KAB, Copenhagen’s largest housing association, has a new headquarters space that combines the administrative with the creative, courtesy of Henning Larsen. The 79,000-sf headquarters building is located at the axis of two major streets in Copenhagen, between one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods and one of its newest.
The building features a sturdy, red-brick exterior and forgoes a traditional front and back. Instead, it is a pentagonal shape that opens to the city on all sides. Atop the headquarters building is a green roof garden with spaces for visitors and employees to gather and take a break.
![KAB interior stair](/sites/default/files/inline-images/KAB2.jpeg)
The new KAB headquarters was designed to be representative of Denmark’s approach to collectivism, welfare, and the home itself. The building design takes traditional elements of the home, such as the living room, the stairs, the garden, and the kitchen, and applies them to the workplace. Things begin very office-like on the ground floor with an open and airy reception desk flanked by a plant-filled seating area, behind which the office canteen is nestled.
![KAB exterior facade and windows](/sites/default/files/inline-images/KAB3.jpeg)
Almost everything in the atrium is clad in wood, creating a scent and texture not often associated with the workplace. The slender stairs cut back and forth across the middle of the atrium, descending on large community kitchens on each floor.
"The stairs are a play on the classic stairwell of residential buildings, which is typically the place you meet your neighbor,” said Troels Dam Madsen, Associate Design Director at Henning Larsen, in a release. “In the KAB House, we added layers of visibility, texture, and beauty to what is usually a very practical space.”
![KAB interior stair](/sites/default/files/inline-images/KAB5.jpeg)
The western edge of the atrium is a wall of windows. Behind these windows are the main meeting rooms, which are outfitted to resemble rooms in a house. This area marks the border between the private workplaces for KAB and the space that is accessible to the public.
The new building is a gathering place for 44 housing organizations and provides the framework for KAB’s 400 employees’ daily work. KAB moved into the building in June 2021.
Related Stories
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.Â
| Jul 18, 2014
2014 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction magazine's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.
| Jul 17, 2014
A harmful trade-off many U.S. green buildings make
The Urban Green Council addresses a concern that many "green" buildings in the U.S. have: poor insulation.
| Jul 17, 2014
A high-rise with outdoor, vertical community space? It's possible! [slideshow]
Danish design firm C.F. Møller has developed a novel way to increase community space without compromising privacy or indoor space.
| Jul 17, 2014
How the 'pop-up' retail concept can be applied to workplace design
“Pop-up” has rapidly become one of the most pervasive design trends in recent years. It has given us pop-up shops and pop-up restaurants, but can it be applied to the professional work environment?
| Jul 14, 2014
Foster + Partners unveils triple-glazed tower for RMK headquarters
The London-based firm unveiled plans for the Russian Copper Company's headquarters in Yekaterinburg.
| Jul 14, 2014
Toyota selects developer for its new North American headquarters in Plano, Texas
Toyota announced that it has selected Dallas-based KDC Real Estate Development & Investments to develop its new North American headquarters campus in the Legacy West development in Plano, Texas.
| Jul 11, 2014
Are these LEGO-like blocks the future of construction?
Kite Bricks proposes a more efficient way of building with its newly developed Smart Bricks system.
| Jul 10, 2014
BioSkin 'vertical sprinkler' named top technical innovation in high-rise design
BioSkin, a system of water-filled ceramic pipes that cools the exterior surface of buildings and their surrounding micro-climates, has won the 2014 Tall Building Innovation Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.