Carlsberg Central Office, Valby Building Project, Danish Work Place Design, Copenhagen Architecture Images
Carlsberg Central Office in Valby
28 June 2022
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Carlsberg Central Office Building Award
For several reasons copper was chosen for the façade. As well as being sustainable and having a long lifespan, the material is flexible and can enclose all exterior details both vertically and horizontally – and the material can be used in both glazing bars, top and bottom pieces, in fixed façade panels as well as in general flashings.
HQ Building Project in Copenhagen, Sjælland, Denmark design by C.F. Møller Architects
Updated 14 Feb 2022 + 4 Dec 2018
Design: C.F. Møller Architects
Location: Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark
Photos by Adam Mørk
Carlsberg Central Office, Valby
The new Carlsberg Central Office sets the framework for a modern and dy-namic workplace, with a building that supports identity, knowledge sharing, and inno-vation. This is emphasized with a large open atrium that binds the entire company together in one unified working community, integrated with the connecting the past with the future.
Carlsberg’s central office is located in Carlsberg’s historic area of Valby Bakke in Copen-hagen and appears harmonious in its interaction with its surroundings. The challenge has been to adapt a larger, modern office building with precision and sensitivity in a historic, urban and scenic location and, at the same time, give the building the aes-thetic quality that characterizes Carlsberg as a company.
Knowledge sharing and innovation
The building consists of three wings, which unite in an atrium, the building’s central space, which opens onto Carl Jacobsen’s Garden overlooking Carlsberg City, where the long history of Carlsberg as a brewery business began and where it is still unfolding.
The atrium connects all the floors of the building, and around the atrium on each floor, there is a communal area where the company’s employees can meet. In this way, the atrium gathers all the office sections, both vertically and horizontally, and all the de-partments are experienced as one single working community, reinforcing collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation.
One of the building’s three wings forms a bridge over one of the neighbourhood’s main access roads, J. C. Jacobsen’s Gade, creating a modern gateway similar to the famous classical ones that characterize the Carlsberg City, while the other two wings embrace Carl Jacobsen’s historic garden and villa. The garden, which has so far been closed to the public will open to the public in 2021as part of creating the new central office.
Open and inviting interior
The main entrance and reception are located on the ground floor adjacent to the atri-um. This welcoming space appears open and inviting to both visitors and passersby, with a great view to the garden from the inside and into the building from the outside.
A large staircase with steps furnished with seating pads, in the atrium and adjacent to the entrance space, invites to sitting down for short breaks, informal meetings and social inter-action between staff and guests. Meeting rooms and workstations that can be used as on-the-fly workplaces as well as a bar and café are also found on the ground floor. The canteen is in the south wing, which includes a large outdoor terrace facing Carl Jacobsen’s Garden.
By shaping the building in a faceted and angled way, the employees are given multiple workplace opportunities with varied views and spatial contexts, including glass meeting rooms. Several “touch-down” temporary workstations are placed in the building. They are found along the edge of the atrium and on two transverse bridges in the wing that forms a bridge over J.C. Jacobsen’s Gade. Small furniture groups create areas for infor-mal meet-ings, temporary work and coffee breaks. A wide use of lockers supports new and dynamic ways of working with flexible seating for the employees depending on the work to be done.
Adapted to the surroundings
The façade consists of large glass sections that are rhythmically divided by vertical copper-plated slats. The copper leads the mind back to the old brewery tanks and re-fers to the many beautiful copper details on the historic buildings of the Carlsberg City District.
The building is adapted to the historic surroundings and the scale of the site by taper-ing the height down and designing the façade with recesses towards the surrounding smaller hous-es and Carl Jacobsen’s villa. The result is a building that gently fits and stands in beautiful harmony with its surroundings.
The building is adapted into its green surroundings with a special focus on Carl Jacob-sen’s garden. The recesses of the façade follow the topography of the site, emphasiz-ing the building’s relation to the landscape’s wavy lines, while the building’s terraced roof is a continuation of the sloping terrain. At the same time, the building’s green roof creates a smooth transition from building to landscape.
Past and future in the landscape
The Carlsberg brewery was historically placed in Valby due the presence of a spring as a steady water supply for the beer brewing. This spring has now been reinterpreted to underline its historic value, into a water feature called ‘Kilden’ (The Spring).
