Dahlerup's Tower

Once the home of the Carlsberg Brewery production plant, today Carlsberg Byen has developed into a sprawling new neighbourhood close to the city centre. 

As one of the nine towers designated in the urban development plan for the area in 2009, Dahlerup's Tower rises above Carlsberg Byen and has become part of Copenhagen's new skyline - a reference point that contributes both historically and physically to connecting the city.

Carlsberg Byen finds itself at a unique location in the city, in close proximity to green city parks in Valby and Frederiksberg, the pulsating Vesterbro and the busy city centre. The area is permeated by its industrial past and rich history, which have guided the development of the area into a new attractive neighbourhood.  

Dahlerup's Tower sits close to the famous Elephant Gates and the building creates connectivity and synergies between two of the neighbourhood’s central squares, Ottilia Jacobsens Plads and Bryggernes Plads. 

Together with Caroline Hus, Dahlerup's Tower offers a mix of modern housing, and flexible office space, combined with retail and dining at ground floor levels, contributing to urban life around the clock.

The base offers spaces for retail, cafes, an office lobby, and access to the tower apartments, as well as entrances to the underground parking and bicycle parking. Emphasis has been placed on highlighting this with a subtle material differentiation compared to the rest of the commercial block. The entire base thus appears with a lively and warm corten surface that curves inwards, forming spaces at the recessed entrance areas.

The tower serves as a culmination of the base's façade typology. It is an extension that follows the same principles of materials, texture, rhythm, and composition but is differentiated by the technical, slimmer elements, proportions, and lightness.

In the courtyard, the tower façade is continuous from ground to top. This creates an expressive contrast between the vertical and profiled tower and the green, cosy, and terraced courtyard.

The basic concept for the façade design is an interpretation of the district plan, which addresses the three scales: the city, the local context (neighbourhood), and the street level.

The façades are intended to express the heavy, dark, matte, weathered, and detail-rich characteristics of the original buildings in the area in a modern, rational, efficient, sustainable, and economical manner.

The choice of façade colours, textures, and the rhythm of openings allude to the old buildings, while larger glass sections and thinner vertical and horizontal solid elements create a balanced contrast between the old and the new. Red and dark shades of bricks elegantly complement Carlsberg Byen's palette of building materials and colours.

Given the tower residents' direct views of the neighboring Caroline Hus rooftops, special attention has been devoted to these surfaces. Specifically, on the 3rd and 4th floors facing north, these roofs are primarily equipped with wooden-decked rooftop terraces designed for commercial use. In contrast, other rooftops are embellished with extensive green sedum coverings and equipped with solar panels to the greatest possible extent. Additionally, above the parking garage, there is a green semi-public courtyard.

The thoughtful rooftop design not only enhances the buildings' aesthetic appeal but also offers a more inviting and environmentally conscious alternative to the typical view of traditional rooftops to create a more pleasant and sustainable urban landscape.