Maritime aesthetics with a royal touch

Harboe is a purveyor to the Royal Court of Denmark. Therefore, it is no coincidence that two royal dragon boats are exhibited prominently at the brewery group’s new visitor centre, while the late Prince Henrik’s last work of art is exhibited on the lawn in front of the entrance.

The building must, however, also reflect an international brand, where the Danish market only accounts for 8 % of the business volume. The meeting facilities and offices have, therefore, been combined with a showroom that conveys the company’s brand and range of products, which, quite naturally, involves a lounge bar.

Maritime look
The new building has been built as an extension to Harboe’s existing head office and brewery at Skælskør Fjord. Here the building appears a distinctive landmark with three gabled roofs that rise up like sails against the water. This is intended as a reference to the building’s maritime exhibition and Harboe’s long-standing association with Danish sailing.

While our design engineers have contributed to the realisation of the unique body of the building, our lighting designers have contributed to clarifying the aesthetics.

“On the promenade along the water, embedded fixtures with non-slip glass have been installed to illuminate the roof projection,” says lighting designer Anni Høy.

Bringing history into the light
Our lighting designers and architects have in particular worked closely together to create the right atmosphere in the exhibition area.

“The exhibition’s distinctive ceiling with its many angles was a very exciting challenge. The solution used to emphasise and accentuate the architecture was to mount narrow LED linear fixtures in all the joints. The linear fixtures were delivered in special lengths, which were carefully calculated based on the digital CAD drawings,” says lighting designer Anni.

Special care has been made to the details. The wall behind the bar consists of tiles with a relief effect, which are highlighted by a narrow linear fixture with RGB accent lights. Last but not least, powerful tiltable downlights have been embedded in the ceiling to highlight the distinguished royal vessels. As Anni concludes, this has been a project a bit out of the ordinary.