3XN commissioned to design the building that houses the new offices of FIH (Finance for Danish Industry). It was received two awards: municipality of Copenhagen Architectural Award 2002 and nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2003. The site has a unique and a prominent position at the end of Langelinie Quay, with downtown Copenhagen within walking distance and Oresund practically on its doorstep. The brief required for a distinctive contemporary design but also required the new building to relate well to its listed neighbor.

3XN have carefully negotiated this balance in a design which adopts the dimensions, scale and materials of the Dahlerups Pakhus, without compromising the new building’s identity or functionality as a contemporary office. The depth of the warehouse volume (25 meters) is problematic as a basis for a modern office environment where natural light, views and transparency are all highly needed. 3XN solved this problem, however, by penetrating the building with recessed gardens and entrances.

The FIH building may be conceived as a transparent ’crystal’ with large, open cuts that are used as sources of natural light and green garden spaces. All offices are oriented towards the view and the daylight, as they have either a window in the facade or onto one of the garden spaces. The building refers to the historic quayside buildings nearby through the use of red-brown bricks, but here they are cleverly incorporated into an adjustable facade system, which gives the building an ever changing appearance.

This consists of three modules: an inner layer of glass panels alternated in a syncopated rhythm with red-brick panels and an outer layer of aluminium shutters. The shutters are exactly the same dimension as the glass and brick panels and slide precisely in front of them. Photocells control the movement of the shutters automatically so that they slide in front of the glass in sunny weather and in front of the brick when it is overcast, or the decision of the individual behind the window.

The exterior thus appears in different configurations of aluminium with either glass or brick. The office floors consist of a varied mixture of large open-plan offices and single-occupancy office units forming clusters around tall, open staircases that are lit by cascades of light from above. A spectacular piece of light-art changes it’s colors slowly, following a preprogrammed scheme, only interrupted by the movements of the elevators.

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