Microsoft Domicile, Denmark | Henning Larsen

The new Microsoft domicile in Denmark forms part of a new attractive urban district in the heart of Lyngby, north of Copenhagen. The district will connect the knowledge-intensive businesses to the research and education community.

In the new 193,750 square feet (18,000 m2) building, Microsoft collocates its Danish sales department and development center and is workplace of 900 employees. The planning of the building stems from Microsoft’s work methodology based on cooperative processes, as described in a 2005 whitepaper by Bill Gates entitled “The New World of Work”. Henning Larsen Architects’ space planners have thus been focusing on creating environments supporting cooperation internally, as well as with clients and partners. This is emphasized through a series of activity-based workspaces of various sizes, from smaller to midsized conference rooms and large auditoriums.

Social “hubs” comprising a kitchenette, lounge furniture, Xbox and table soccer games are centrally located on every floor. Here the employees meet. Thus, the “hub” strengthens the interaction and knowledge sharing across departments. All workplaces are located along the facades of the building in order to ensure optimal daylight conditions throughout the day for every employee.

The building design offers a large degree of flexibility, which makes it suitable for different purposes in the future.

The collocation of the organizations is clearly visible in the architectural design. Two cubic buildings, of six and seven floors respectively, unite in a shared atrium that offers space for social and professional interactions across fields of interest. The atrium holds the shape of the letter V with its arms stretching diagonally up through the building.

The untypical atrium distributes the daylight at the core of the building and ensures a visual dialogue across the floors. The V shape adds to a varied and dynamic experience of the atrium. The top floors are more intimate compared to lower ones thanks to the decreasing of mutual distances. 

Public programs and communal areas such as a café, an auditorium, and pop-up study places offered to the students of the Technical University of Denmark, are located on the lower floors. Throughout the entire process, Microsoft has wished for an open and inviting environment. This is also translated in the layout of the landscape and the almost invisible transition between in- and outdoors.

The building meets the strict requirements of low-energy class 15 and is heated with excess heat. Ventilation of low energy use and a high-efficient cooling system has been applied. The building is installed with three-layered energy windows, climate-/heat ceilings and daylight controlled lighting of low energy consumption. Rainwater is diverted to a green belt, where Lyngby-Taarbæk wishes to open and reestablish a former canal in the future. 

The project marks an important step in the realization of Lyngby-Taarbæk municipality’s visions for making Lyngby one of the leading university cities and centers of knowledge and creativity in Northern Europe.