Article Written by Louis Becker
One of our great landmarks this Fall is the opening of the Nordea Bank Headquarters in Ørestaden, Copenhagen. It is an important part of our vision to create workspaces as attractive communities that promote the best workflows and most effective knowledge sharing. We spend so many hours of our lives in these buildings, they need to be livable spaces that both companies and employees can identify with. Such a pleasure to finally be able to share our work and visions for this project, please join me for a tour!
© Adam Mørk
Nordea is a Nordic bank. We wanted to express this sense of belonging to the Nordic realm through the choice of materials and the overall feeling of transparency and openness. A slate base, crystalline façade, and Scandinavian vegetation was part of our Nordic take on materials. We chose to envelop the building in vegetation inspired from the adjacent scenic Amager Fælled recognizing the remarkable local biotope.
© Adam Mørk
One of my favorite views. The bank’s two large atrium spaces are joined by a publicly accessible inner streetscape. I’m particularly happy to see how we succeeded in shaping the intake of daylight. It has become such a vibrant space. It’s clear to see how life inside the bank is visible from the public foyer. You can watch employees having meetings and going about their workday.
© Adam Mørk
The Eastern atrium is where clients come to meet their bank but it is also this incredibly dynamic workspace tailored to a variety of work situations.
© Adam Mørk
It was important for us to find the perfect balance between office spaces for focused work and open spaces for informal encounters. It’s a pleasure to witness how Nordea-employees have already started inhabiting the common spaces.
© Adam Mørk
The seating on the ground floor can be used for informal meetings and lunch. The intimate setting has quickly become an attractive feature for the employees.
© Adam Mørk
Working with daylight is a strong part of our DNA. The roof lights in the Eastern atrium creates a feeling of almost being swaddled in daylight.
© Adam Mørk
The Trading Floor is the largest in the Nordic countries with a capacity of 600 traders. It is the heart of the Western atrium. We have worked intensively on the sustainable solutions. To name just one; the ventilated false floor directs computer-generated heat away from the working stations. The excess heat is used to heat up the 715 roofed parking spaces for bikes. Copenhagen is a city where people use and love their bikes!
© Adam Mørk
Finally, I want to share this view of the façade. It has this incredibly crisp, transparent quality drawing on the fractured surfaces of icebergs. We constructed the façade consisting of three-dimensional cassettes that are angled and assembled like building bricks. Natural ventilation, noise dampening, and solar shading are physically handled in the cavity between the panes of glass.
© Adam Mørk
News Via Henning Larson Architects