MOE Buddinge Office Building, Copenhagen Sustainable Development, Denmark Architecture

MOE Buddinge Office Building, Copenhagen

Danish Sustainable Building – design by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

3 Oct 2013

Copenhagen Office Building

Design: Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

Location: Buddinge, Denmark

This new head office for Danish engineering company MOE forms quite a contrast to the Portuguese building above: the restrained form and white/grey palette suggests seriousness. The architects explain that it is organized as “one long spiral staircase” that encourages movement. Both the atrium and the external corners are nicely curved which creates a bit of energy but overall the feel is rather conservative.

photo : Adam Mørk

MOE Buddinge Office Building Copenhagen

The official inauguration of a sustainable office building took place on Friday 27 September 2013 when Danish engineering company MOE opened the doors to their new head office in Buddinge near Copenhagen, Denmark. schmidt hammer lassen architects has designed the 7,500-square-metre building organized as one long spiral staircase. The result is a dynamic office environment that creates synergy and encourages movement.

schmidt hammer lassen architects has designed a significant and sculptural new building that connects Buddinge centre in the infrastructural intersection between Buddinge station, the road of Buddingevej and a future light rail. The area is part of Gladsaxe municipality’s urban strategy to intensify built-up areas, which has made it possible to develop a tall and dense building on the site.

photo : Adam Mørk

One long spiral staircase

The central location in Buddinge was ideal for a corporate headquarters, and schmidt hammer lassen architects has worked closely together with MOE during development of the project.

”For MOE, it was important that the spirit of the building supported their corporate brand. Already from the first sketches, they talked about dynamics and synergy. From there, came the idea of a long spiral staircase all the way up through the building levels, so the building in itself encourages movement,” states Kristian Lars Ahlmark, partner at schmidt hammer lassen architects.

Instead of designing a classic atrium building, schmidt hammer lassen architects proposed a Yin Yang shape, where two building volumes are staggered and at the same time interlocked. The idea of the building as an atrium with an active staircase was taken to the extreme. The building itself became one long staircase where the working areas are placed on what look like oversized landings.

“The result is an office building with displaced levels linked by two staircases, where you use the staircase to move from one floor to the next without landings. Instead of having four to five levels we end up having nine levels but with a leap of half a storey at a time,” Kristian Ahlmark explains.

photo : Adam Mørk

Sustainable measures

The office building is pre-certified as DGNB silver and meets the requirements of the Danish 2015 energy classification. The energy-optimizing measures in the building include high-insolating windows, heat recovery and 300 square metres of solar cell panel on the roof. The DGNB certification also includes measures regarding accessibility and bicycle parking.

Besides the function as an office building, the development also consists of a base in light grey concrete with a shopping area of approximately 4,000 square metres at ground floor level, connecting to parking areas in the two subterranean levels and on the roof. The two-piece office building sits on top of the base with five east-facing and four west-facing floor levels. The facade is clad in a black ceramic brick tile.

The dynamic line of the building continues in the interior design and decoration, also designed by schmidt hammer lassen architects.

schmidt hammer lassen architects has extensive experience with the design of sustainable buildings. Denmark’s first zero-energy office building was designed by schmidt hammer lassen architects and inaugurated in June 2013. In September, schmidt hammer lassen architects, as part of a multidisciplinary team, was appointed winner of the Nordic Built Challenge in Norway with a proposal for a refurbishment and extension of a 79,000-square-metre high-rise office building in Oslo. Furthermore, the practice is currently working on several sustainability projects both in Denmark and internationally.

photo : Adam Mørk

MOE Buddinge Office – Building Information

Architect: schmidt hammer lassen architects
Client: Sophienberg Real Estate Development A/S
Area: 11,500 square metres
Status: Construction period 2012–2013
Contractor: Myhlenberg – Søren Vangsted Vest A/S
Engineer: MOE A/S
Photographer: Adam Mørk

MOE Buddinge Office Building information / images received from Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

schmidt hammer lassen

Location:Buddinge, Denmark