expansive coastal landscape beyond it.

Pilen is built from landfill timber and steel. Once the tunnel is complete, the whole thing comes down. Every component, including the foundations, is engineered for reuse in other projects.

The demolition plan is, in Winther's words, "helping to give the materials a life beyond the viewpoint itself."

The main deck is formed from timber and landscaped with greenery and local vegetation. The zigzagging walkway that climbs through it is fully accessible.

What changes in 2029?

The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel is scheduled for completion in 2029. It is expected to cut train journeys between Hamburg and Copenhagen to 2.5 hours.

The viewpoint is one strand of a wider remaking of the Danish coastline around the project. A separate 300,000-square-metre land reclamation scheme, part of the same works, will be landscaped with ponds and planting. Pilen's own afterlife — dismantled, sorted, reassembled somewhere else — will test whether temporary infrastructure can genuinely avoid the skip.