The SEB bank building
Lies on a recently designed harbor site that was once a parking lots, is now home to two 10-story buildings with glass and copper facades, and a patio around it that forms the roof of a parking area.
It’s all designed by Danish Architects Lundgaard & Tranberg and in my opinion they’ve done a real good job! The building lie just within walking distance, only 5 minutes away from Copenhagen Central Station if you follow Bernstorffgade.
The two buildings could not be conducted with the traditional prefabricated building element-style, which many – many buildings are constructed by, because of the buildings design. The SEB bank buildings are cast on-location using a technique which required that construction couldn’t be interrupted while it was being carried out! That means that for a whole three weeks, 50 workmen were on shifts around the clock, and there were always someone working with something every hour of the day.
Other than the fine
choice of materials for the facades, and the curves that resemble the nearby waves in the harbor, the building is also really cool inside as well. Covering a total of 27,110 square floor meters, these new head-quarters for the Swedish banking firm SEB have become a big-league player in the architecture or Copenhagen.
When the terrain rises up to 7 meters high outside, the floors in the ground floor becomes a series of stairs from one side of the building through the core and to the other side.
All the rooms in the building are also placed and designed with maximum comfort and efficiency in mind – the work stations for the more than 1,000 employees the building can accommodate are located along the windows and follow the facades. The spines of the construction – silo-like, cylindrical structures, are now technical shafts – with toilets, installations, stairs, and elevators! All in all, the building really lives up to modern day standards – and SEB have their staff in main focus when it comes to the interior.
Getting there:
We recommend walking from Copenhagen Central Station, across Tivoli. From there it’s only a 5 minute walk down Berntorffsgade to Kalvebod Brygge at the waterfront. You can’t miss it.
The terrain around SEB bank
That starts at Kalvebod Brygge, close to the water and with Langebro and Krystallen not far in the distance. The once so dull place, has now lightened up and transformed into an urban park with benches, grass and other flora. The gardens stretches all the way from the beginning to Tivoli Hotel 400 meters away.
Away from the cars and noise, this was truly designed with the pedestrians in mind.
Planned for the future is, that the gardens will be connected in level with Dybbølsbro (and the Station there), which completes the master plan to give the people of Copenhagen the areas near the waterfront and old habor-building site area back into their hands, and be able to use the gardens and connection for recreational purposes!