BIG HQ

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

2023

CLIENT

Sundmolen BIG aps (BIG HQ Building) | By & Havn (Landscape)

TYPOLOGY

Work, Interiors

STATUS

COMPLETED

Located in Copenhagen’s Nordhavn neighborhood, BIG’s new HQ building recently topped out its 7-storey structure. The new HQ is architecturally anchored in Copenhagen harbor’s heritage of warehouses and factories. The small footprint at the end of the pier became the main design dilemma: how to organize a single work environment for all of us when we would have to be split between a minimum of four levels. In a counterintuitive decision, we split all the floors in half and doubled the amount of levels.

BIG HQ is BIG’s first example of fully integrated LEAP design – a collaboration between Landscape, Engineering, Architecture and Product designers. Everything from door handles to concrete columns – from urban design to glass facades has been given form by the BIG LEAP team. The building is designed to achieve the Danish sustainability certification, DGNB Gold, through use of FutureCem concrete, which reduces CO₂ emission with approx. 25% reduction as well as integration of solar and geothermal energy systems, and natural ventilation of the office spaces.

Open-Plan Office — To get 4-5,000 m2 of connected office space on the site as one continuous floor would require a site 4-5 times the available size.

Connected Office — Instead of a typical atrium building, BIG HQ is structured as a cascade of half floors that result in one huge, spatially interconnected office space across 7 levels.

Triangular Beams — The façade structure consists of a checkered pattern of 7 façade beams supporting the entire building. To make the pattern "click", one beam on each level is triangular. These triangular elements simultaneously act as terraces and escape stairs keeping the center free from an enclosed central fire stair.

Open Heart — The elevator, vertical risers and a smaller, secondary egress stair are moved to the northern edge of the building in an overlap between the north facing beams, leaving the floor plates and the center of the building as open as possible.

Slabs & Column — The stacked, oversized concrete elements give the building a structural and visual uniqueness. The green spiral staircase for social activities and breaks wraps around the building, doubling as the main egress route.

Extroverted Ground Floor — On the ground floor, half of each façade is a transparent glass panel opening the HQ up to its surroundings. The entrance and exhibition space face west, while a restaurant with outdoor seating opens towards south.

Connected — The spatially interconnected floors are arranged around a central stair zig-zagging its way from ground floor to the 6th floor.

Views and Context — The location of the building on the very tip of the Sundmolen Pier allows for generous city and/or harbor views on all four sides of the HQ.

Forest & Beach — The public space is designed as a transition between two landscape typologies - from a beach to a green coastal forest.

BIG HQ — The stacking of large concrete elements creates a 3D pattern of transparent and opaque façade partitions, that enable a spatially complex and connected office space - a BIG LEAP project, where our disciplines work together to form the most functionally, spatially & economically optimal office building.

Upon entering the main entrance through a 3 m tall glass door, BIGsters and guests will find themselves in a dramatic Piranesian space, where the inner life of the building reveals
itself through diagonal views all the way up to the top floor.

A single stone column of eight different types of rock – ranging from dense granite at the bottom to a porous limestone at the top – form a totem pole to gravity at the heart of the open
space. An open stair ricochets from level to level all the way from the basement to the penthouse.

A series of half floor plates overlap to create a cascading environment of interconnected levels that unite the entire seven-storey building visually and physically into a single space. The floor plates are carried by 20-meter-long concrete beams stacked on top of each other, which make the exterior façade appear as a checkerboard of interchanging solid beams and transparent windows.

Each floor has direct access to a balcony connected to the balcony above and below, forming a continuous ribbon of outdoor spaces, spiraling from the roof to the quayside like a mountain path. The ribbon doubles as the additional fire escape freeing up the interior from the obstruction of the traditional core.

