Scandic Spectrum opens: Inviting architecture in the heart of Copenhagen

Scandic Spectrum is located one block from the water on Kalvebod Brygge, close to several other striking buildings such as Nykredit's Krystallen and BLOX. Copenhageners and tourists alike can use the new hotel facilities which, in addition to five floors with rooms, include a spa and pool area, restaurant, café, sky bar with outdoor roof terrace, gym, as well as meeting and conference facilities. There is a total floor area of 31,000 square metres with an additional 11,500 square metres underground parking on two levels.

The ground floor of the building opens out to an urban space and wellness area, restaurants and a coffee bar that invites Copenhageners inside and is an extension of the square. The ground floor also has events areas with space for concerts, lectures etc. Dissing+Weitling have worked carefully on integrating the hotel into the site and its architectural and planning characteristics:

- Work on a hotel like the Scandic Spectrum is a gigantic logistical jigsaw puzzle. We were very familiar with the building, the site and its links from the start, because we had already developed a commercial project on the site. Therefore, we’ve been able to optimise and exploit the site, for example to find space for 632 functional rooms compared with the original requirement for at least 550.

- We’ve aimed at architecture that adds something to the site and the local area in the best way possible. It’s not really the custom in Denmark for local residents to use hotels, but we hope that Scandic Spectrum will encourage a change in this direction, says Daniel Hayden, Architect and Partner at Dissing+Weitling.

The hotel is composed of three units that together give an impression of one single block. With the sloping roof surfaces at different heights, the hotel enters a dialogue with the old buildings in the Glyptotek district, and the bevelled glass facades reflect a transition to the more modern architecture in the district. The block forms the framework for three inner courtyards, helping to form a new centre at the port of Copenhagen.

The choice of materials also relates to the surroundings and the history of Kalvebod Brygge as part of the industrial port of Copenhagen. The hotel introduces a raw and Nordic style in materials and lighting, for example, by using raw concrete, steel, industrial glass and grey-coloured wood in the dominant elements.

The hotel has several energy-efficient installations such as a solar-panel roof and double skin facades with solar shading that is controlled automatically at the top and bottom to retain heat in the winter and provide ventilation in the summer. The glass facade also helps ensure a healthy indoor climate, optimal soundproofing, as well as a good influx of light for hotel visitors. Nature has been brought inside the hotel through the roof terraces on the sixth floor and two atrium courtyards with vegetation on the ground floor. Scandic Spectrum has been awarded the DGNB gold certificate and the Nordic Swan ecolabel.

Besides Dissing+Weitling, the project team includes Søren Jensen consulting engineers, the Pihl consortium (turnkey contractor) and KWØL Landscape. The project owner is the Norwegian company HM2 a/s and advisory services came from Albæk Byggerådgivning. Space Copenhagen did the interior design.