Ferring Pharmaceuticals

Illumination on water

A six-storey building that seems to float on water. This is the new headquarters of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company with a worldwide presence specialising in the development of innovative therapeutic treatments. Designed by Foster+Partners, the headquarters arise in a strategic location on the waterfront at the Øresund crossing, not far from Copenhagen International Airport and bordered by the city’s low-rise buildings, enjoying a splendid view of the Swedish coastline and in particular, of Malmö, where the company was founded in 1950.

The building housing the new Danish HQ combines strength and grace, designed to meet the precise needs of those who work therein. A solid foundation provides indispensable protection against possible flooding. Resting on this base is a light, cantilevered structure, dominated by glass and horizontal partitions to stand out against the sky, capturing all the natural light in the surrounds whilst creating self-shading spaces on each of its six floors. In the centre is a large interior atrium topped by a futuristic glass dome, with each individual triple-glazed panel being cold-bent to create a striking form. Light is the great protagonist of the entire building. The natural light that filters not only through the glazing on the façades but also through the dome itself ensures maximum brightness in the interior spaces, such as meeting rooms and common areas. Artificial light, rather, is guaranteed through the installation of various high-performance luminaires from Linea Light Group, capable of perfectly integrating into the environments.

Natural light and artificial light merge sublimely thanks to a carefully-studied lighting design using versatile, high-performance lighting solutions, both indoors and outdoors. Inside the building, embedded in an existing panelled sound-absorbing false ceiling system and requiring customised recessed solutions to be anchored at the top, passing through the false ceiling itself, is the Rollip linear profile installed in three different versions (75x50 mm, 75x100 mm, 170x60 mm), specially made in gloss white with an on-board driver and DALI protocol management. An extent of some 15 kilometres extends along corridors and passageways, also infiltrating the offices and laboratories, ensuring visual comfort and glare control.

Outside, in order to highlight the architecture of the building even in the long nights typical of Northern Europe, the choice fell to the Shaker adjustable floodlights and Portik fixed floodlights, which together create spectacular lighting scenography, further emphasising the sense of the building floating on the water.

In particular, the Portik projectors have been customised with the inclusion of a square plate that serves as a base and is designed to accommodate single or double lighting modules, as well as to conceal the drivers and power cables. These fasteners attach to the rectangular grilles of the façade by means of a threaded bar on the back of the plate, which is welded on for such purpose.

Credits:

Fit-out and lighting design: Studio Foster+Partners

Products: Rollip custom, Shaker, Portik custom

Photo: Nigel Young

Year: 2022