The KAB House

Vesterbro, Copenhagen

GOAL no. 3, 11, 12, 15

With its location and architecture, the non-profit housing association KAB’s new headquarters add a distinct urban quality and identity to an overlooked area in Copenhagen on the border between city and railway yard. The untraditional head office is open to the entire city.

Cities in many countries are under pressure from population growth. As the last remaining vacant plots fill up with new-builds, architecture must use the available land in a way that adds to the city by promoting local identity, recreational spaces and biodiversity.

In more than one sense, the KAB House, lies in a border zone. The building occupies a plot owned by the Danish railway services, DSB, sandwiched between one of the oldest and one of the newest neighbourhoods in the city.

Home to 44 housing developments, all part of the KAB, the new building is the daily workplace for the housing association’s 400 employees. However, it is also open to the people of Copenhagen. Everyone is welcome in the building’s café and on its rooftop patio, which overlooks the railway terrain and the surrounding city. Towards the street Enghavevej, there is a small park with reused sporting equipment from a housing organization.

The red bricks match the nearby perimeter blocks, and the buildings pentagonal form opens to the city all the way round, towards the Vesterbro, Jernbanebyen, Sydhavn and Valby districts. The rational layout has allowed the association to go from 12,500 m2 in its former head office to just 7,400 m2 in the new one. This means fewer resources are required for heating and cleaning.

All installations are energy-efficient, and there are solar cells on the roof. The rooftop patio is designed to increase biodiversity in the area, its planting inspired by the wild flora of the railway yard.

This project demonstrates that it is possible to create new-builds that are both environmentally sustainable and add new value for employees, locals and the city at large.

Project details

Where: Enghavevej 81, 2450 Copenhagen SV

Completed: 2021

Client: KAB

Architects and advisors: Henning Larsen, SLA (landscape), Wissenberg (engineer), NIRAS (engineer), 5e (contractor)