Total, headquarters, Copenhagen

Modern multi-user building creates welcoming meeting with the urban context

Categories

  • Corporate
  • Workplace design

Location

Amerika Plads, Copenhagen, Denmark

Year

2017

Status

Completed

Size

15,600 m²

Client(s)

Maersk, Jeudan

Team

Landscape: Vesterholts eftf.aps
Ingineer: MOE
Contractor: Aarsleff

The new office hub at Amerika Plads is a multi-user building designed for 800 staff from Maersks different business areas. The building was originally designed for Maersk Oil - now taken over by the French oil company Total.

In connection with the takeover PLH has been responsible for a rebranding of the building and interior with Total’s signage and graphics.

Read more about the project in Wallpaper.

Read the article about the headquarter in The New York Times:Oil Company Headquarters Make a Powerful Statement


Contact:
Søren Mølbak
+ 45 2720 0591
sm@plh.dk

The building marks its presence with a striking curved corner towards the busy Kalkbrænderihavnsgade, and likewise towards the inner square behind. Thus creating a welcoming meeting with its urban context where residential, office, retail and restaurant activities blend together.

The ground floor, with its five meter high ceilings, projects its functions as a semi-public zone that interacts with life on the square.

“This gleaming building is one of the anchors of the Amerika Square redevelopment in Copenhagen […]. PLH Achitects […] produced a sleek, curved building with a proudly Danish aesthetic. The interiors are swathed in ash wood panels and flooded with natural light to connect with nature but minimize acoustics, while the central atrium features palm trees and leather chairs more like a Scandinavian coffee shop than a corporate headquarters.”

- The New York Times

"This is an ultra-modern domicile and being here, makes me a little star struck, because it is a magnificent place."

- Kenneth Ohlendorff, CEO Jeudan Servicepartner A/S, inauguration, 27 September 2017

"The architecture is elegant, seamless and underplayed, but with an eye for the need of the body in a large open space [...] this is high quality."

- Karsten R. S. Ifversen, Architectural Editor and Reviewer in the Danish daily Politiken.

”Fra facadebåndene, der løber som skyggen på kaptajnskasketter over vinduerne på alle etager, til etageforkanter, der sømløst skiller sig ud fra og smyger sig ind i væggene igen i atriet, er der en stærk grad af enhed og samling i huset. […]

Midt i denne karakter af enhed er det lykkedes at skabe en stor rumlig variation, som den formiddag, jeg besøger huset, synes at blive udnyttet til fulde. I det store atrium er der lavet en lounge på gulvet, som er afskærmet af høje rygge på siddemøblerne, og på balkonerne rundtom er der nicher med køkkener og borde til uformelle møder og små tomandsborde, der med en fin skylampe over kommer til at minde om en hyggelig restaurant. At man kan nå den variation fra det store til det små i et og samme åbne rum, er imponerende og afspejler en solid styring af både de visuelle, rumlige og akustiske virkemidler.

[Huset er et] klassisk atriumhus, gedigent og gennemført [...] overalt med en væsentlig fornemmelse for den rumlige variation og betydningen af små kroge, der giver tryghed i det store rum. Det er høj kvalitet.”

- Karsten R. S. Ifversen, arkitekturredaktør og anmelder, Politiken