The DBC Administration

The Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s administration building is equally weighted with the DR Concert Hall and the other buildings in DR City (DR Byen).

The four building segments in all are connected by an internal ‘street’ (Indre Gade), an important meeting place for DR employees where a lot of informal communication and meetings take place. From Segments 1 and 2, which house TV and radio production, you pass along Indre Gade to arrive at the large canteen in Segment 3. The building clearly has its own architectural identity, with its homogenous yet dynamic glass façade. Inside, the interior design is characterised by pale colours and ample daylight, not least from the large skylight in the atrium.

Naturally ventilated office landscape
Segment 3 houses all of DR’s administration with 4-500 employees, the shared DR canteen and DR Copenhagen, the local radio station, in addition to a number of internal service functions. The building is simply built from three elements, which together ensure a fully functional structure. From within, the building is centred around the atrium, which forms the building envelope. The outer skin is a beautiful and simple façade consisting of tilted glass lamella. In the space between the two elements, there are green courtyards towards the west and north, a third element that contributes to the visual and climatic environment in the building, in addition to providing supplementary daylight. The courtyards are a logical and integrated part of the building’s climate and environmental strategy and add a distinctly green profile. They are partly open to the sky, and thus follow the seasons. Together with the central atrium, the courtyards contribute to the natural ventilation of the building. Like the other segments, Segment 3 is transparent. The workplaces are pleasantly arranged, some facing the outer façades and others facing the inner courtyards, while the flexible arrangement encourages creativity and interdisciplinary cooperation.

Textured ceilings
From the outside, the building appears calm yet busy with its changing glass skin which also matches the blue skin of the neighbouring DR Concert Hall. Inside, the building feels like a pulsating entity around the central atrium, which provides both a sense of space and connectivity between the open levels. The entire administration sits in open offices. The layout encourages creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration around the building. In all the offices, the architects have chosen Troldtekt acoustic panels for the ceilings, based on several parameters. As the architect Frederik Ejlers says: “Troldtekt was in many ways the obvious choice for this building.” In a building like this, there are obvious requirements in relation to ensuring comfortable acoustics and a healthy indoor climate, which Troldtekt acoustic panels are able to meet. Architecturally, Troldtekt injects a sense of calm to the large open floors, while the material texturally contrasts with the otherwise smooth and transparent surfaces.

Radio studio
The studios of the local radio station, DR Copenhagen, which are also located in this segment, have special acoustic and sound requirements, and here Troldtekt acoustic panels with built-in loudspeakers have been used.