Bjarke Ingels Finn Nørkjær David Zahle Jakob Lange Andreas Klok Pedersen Ole Elkjær-Larsen Agla Egilsdottir Marius Tromholt-Richter Matthew Thomson Shu Zhao Jesper Boye Andersen Annette Jensen Alda Sol Hauksdóttir Alexander Jacobson Anders Fønss Andrea Hektor Andy Coward Anna Bertolazzi Anna Wiktoria Wozniak Anne-Charlotte Wiklander Andrea Angelo Suardi Aya Fibert Barbora Hrmova Bart Ramakers Bjarke Koch-Ørvad Christian Eugenius Kuczynski Danyu Zeng Dina Brændstrup Eddie Can Ewa Zapiec Fabiana Cortolezzis Felicia Olufsson Filip Rozkowski Frederik Lyng Frederik Skou Jensen Gabrielle Nadeau Giulia Genovese Graham Forrest Jordan Cris Guoyu Liu Hanne Halvorsen Helen Shuyang Chen Henrik Jacobsen Hilda Heller Ines Zunic Irie Meree Jesper Kanstrup Petersen Jonathan Russell Jonathan Udemezue Joos Jerne Juhye Kim Kanetnat Puttimettipanan Kaoan Hengles De Lima Katrine Juul Kim Christensen Kim Lauer Kristian Mousten Kristoffer Negendahl Lars Thonke Lenya Nikola Schneehage Lisbet Fritze Trentemøller Lone Fenger Albrechtsen Louise Mould Luca Pileri Mads Engaard Stidsen Mads Primdahl Rokkjær Magni Waltersson Marah Wagner Margarita Nutfulina Mariana De Soares e Barbieri Cardoso Martyna Kloda Michael James Kepke Mikki Seidenschnur Milan Moldenhawer Mikkel Marcker Stubgaard Mussa Algasra Nandi Lu Nanna Gyldholm Møller Omar Mohamed Nabil Mohamed Saad Mowafy Paula Madrid Sergiu Calacean Sille Foltinger Snorre Nash Steen Kortbæk Svendsen Thor Larsen-Lechuga Timo Harboe Nielsen Tobias Hjortdal Tommy Bjørnstrup Tore Banke Tristan Harvey Ulla Hornsyld Xavier Thanki Xingyue Huang Xinyi Chen Xinying Zhang Yehezkiel Wiliardy Manik Yunyoung Choi Gül Ertekin Høgni Laksafoss Natasha Lykke Lademann Østergaard Søren Martinussen Andreas Bak Giulia Frittoli Maria Natalia Lenardon Mathieu Jaumain Narisara Ladawal Schröder Sherief Al Rifal Jiewei Li Justas Zabulionis Jonas Rask Dobrochna Anna Klimczak Marija Cvijović Celia de la Osa Muñoz Bartłomiej Lew Krestian Ingemann Hansen Helena Hammershaimb Alexandra-Madalina Nita Anna Lindgaard Jensen Ricardo Candel Brian Malig Collado Louise Brøndbjerg Johan Fredrik Lindqvist Celina Holck Jannik Albæk Fernanda Furuya Arthur Martinevski Kaja Terze Jialin Liang Petra Hajdu Mathilde Jeppesen Atibadi Brugnano Ioannis Mathioudakis Ahmed Badra

COLLABORATORS

LM Byg
Aalborg Portland
Centrum Pæle
Connex
El Team Vest
Energy Machines
Skel.dk
Paschal Stillads
Kjellerup VVS
HB Trapper
Eiler Thomsen
Deko
Brønnum
Primatag
Optimus
Krak Bau
Alt om Fugning Aps
YOUR PARTNER
Kvadrat Acoustics
GOTESSONS
Akustik Miljø
Dansk Belægningsenterprise
NO.BA Studio
Ceramica Cielo
TONI Copenhagen
Dinesen Floors A/S
Influit
Helden
Artelia Group
Fritz Hansen
Muller van Severen
Aluflam
Artemide
Kristoffer Negendahl
Windowmaster
Viasol
Schüco
Anker & Co.
E. Nielsens Mekaniske Stenhuggeri A/S
Allremove
Miele
SHURE
Shack Trapper