Creating a new headquarters that feels ‘Nordic’
How Henning Larsen balanced Nordic design ambition, acoustic performance and LEED Platinum sustainability in one building.
The main atrium of Nordea's Copenhagen headquarters, a multi-floor hub with canteen, coffee corner and flex desks. Rockfon Mono Acoustic across the ceiling and balcony surfaces absorbs sound across the huge atrium.
A building that feels Nordic
When Henning Larsen Architects designed the new Copenhagen headquarters for Nordea, they looked to the Nordic landscape for inspiration.
Slate, oak and glass. Open, light and transparent. A facade of fractured surfaces that shifts tone with the light and weather, like the face of an iceberg catching the sun.
The result is one of Denmark's most distinctive office buildings, and one of its most sustainable. Nordea's headquarters was among the first buildings in Denmark to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the highest standard in sustainable construction, with at least 20% of materials sourced locally and a strict focus on indoor environment quality, including acoustics and daylight.
But behind that striking exterior was a real acoustic challenge waiting to be solved.
Glass, stone and traders in one room
The building is organised around two large atriums connecting the floors and giviung the building its sense of transparency between staff, clients and the city outside.
One of those atriums houses Scandinavia's largest trading floor, with room for more than 600 employees. Glass and oak surfaces, open areas, and hundreds of people in constant communication create an intense acoustic environment. Without proper treatment, noise builds fast, and in a space where the stakes are high, that's a real problem.
Project info
Project name
Nordea Headquarters
Client
Nordea
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Architecture
Photography
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Products used
Rockfon® Mono Acoustic
ViewScandinavia's largest trading floor, with over 600 employees working simultaneously surrounded by glass and oak surfaces. Rockfon Mono Acoustic on balcony walls keeping noise under control throughout the day.
Optimal acoustics. Sustainable materials.
The materials that gave the building its Nordic character, slate, oak, glass, are all hard and reflective. Beautiful, but acoustically unforgiving.
To deal with unwanted sound reflections, Rockfon Mono Acoustic was installed throughout the atriums across the balconies, staircases and ceiling surfaces. It’s white surface reflects over 87% of natural light through the space while its stone wool core absorbs sound waves across every floor.
The ceiling design above the atrium reminds of the fractured and reflective surfaces of and iceberg. It reflects and diffuses light while managing the acoustics of the space below.
The combination of Rockfon Mono Acoustic and the building's locally sourced natural materials contributed directly to the LEED Platinum certification, meeting strict requirements for acoustic performance and indoor environment quality.
The angular ceiling detail above the atrium, where the fractured surfaces shift light throughout the day.
Natural light flowing in through the glass roof, reflected and diffused by the white Mono Acoustic surfaces.
A LEED platinum, Nordic design
Nordea's Copenhagen headquarters proves that sustainability and design ambition are not competing priorities. A building that looks and feels unmistakably Nordic, performs at the highest environmental standard, and offers the acoustic conditions needed to do your best work.
Also designing a large, open workspace where acoustic performance, design, and sustainability needs to go hand in hand? Get in touch, and together we'll find a solution that fits best.
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