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Article from issue 5/2004 »Staircases and Lifts«

Administration Building in Hellerup

documentation p. 506 - 509
Architect 3XNielsen | Structural Engineer Rambøll, Dänemark |

Drafts
1:1000 Ground and first floor plans/Section
1:1000 Longitudinal section
1:20 Details of atrium staircase
1:20 Details of foyer staircase

This pension office building in Copenhagen consists of two distinct tracts. Externally the complex is characterized by extensive areas of glazing, with green granite and perforated copper panels providing protection against the sun. In the atrium, the curved galleries are contrasted with the plane wall of the linear tract. A single-flight steel staircase extends past a curtain of water to a higher lobby and the canteen. A second staircase, curving in a counter-direction to the galleries, lends the lobby a certain spatial tension. The suspension rods and the slender balustrades are the only visual tokens of a steel structure. At the head of the stairs, there is access to a roof terrace that affords a view over the harbour.