DFDS’ Head Office
Unites the company's past and future
Dissing+Weitling's headquarters for DFDS respects the shipping firm's long history and creates settings for continued development and progress. For more than 150 years, DFDS operated in an older building at the Port of Copenhagen, and the new headquarters therefore marks a new beginning.
- Location
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Category
- Workspaces and Educations, Headquarters
- Year
- 2001 - 2003
- Client
- Sjælsø Gruppen
- Collaborator
- Niras
- Size
- 9,000 m²
DFDS wanted a building that embraces the company's roots in Danish maritime history and its technological vision as a modern shipping firm operating throughout Europe. The historical span and the interaction between past and future inspired us to create two facades: one covered with classic, white Italian sandstone and a second expansive glass facade that opens towards the Svanemølle Marina.
In addition to the location at the wharf, the architecture also reflects the maritime connection in other ways, for example small round windows reminiscent of a ship's portholes.
DFDS started as Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab – which translates to the United Steamship Company – in 1866. Today, the company has 50 offices in Northern Europe and headquarters at Svanemølle Marina.