Arkitema wins through sustainable architectural branding
In co-operation with Bascon, Arkitema has formulated the winning proposal for the new domicile of the Danish brick company Egernsund Tegl: a visionary setting for a whole new way of presenting Denmark's national building material.
A symphony in brick, a logo and a sustainable building. In co-operation with Bascon, Arkitema has formulated the winning proposal for the new domicile of the Danish brick company Egernsund Tegl: a visionary setting for a whole new way of presenting Denmark's national building material. Brick is used as the common material in both the facades and the interior. The brick-red rectangle of the Egernsund Tegl logo has been echoed in the architecture, which has the same simple basic form, and sustainability has been a significant parameter in the creative process.
How can we build sustainable architecture, while at the same time communicating a strong brand? And how can we unite the grand old lady of Danish architectural traditions, the masonry brick, with sustainable branding? Arkitema's winning proposal succeeds by allowing the building to literally bear the brand, and by permitting sustainable principles to permeate all of the architectural choices – choices which are also aesthetic.
Landmark architecture
The new domicile of Egernsund Tegl will be the setting for the sales and marketing of a wide range of brick products from brickworks all over Denmark. The domicile is located in the landscape like a large red brick, just beside the South Jutland motorway. From a distance, it will be seen as a clear reference to the traditional Danish red brick; a building which displays its product in a highly concrete manner, and thereby provides an obvious and innovative sales window for Egernsund Tegl's extensive range of products. Here you will be able to experience the many possibilities of brick as a material. As Erik Jul Nielsen, managing director of Egernsund Tegl, puts it: "With our new sales centre, we will be telling the surrounding world about everything that bricks can do. The centre is intended to revitalise the image of bricks in people's consciousness. Here you can see the many possibilities of brick, touch it and smell its special scent – everyone is more than welcome to visit our new building."
"We chose Arkitema because their proposal possessed a very clear symbolism, in the best possible way – a brick in the landscape, and an integrated approach to sustainability."
The brick as shape
The new sales office is very faithful to the brick as shape: a shape which we challenge in the building's slight curve towards the motorway, which at the same time emphasises the brick's soft starting-point in clay. A mirror pool introduces water as a central element, and gives the building further dynamics and signal value. The curving form is also a shape that supports natural ventilation in the building, and results in an exciting interior, with a large salesroom on four different levels. The building's surroundings have been formed as an extensive green landscape featuring an outdoor exhibition of brick products.
Passing through the entrance, you are led into a "brick pocket" where the floor, walls and ceilings utilise masonry as a partitioning and climate-regulating core. Just inside the door we have placed a large open fire, where the crackle and warmth of the flames will create a very special atmosphere in the building and help to tell the story of the manufacturing process. Whereas traditional masonry bricks have been used in the 'brick pocket', the facades display the more future-oriented possibilities of brick in the form of suspended, industrially-manufactured masonry elements. In this way the building integrates the creative potential of brick as both an aesthetic and a functional element.
"We took our starting-point in four themes, which formed the basis of our design for the new Egernsund Tegl domicile: branding, consumer value, sustainability and buildability. At the same time, we tell the story of the qualities of brick by incorporating the basic elements in brick manufacture – fire, earth and water – as active architectural elements throughout the building. We create a total sensory experience in brick," says Anna Kathrine Bisgaard, Arkitema's creative manager. "Our goal is to build an attractive sales centre, the best possible workplace, and a building which will also give something back to the location. It will be an exciting task to build for a major player in the construction industry, Egernsund Tegl, to build with their own product, and at the same time contribute to the task of rediscovering the fantastic qualities of masonry as an active and valuable material in construction."
The other prequalified participants in the competition were Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects and Kjaer & Richter.
For more information, contact Anna Kathrine Bisgaard, creative manager, at tel. +45 7011 7011, or e-mail to: akb@arkitema.dk
Data
Address: Hjernøvej v. E45/Exit 73, Kliplev
Size: approx. 1200 m²
Client: Egernsund Tegl amba
Landscape Architect: Arkitema Plan & Landscape
Engineer: Bascon
Awards: 1st prize
Competition year: 2008
Type of competition: Closed, national