Bestseller's headquarters win prestigious architecture prize

By

Cajsa Lykke Carlson

Published
Mar 3, 2016

As reported on FashionMag.com in June last year, Danish fashion brand house Bestseller moved into new headquarters in Aarhus, Denmark's second largest city.

The new office measures 21,500 m², is located in Aarhus' harbour and houses 800 Bestseller employees. Now, it has been given the prestigious WAN Commercial Award 2015 from the World Architecture News, the world's biggest news portal for architecture. An unanimous jury chose the Bestseller building as the winner from a number of commercial projects all over the world, including Novo Nordisk HQ by Henning Larsen architects, the Believe in Better Building in London and the Lanserhof Clinic Tegernsee, Münich, by Ingenhoven Architects.

Jury member Kent Jackson from  the American architectural firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, says: “The spaces and the roof terraces are very impressive, a real standout winner”. The jury was also impressed with the building's sustainability credentials - it uses sea-water cooling and solar heating ensuring energy consumption is 50% lower than the minimum requirements stated in the building regulations.

Bestseller's new headquarters is a mix of offices, shared facilities and outdoor spaces.

“This office building by C.F. Møller stands out from the others as a sophisticated response to its context. The strategy of breaking a large volume into linked smaller parts helps to integrate the building into the existing surroundings because the scale of the component parts is sympathetic to the old town nearby,” explains another jury member, Matt Yeoman from London's BuckleyGrayYeoman.

Bestseller's main office is still in Brande and houses 1,500 employees. The company has brands including Jack & Jones, Vero Moda, Vila, Name It and ONLY.