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.
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.
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.”
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
| Jun 24, 2014
Intuit begins work on LEED Platinum campus addition
Demolition will begin this week as a precursor to construction of Intuit's new addition to its Mountain View, Calif., campus. The first of two additions, a 185,000-sf building on Marine Way, is expected to begin construction in August.
| Jun 20, 2014
Sterling Bay pulled on board for Chicago Old Main Post Office project
Sterling Bay Cos. and Bill Davies' International Property Developers North America partner up for a $500 million restoration of Chicago's Old Main Post Office
| Jun 19, 2014
First look: JDS Architects' roller-coaster-like design for Istanbul waterfront development
The development's wavy and groovy design promises unobstructed views of the Marmara Sea for every unit.
| Jun 18, 2014
Study shows walkable urbanism has positive economic impact
Walkable communities have a higher GDP, greater wealth, and higher percentages of college grads, according to a new study by George Washington University.
| Jun 18, 2014
Arup uses 3D printing to fabricate one-of-a-kind structural steel components
The firm's research shows that 3D printing has the potential to reduce costs, cut waste, and slash the carbon footprint of the construction sector.
| Jun 17, 2014
World's tallest pair of towers to serve as 'environmental catalyst' for China
The Phoenix Towers are expected to reach 1 km, the same height as Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill's Kingdom Tower, but would set a record for multiple towers in one development.
| Jun 16, 2014
6 U.S. cities at the forefront of innovation districts
A new Brookings Institution study records the emergence of “competitive places that are also cool spaces.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects' design selected for new UCSC facility
The planned site is a natural landscape among redwood trees with views over Monterey Bay, a site that the architects have called “one of the most beautiful they have ever worked on.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Austrian university develops 'inflatable' concrete dome method
Constructing a concrete dome is a costly process, but this may change soon. A team from the Vienna University of Technology has developed a method that allows concrete domes to form with the use of air and steel cables instead of expensive, timber supporting structures.
| Jun 11, 2014
Bill signing signals approval to revitalize New Orleans’ convention center corridor
A plan to revitalize New Orleans' Convention Center moves forward after Louisiana governor signs bill.
