BIG HQ
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
BIG HQ
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
2023
CLIENT
Sundmolen BIG aps (BIG HQ Building) | By & Havn (Landscape)
STATUS
COMPLETED
The new 7-storey HQ is architecturally anchored in Copenhagen harbor’s heritage of warehouses and factories. The small footprint at the end of the pier became the main design dilemma: how to organize a single work environment for all of us when we would have to be split between a minimum of four levels. In a counterintuitive decision, we split all the floors in half and doubled the amount of levels.
BIG HQ is BIG’s first example of fully integrated LEAP design – a collaboration between Landscape, Engineering, Architecture and Product designers. Everything from door handles to concrete columns – from urban design to glass facades has been given form by the BIG LEAP team. The building is designed to achieve the Danish sustainability certification, DGNB Gold, through use of FutureCem concrete, which reduces CO2 emission with approx. 25% reduction as well as integration of solar and geothermal energy systems, and natural ventilation of the office spaces.
Open-Plan Office — To get 4-5,000 m2 of connected office space on the site as one continuous floor would require a site 4-5 times the available size.
Connected Office — Instead of a typical atrium building, BIG HQ is structured as a cascade of half floors that result in one huge, spatially interconnected office space across 7 levels.
Triangular Beams — The façade structure consists of a checkered pattern of 7 façade beams supporting the entire building. To make the pattern "click", one beam on each level is triangular. These triangular elements simultaneously act as terraces and escape stairs keeping the center free from an enclosed central fire stair.
Open Heart — The elevator, vertical risers and a smaller, secondary egress stair are moved to the northern edge of the building in an overlap between the north facing beams, leaving the floor plates and the center of the building as open as possible.
Slabs & Column — The stacked, oversized concrete elements give the building a structural and visual uniqueness. The green spiral staircase for social activities and breaks wraps around the building, doubling as the main egress route.
Extroverted Ground Floor — On the ground floor, half of each façade is a transparent glass panel opening the HQ up to its surroundings. The entrance and exhibition space face west, while a restaurant with outdoor seating opens towards south.
Connected — The spatially interconnected floors are arranged around a central stair zig-zagging its way from ground floor to the 6th floor.
Views and Context — The location of the building on the very tip of the Sundmolen Pier allows for generous city and/or harbor views on all four sides of the HQ.
Forest & Beach — The public space is designed as a transition between two landscape typologies - from a beach to a green coastal forest.
BIG HQ — The stacking of large concrete elements creates a 3D pattern of transparent and opaque façade partitions, that enable a spatially complex and connected office space - a BIG LEAP project, where our disciplines work together to form the most functionally, spatially & economically optimal office building.
Upon entering the main entrance through a 3 m tall glass door, BIGsters and guests will find themselves in a dramatic Piranesian space, where the inner life of the building reveals
itself through diagonal views all the way up to the top floor.
A single stone column of eight different types of rock – ranging from dense granite at the bottom to a porous limestone at the top – form a totem pole to gravity at the heart of the open
space. An open stair ricochets from level to level all the way from the basem*nt to the penthouse.
A series of half floor plates overlap to create a cascading environment of interconnected levels that unite the entire seven-storey building visually and physically into a single space. The floor plates are carried by 20-meter-long concrete beams stacked on top of each other, which make the exterior façade appear as a checkerboard of interchanging solid beams and transparent windows.
Each floor has direct access to a balcony connected to the balcony above and below, forming a continuous ribbon of outdoor spaces, spiraling from the roof to the quayside like a mountain path. The ribbon doubles as the additional fire escape freeing up the interior from the obstruction of the traditional core.
At the foot of BIG HQ, BIG’s Landscape team has transformed a former parking area into a 1,500 m2 public park and promenade, inspired by the sandy beaches and the coastal forests of Denmark. Towards the north, native forest trees, such as pines and oaks, create shelter from the harsh winds of the harbour. Towards the south, areas with planting, rocks and woods support habitat creation for biodiversity. At the heart of the park, tucked away between the trees, a sculpture by American artist Benjamin Langholz titled “Stone 40” will surprise and engage visitors of all ages.
Bjarke IngelsFinn NørkjærDavid ZahleJakob LangeAndreas Klok PedersenOle Elkjær-LarsenAgla EgilsdottirMarius Tromholt-RichterMatthew ThomsonShu ZhaoJesper Boye AndersenAnnette JensenAlda Sol HauksdóttirAlexander JacobsonAnders FønssAndrea HektorAndy CowardAnna BertolazziAnna Wiktoria WozniakAnne-Charlotte WiklanderAndrea Angelo SuardiAya FibertBarbora HrmovaBart RamakersBjarke Koch-ØrvadChristian Eugenius KuczynskiDanyu ZengDina BrændstrupEddie CanEwa ZapiecFabiana CortolezzisFelicia OlufssonFilip RozkowskiFrederik LyngFrederik Skou JensenGabrielle NadeauGiulia GenoveseGraham Forrest JordanCris Guoyu LiuHanne HalvorsenHelen Shuyang ChenHenrik JacobsenHilda HellerInes ZunicIrie MereeJesper Kanstrup PetersenJonathan RussellJonathan UdemezueJoos JerneJuhye KimKanetnat PuttimettipananKaoan Hengles De LimaKatrine JuulKim ChristensenKim LauerKristian MoustenKristoffer NegendahlLars ThonkeLenya Nikola SchneehageLisbet Fritze TrentemøllerLone Fenger AlbrechtsenLouise MouldLuca PileriMads Engaard StidsenMads Primdahl RokkjærMagni WalterssonMarah WagnerMargarita NutfulinaMariana De Soares e Barbieri CardosoMartyna KlodaMichael James KepkeMikki SeidenschnurMilan MoldenhawerMikkel Marcker StubgaardMussa AlgasraNandi LuNanna Gyldholm MøllerOmar Mohamed Nabil Mohamed Saad MowafyPaula MadridSergiu CalaceanSille FoltingerSnorre NashSteen Kortbæk SvendsenThor Larsen-LechugaTimo Harboe NielsenTobias HjortdalTommy BjørnstrupTore BankeTristan HarveyUlla HornsyldXavier ThankiXingyue HuangXinyi ChenXinying ZhangYehezkiel Wiliardy ManikYunyoung ChoiGül ErtekinHøgni LaksafossNatasha Lykke Lademann ØstergaardSøren MartinussenAndreas BakGiulia FrittoliMaria Natalia LenardonMathieu JaumainNarisara Ladawal SchröderSherief Al RifalJiewei LiJustas ZabulionisJonas RaskDobrochna Anna KlimczakMarija CvijovićCelia de la Osa MuñozBartłomiej LewKrestian Ingemann HansenHelena HammershaimbAlexandra-Madalina NitaAnna Lindgaard JensenRicardo CandelBrian Malig ColladoLouise BrøndbjergJohan Fredrik LindqvistCelina HolckJannik AlbækFernanda FuruyaArthur MartinevskiKaja TerzeJialin LiangPetra HajduMathilde JeppesenAtibadi BrugnanoIoannis MathioudakisAhmed Badra
AWARDS
Copenhagen Municipality Architecture Prize, 2024
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