Maersk Tower is a new 42,700-sm research building designed and built as an extension of Panum, the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Health Sciences. The new building includes research and teaching facilities and a conference center with auditoriums and meeting rooms.
The tower rests on a low base that comprises all common facilities. The base is publicly accessible and appears open and in close dialogue with the surrounding environment thanks to its glass façade. The research functions and laboratories are located in the tower itself and are bound to each other in a loop that provides short distances between locations and improves the possibility of collaboration.
Photo: Adam Mørk.
An open atrium and a spiral stairway visually and physically connects each of the building’s fifteen floors. A “Forskertorv” exists around the staircase and creates a natural meeting place and community room for the building’s users.
Maersk Tower’s exterior façade is divided into a grid structure of floor-high copper-plated shutters. The shutters act as a climate guard that moves and shields direct sunlight and overheating. The shutters also help to break down the tower’s large scale. Adding to the energy efficiency of the building, the laboratories capture waste energy and reuse it for other purposes.
Photo: Adam Mørk.
Surrounding the tower is a publicly available urban campus park equipped with a “floating trail” that leads pedestrians and cyclists across part of Maersk Tower and creates a new connection between Nørre Allé and Blegdamsvej.
Photo: Adam Mørk.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Oct 7, 2022
Auburn’s new culinary center provides real-world education
The six-story building integrates academic and revenue-generating elements.
| Sep 14, 2022
Indian tribe’s new educational campus supports culturally appropriate education
The Kenaitze Indian Tribe recently opened the Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht Campus (Kenai River People’s Learning Place), a new education center in Kenai, Alaska.
University Buildings | Sep 9, 2022
Alan Schlossberg, AIA, LEED AP, joins DesignGroup’s Pittsburgh studio as Regional Practice Leader
Alan Schlossberg, AIA, LEED AP, has joined DesignGroup as a principal of the firm and regional practice leader.
| Sep 2, 2022
New UMass Medical School building enables expanded medical class sizes, research labs
A new nine-story, 350,000 sf biomedical research and education facility under construction at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester, Mass., will accommodate larger class sizes and extensive lab space.
| Sep 1, 2022
The University of Iowa opens the new Stanley Museum of Art, a public museum for both discovering and teaching art
The University of Iowa recently completed its new Stanley Museum of Art, a public teaching museum designed by BNIM.
University Buildings | Aug 25, 2022
Higher education, striving for ‘normal’ again, puts student needs at the center of project planning
Sustainability and design flexibility are what higher education clients are seeking consistently, according to the dozen AEC Giants contacted for this article. “University campuses across North America are commissioning new construction projects designed to make existing buildings and energy systems more sustainable, and are building new flexible learning space that bridge the gap between remote and in-person learning,” say Patrick McCafferty, Arup’s Education Business Leader–Americas East region, and Matt Humphries, Education Business Leader in Canada region.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 University Contractors and Construction Management Firms for 2022
Turner Construction, Whiting-Turner Contracting, PCL Construction Enterprises, and DPR Construction lead the ranking of the nation's largest university sector contractors and construction management (CM) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 85 University Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
AECOM, Jacobs, Salas O'Brien, and IMEG head the ranking of the nation's largest university sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 150 University Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
Gensler, CannonDesign, SmithGroup, and Perkins and Will top the ranking of the nation's largest university sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 Construction Management Firms for 2022
CBRE, Alfa Tech, Jacobs, and Hill International head the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
