Optimise the individual elements in relation to daylight

The G-Mark Good Design Award has been awarded for the first stage of the Danish Royal Library Annexe at Copenhagen University’s Amager campus – a building housing part of the Danish official archives. The project extended from concept to detail, including innovative façade design, with the main objective of stopping or restricting the ageing process of historic documents.

Three main architectural elements

The library building consists of three main architectural elements: a heavy, closed storage “box”, an atrium with floating, open borrowing floors, and a light, enclosing, partially transparent climate screen in aluminium and glass. The density of the massive archives vault, which gives the appearance of a secluded treasury in the library, ensures a stable storage climate.

A good storage environment requires stable temperature and humidity. The façade enclosing the archives reduces the impact of the external climate utilising to the principles of passive climate control. The outer layer of the façade consists of a light aluminium sun and rain screen enclosing a ventilated void. The inner layer consists of a heavy, insulated box built in concrete and brick. The solid brick walls enclosing books and other archive material serve as heat and humidity stabilisers and ensure, together with the other construction, a stable indoor climate. The Archive’s main geometry is both horizontally and vertically based on shelving modules and requirements for access.

Drawing daylight deep into the floors

In contrast to the closed archive façades, those enclosing administration and designated borrowing areas are designed to draw daylight deep into the floors and create good visual contact with the surrounding landscape. The double skin façade, with integrated venetian blinds, reflects away unwanted solar heat and filters daylight inside the building. Layering of the façade makes it possible to optimise the individual elements in relation to daylight, sun screening, air changes and thermal value, according to changing user requirements or fluctuating climatic variations. By drawing ventilating air through the façade gap, incoming solar heat is removed before it reaches the interior. Cold radiation in winter is eliminated by pre-heating the façade.

The glass façade at the office and atrium end is a "2+1" façade: from outside an insulating glass unit 6-15-6: with Pilkington Suncool™ Neutral, argon, Pilkington Optifloat™ Clear, and on the inside 6.4 mm Pilkington Optilam™ Clear: Total: Ug/LT/g: 1,0/49/40.
The façade concept ensures a good internal climate with maximum daylight and allows solar energy to be exploited. The aluminium mullion system is constructed of approximately 50 specially designed profiles which, together with matt silver façade panels, give depth and refinement to the façade and thereby the combined architecture.
In the roof over the atrium insulating glass units of following construction have been used: 6-15-6.4, with Pilkington Suncool™ Silver, argon, laminated Pilkington Optilam™ Clear: Total: Ug/LT/g: 1,1/41/27. It is a very effective solar-control solution with outer pane without any discolouration, and a laminated safety glass inner pane, as required by the Danish Building Regulations.

Architects Dissing+Weitling have been awarded an international prize, the G-Mark Good Design Award, by the Japanese G-Mark committee, for the Danish Royal Library building at Amager, Copenhagen.