currently, the tallest building in western europe is the shard — a renzo piano-designed skyscraper that stands at the heart of london. climbing to a total height of 309.7 meters (1,017 feet), the supertall structure is joined in the british capital by a host of other well-known high-rises, including ‘one canada square’ and the ‘leadenhall building,’ designed by rogers stirk harbour + partners. however, a project of a similar scale — conceived by dorte mandrup — has recently been approved for a plot of land outside a small town in rural denmark.
all courtesy of bloomimages and dorte mandrup
soaring to a total height of 320 meters (1,050 feet), the proposed tower would house the head offices of BESTSELLER, a fashion company that has called the town of brande home for more than 30 years. BESTSELLER says that it intends to give something back to the local community by welcoming them to use the site. this public aspect comes in the form of a series of new buildings at the base of the tower, which will create a new town with planted rooftops.
a series of buildings will be positioned at the base of the tower
‘we would like to open our doors by rethinking the way our company interacts with the local community, and we hope to be able to create value for both our colleagues and the people in brande,’ says anders krogh vogdrups, project manager of BESTSELLER. ‘the plan is born out of the passion and interest for architecture and a vision of creating a unique building that matches the unique setup of a rethought headquarter.’
the development could complete as soon as 2023
also designed by dorte mandrup, the new town will include a range of retail outlets, a hotel, educational institutions, nature walks, and other public facilities. through realizing the development, the danish company hopes to not only draw attention to its own brand, but also towards the town where the new buildings will dominate the local landscape. the project is set to break ground in 2019, with a slated completion date scheduled for 2023.
project info:
name: BESTSELLER tower
client: BESTSELLER
architect: dorte mandrup
landscape architect: arkitekt kristine jensens tegnestue
engineer: rambøll
renderings: bloomimages, dorte mandrup
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Is the best way of opening doors and interacting with the local community best achieved by building what is intended to be the tallest skyscraper in western Europe in rural Denmark? Having studied architecture myself, I view this as more of an ego trip. Why vertical? Why does it have to be 320m? There are even subterranean and much greener opportunities that could be embraced – I’ve not seen the spec (only this article) but, sticking a green roof on the lower level structures does very little. Sure, this is rural – convenient when there is no context with which to fit into (similar to some of Le Corbusier’s designs) – but, how will this tall structure impact on its location? What are the benefits to building this huge beacon when it is in a rural location? Don’t get me wrong, I love innovative and interesting designs but, I will need a bit more convincing that this is the ‘right thing’ to do.
The less said about the lack of diversity amongst the people pictured the better. The way the images of the building are scaled in the different photos shown don’t match when you zoom into the larger scale… (…this reminds me of the kind of feedback I would get from my tutors in crits…) in principle, a nice idea but design decisions taken don’t make sense to me.