Photo: Arkitema

The White Facet - multi storey building in Vejle, Denmark 

With its 17 storeys and a total height of 56 meters, The White Facet is the new landmark building for the town of Vejle, joining together the fjord, harbour and town.
Multi storey building is on the increase in Denmark and the architectural firms Arkitema and Westergaard have, in Vejle, designed a tall building, which is quite unlike any other.

The facetted form of the building, with many angles and corners, has inspired the name the White Facet and the unusual geometry of the building has provided a very interesting challenge for COWI, who have been the engineering consultants for the project.

"Multi storey building design is an art mastered by few and when the geometry of the building is the product of architectural freedom, the engineering is even more important. We therefore developed an advanced 3D-model, on the basis of 250,000 mathematical equations, which illustrates the structural loading and hereby made it possible to optimise the structure and dimensions" informs COWI's project manager Jørgen Lykke.
Photo: Thomas Mølvig

No room for failure

When building in height there are also other challenges, to be considered. Everything has to be right first time otherwise it can become a very expensive affair:

"The building has especially demanded very thorough planning, not only during the construction process, but also in relation to subsequent operation and maintenance requirements. It has therefore been a complex balancing act to get the elegant vision for the building design and layout to harmonise with demands for safe and sure solutions. It is a costly affair afterwards, to have to repair something at a height of 56 m" emphasises Jørgen Lykke.

The White Facet has commercial premises on the three lowest floors while the remaining floors are fitted out with 57 owner-occupied flats.