Johansen Skovsted Arkitekter . photos: © Rasmus Norlander
This project is located between the scenic shape of the Køge Bay Highway and the circular infrastructure of Køge University Hospital. It houses the Danish headquarters of the pharmaceutical company CODAN, and contains a warehouse with medical devices, for distribution to Danish hospitals. Additionally, office facilities for the company’s ownership group, the associated secretariat and the Danish distribution department.
The building is structured as a series of wings that articulate the internal structure of the company. They envelop the tall warehouse building and nestle into the terrain with slight shifts in level that follow the curvature of the landscape. All of the spaces, as well as the warehouse packing areas, are oriented towards the meadow on the southern side of the building, which becomes a unifying landscape space, concluding in a courtyard. On the northern side of the facility, the tall silent facades of the warehouse frame a compact space where logistics, waste management, and parking are handled.
The internal flow of the building is arranged like a journey, with generous communal spaces and passageways that create interactions between bright, high-ceilinged rooms and more intimate, secluded passages and niches. In this way, the packing areas, warehouses, meeting rooms and offices are connected to the central communal dining area where employees from all sections of the building come together.
The building complex is constructed using prefabricated concrete elements which, due to their thermal mass, mitigate fluctuations in temperature; in doing so, the building complies with the rigorous standards for temperature stability with regards to storing pharmaceuticals. The moulded façade panels are designed with a relief that shifts the façade plane and creates a rhythm that manages to connect the open offices with the large, enclosed warehouse. In the interior non-loadbearing walls, plywood and pine creates a domestic character.
_
