BBP Arkitekter have converted an office building dating from 1964 in the center of Copenhagen into the new headquarters for the danish jewellery firm Trollbeads, who are known for their glass and gold beads.
It is a high security building, organised like the old Venetian merchant houses with goods loaded safely at the ground floor, stock and offices above, and, at the highest level, a residence for the owner with a roof terrace.
The challenge was to make a building which respects its type as a curtain wall building, while at the same time relating to the historic houses on either side. How do you combine a modern glass house with a 18th century townhouse?
The original curtain wall was removed, the existing concrete structure stripped and extended 2.5 m toward the street, and a new skin of glass and brass covers the facade, the roof and a small courtyard at the back.
The building consists of two party walls which have been raised and reshaped so as to follow the line of the neighbouring mansard roof. As is typical for visible party walls in the city, the exposed wall has a different logic than the facade, with small, round windows placed in a random pattern.
Between the two rounded party walls, a skin of glass is stretched to cover the roof and facade. On the outside a brass curtain is hung, making a kind of inverted curtain wall.
The building’s windows are fixed, but behind each of the “masonry” pillars there is a glass door which can be opened for ventilation.
The typical 1960s office building has been transformed into a golden jewellery box which becomes a glass chest at night.
