SIMPLE, CLEAR AND UNPRETENTIOUS

C.F.MØLLER: The architectural firm has designed the extension to the Natural History Museum’s Darwin Centre in London. The centre will become one of London’s most striking buildings – a giant cocoon encased in a glass shell.

In 2001, C.F.Møller won an international competition for the extension of the world famous Natural History Museum in London. The 19,500 m2 building is scheduled for completion in 2009 and will house the museum’s unique collection of 28 million insects and 3 million plants. It will also become an open workplace for more than 250 scientists from all over the world.

“The Darwin Centre will be one of the most striking buildings in London,” says senior architect Tom Danielsen of C.F.Møller. “After prequalification among 58 architectural firms, we won the competition against four other major international players – three British and one Spanish – especially because of the great signal value we attached to the building, which will help brand London as a leader in the museum area.”

C.F.Møller won the competition to design the Darwin Centre in Lon-don, a 19,500 m2 extension of the Natural History Museum. The extension will be shaped like a giant cocoon encased in a glass shell. The museum will open in 2008.

Branding the environment

The firm was founded in 1924 by the late Professor C.F. Møller. In the early 1930s, C.F.Møller gained the assignment to design Denmark’s second university, in Århus, and the firm has kept its headquarters in the town ever since.

“Today a lot more than half of our revenues are generated abroad,” says Danielsen, “but it is still founded on Danish architectural expression. Our work is based on simple, clear and unpretentious ideas, adjusted to the individual project where local or regional characteristics are considered. Today, buildings which add signal value to cities and regions are sought after; buildings which can add branding to the local environment. And it is exactly in this cross-field between functional, aesthetic and spectacular design that we have our strength.”

Comprehensive references

In summer 2006, C.F.Møller was chosen to build a 180 meter building in Malmø, Swe-den. It is an exceptionally prestigious construction, since the high-rise building, together with Malmø’s other striking high-rise building, The Turning Torso, will characterise Malmø’s skyline for decades to come.

C.F.Møller employs over 240 people and is one of Scandinavia’s largest and oldest architectural firms, which in addition to its headquarters in Århus, has regional offices in Copenhagen, Vejle and Aalborg as well as offices abroad in Oslo and London. The firm carries out design, project planning and consultancy for all forms of building and planning assignments: Buildings for education, hospitals, residential buildings, cultural institutions, sports facilities as well as industrial and office buildings.

http://www.cfmoller.com

The cocoon is so enormous that from inside, its full size cannot be viewed from any one point. Its extensive dimensions also give visitors a feeling of the scale of the large collection of insects and plants.

This summer, C.F.Møller won a competition to design the 180 meter high Malmø Tower, which will become the Swedish city’s latest landmark. Malmø has already become known around the world for being home to Scandinavia’s tallest residential building, The Turning Torso. Malmø Tower is being constructed in connection with the development of a large complex of shops, restaurants and residential buildings.