The Spring gently marks the meeting between the central office’s close by private are-as and the listed garden to serve as a natural and recreational separation. This trans-forms the garden into a public recreational space in the Carlsberg City District and brings Carlsberg into a new era, with a higher degree of openness towards the public, where climate adaptation and accessibility are intertwined with the cultural heritage of the place.
Interpretations of water
The Spring consists of three connected interpretations of water: A mirror basin with waterlilies, next to a stylized interpretation of a stream. This is connected to a cascade, the height of one floor, and ends in a raised basin and a lake with Iris and water grass-es. With climate adaptation and history as design drivers, all rainwater from roofs and surfaces are collected and handled locally. The collected rainwater is used recreational-ly in the garden’s sculptural water cascade. Excess surface water is stored in a buried rainwater reservoir.
Between The Spring and the listed neoclassical villa, a varied, lush planting belt with perennials, grasses, and smaller bushes is placed as a reinterpretation of the former romantic garden that once formed the garden’s western boundary.
Durable and sustainable
The building is built in durable materials with a long lifespan and requires minimal maintenance. Bamboo floors have been laid in a herringbone pattern on all office floors. Bamboo is sustainable by being a fast-growing grass species and hard-wearing when used as a building component. The facades consist of 50% recycled copper and interior surfaces are mainly either untreated (without paint maintenance) or wood cladding with micro-perforations.
There are solar cells placed on the roof and low-energy ventilation systems with heat recovery, solar shading inside and outside the facades, as well as water-saving fixtures and toilets. The indoor climate is based on good daylight and optical indoor climate, a strong acoustic solution, healthy air exchange with filtered, fresh air, and several op-tions for con-trolling heat and glare via screens and curtains. The water feature, in combination with the building’s green roofs, handles storm water during rain showers.
Photography: Adam Mørk
Carlsberg Central Office, Copenhagen
The Carlsberg Group’s new central office provides the framework for a modern and dynamic workplace, where the intention has been to design a building that creates identity, knowledge sharing and innovation.
At the same time it has been important that the building stands in harmony with its surroundings and has the aesthetic quality that characterises Carlsberg as a company.
The building is located in the northwest corner of Carlsberg Byen, in Copenhagen, where one of the three wings of the building forms a bridge over one of the quarter’s main access routes, J. C. Jacobsens Gade, while the other two wings embrace Carl Jacobsen’s historic garden and villa.
The building’s central space, the atrium, opens onto Carl Jacobsen’s Garden overlooking Carlsberg Byen, where the long history of Carlsberg as a brewery business began and where it is still unfolding. The ground floor is open to customers and business partners, and with the atrium serving as a welcoming space, it is inviting and open to its surroundings.
The atrium penetrates all the floors of the building, and around the atrium on each floor, there is a communal area where the company’s employees can meet. In this way, the atrium gathers all the office sections, both vertically and horizontally, so that all the departments are experienced as one single working community, reinforcing collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation.
The façade consists of large glass panels, that are rhythmically divided by vertical copper-covered slats. The copper makes one think back to the old copper brew kettles and at the same time references the fine copper detailing on many of the historic buildings in Carlsberg Byen.
The building is adapted to the historical surroundings and the scale of the site, by tapering the height down towards the smaller surrounding houses and Carl Jacobsen’s Villa, and by designing the façade with recesses. The result is a building that gently fits and stands in beautiful harmony with its surroundings.
The building is a sustainable construction with durable solutions, built in natural materials with a long lifespan. The façade slats, for example, are coated with recycled copper and the building is built according to Copenhagen Municipality’s 2020 building class.
Carlsberg Central Office Valby – Building Information
Client: Carlsberg A/S
Address: Valby, København, Denmark
Size: 23200 sqm (15.500 sqm offices, 7.700 sqm basement and parking)
Year: 2007-
Competition: 1st prize in architectural competition. 2008
Team
Client consultant: EKJ Rådgivende Ingeniører
Construction: Aarsleff
Engineering: Niras
Architect: C.F. Møller Architects
Landscape: C.F. Møller Landscape
Awards: 1st prize in architectural competition. 2008
Carlsberg Central Office in Valby images /information received 041218
Location: Carlsberg Byen, Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark, northern Europe
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