Tivoli Hjørnet

This article appeared in the September 2020 issue of ARCHITECT as part of expanded coverage of the 2020 AIA Architecture Awards.

With the death of Henry N. Cobb this March, the office of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners has now lost all three of its original visionary leaders. Yet the firm carries on the intrepid ethos of its founding trio with projects like Tivoli Hjørnet, a mixed-use building in the Danish capital of Copenhagen that simultaneously reflects the city’s history, its progressive outlook, and the design team’s own architectural sensibility.

Combining hospitality and other commercial tenants inside a nearly 100,000-square-foot space, the building is a multifunctional pendant to Copenhagen’s most celebrated recreational attraction: the Tivoli Gardens, the nearly two-century-old fairgrounds. One of the first amusement parks in the world—and an inspiration to Walt Disney, among others—the Gardens create a brief opening in the city’s built fabric. (During the pandemic this spring, the lushly landscaped spaces were repurposed as makeshift kindergarten classrooms.)

PCF&P responded to the significance of the site with a design that feels at once energetic and serene. Launching over a set-back rez-de-chaussée, the building’s long, winding façade (a nod to the city wall that once stood on the site) is marked by the vertical strips of an internal brise-soleil, which gives it an orderly rhythm even as it ranges sinuously around its corner site. Roof decks, thickly planted terra cotta terraces facing the park, and an elaborate evening lighting scheme throughout all make the building appear to bristle with activity, but its simple materials palette of glass and steel keeps it well in line with the Danish Modernist spirit—as well as the spirit of PCF&P itself, still innovative after six decades in practice.

Project Credits
Project: Tivoli Hjørnet
Client/Owner: Tivoli A/S Lars Lars Liebst (CEO), Mogens Ramsløv (COO), Marie Therese Collet (PM), Ruth Roin (MAA)
Architects: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, New York, NY
Design Partner: Ian Bader, FAIA
Project Architect: Christina Nambiar, AIA
Design Team: Randall Holl, AIA, Apisit Thanavuthiporn, Woosang Yoo
Architect of Record: Ramboll Denmark
Interior Designer: René Jasper Thompsen, John Loring
Structural/MEP/Civil Engineer: Ramboll Denmark
Construction Manager: Henrik Diepgen from Hoffmann A/S and Marie Therese Collet from Tivoli A/S
General Contractor: Hoffmann A/S
Landscape Architect: Ramboll Denmark & Tom Knudsen
Lighting Designer: Jesper Kongshaug

Materials and Sources
Acoustical: Rockfon Acoustical Sonar X from Rockfon A/S, Troldtekt Acoustical from Troldstekt Denmark A/S
Building Management Systems: Schneider Electric Denmark
Ceilings: Troldtekt Acoustical from Troldstekt Denmark A/S, Rockfon Acoustical Sonar X from Rockfon A/S, Gyproc Denmark A/S
Concrete: Spæncom Denmark A/S
Flooring: Solid Plank Floors in Oak and Douglas from Dinesen A/S
Glass: Front Glass system - Skandinaviske Glassystem AB, Facade Heliostatic Shading - Art Andersen A/S, Front Window and doors - Bent Pedersen Lunde A/S
Gypsum: Gyproc Denmark A/S
Lighting: Møller Rothe A/S
Paints/Finishes: Dyrup A/S
Windows/Curtainwalls/Doors: Wooden doors from Swedoor Jeld-Wen denmark A/S, Steel doors from Multi-Tek A/S