Architect/Design
Caruso St John Architects

Location
Copenhagen, Denmark

Opening
2020

Interior
Kvadrat Acoustics solution integrating Freeform Soft Cells panels, NODE system and Kvadrat Shade roller blinds.
Upholstery textiles: Ginger, Field 2 and Divina MD on walls; Zulus on ventilation panels; Toto on the ceiling; Razzle Dazzle and Steelcut Trio on assorted furniture.

Photography 
Brian Buchard

The new office extension at the Copenhagen headquarters of Kvadrat Acoustics retains the spirit of the original interior concept while offering a space for focus and collaboration. It comprises textiles and textile-related products from across the Kvadrat universe in a scale of timeless colours.

As Kvadrat Acoustics has grown, so has the need for an acoustically optimised space, separate from the busy workshop, which facilitates collaboration. The new office meets this challenge while creating an ambience characterised by transparency and light. It comprises four meeting rooms – the largest with double height – and an open process space.

The extension also acts as a showroom by presenting a Kvadrat Acoustics solution to visitors, which integrates Soft Cells on walls and ceilings, a unique balustrade system, and the NODE system. This specification ensures that acoustic conditions are optimised throughout while the ventilation system is completely hidden.

Furthermore, in the largest meeting room, Free-form Soft Cells panels unite to create an eye-catching sculptural element. Elsewhere, they are also seamlessly integrated into doors and screens.

Kvadrat Shade roller blinds and a scale of Kvadrat textiles also shape the experience of the space. Ginger, Field 2, and Divina MD are on the walls, Toto is on the ceiling, and Zulu is on the air ventilation panels. The sofas are upholstered with Razzle Dazzle while Steelcut Trio features on other furniture.

“In designing the new office space for Kvadrat Acoustics, the focus was on showcasing our products and acoustics solutions at their core, emphasizing the classics and elegance of our product design, but with respect to the industrial architecture of the former Pakhus building.

Transparency was key within the architectural design, to flood the deeper spaces with natural light and offer a visual connection with outside from all rooms. An important element to achieving such transparency was through our balustrade design, a simple rope system in tension and anchored around a wheel, a subtle reference to the importance of such processes in Nordhavn’s industrial past as a free port.

Colour via textile is used to define what could be defined as process and collaboration zones, with the main office calling for calm and neutral tones, in contrast to the meeting rooms, where panels are vibrant in color.  Our former space which we outgrew, now has a sole purpose as a practical zone, for research, development and mock-ups, the identity of this space was about craftmanship from spruce, it retains this unique identity.”  Ronan Sean White, Kvadrat Acoustics.