Halfdansgade 8

At the address Halfdansgade 8 in the Islands Brygge area, many architectural typologies meet. Hans Tausens Church, residential blocks, and the beautiful old industry building, which used to house a cigar factory, all make up a composition which tells the narrative of the neighborhood. The new office building is located in this architectural and historical tension.

One characteristic trait of Islands Brygge is the large brick buildings with Copenhagen’s classic pitched rooves. The new office building draws from the area’s architectural idiom with an uneven rooftop that frames the curtain-wall glass facades and drops into a special gable motif.

Although there is glass in the two facades, the office building’s materials and shape break away from the modern style of large, glass corporate headquarters. The slim folding, which dresses the building, is made of tombac, a maroon copper alloy which paraphrases the most often utilized and notable red brick material on the facades of Halfdansgade. The tombac complements the warm, reddish hues and will patinate over time, thus gaining a warm blackish-brown look.

With the characteristic folding and warm patination, the building thus melts into its surroundings and joins the area’s heritage and environment. In its entirety, the building reveals an awareness of its context, expressed through modern interpretation, which is foreign and familiar at the same time to the narrow streets of Copenhagen.