Year: 2022
Location: Aarhus
Size: 11.000 m2
Status: in construction
Collaborators: KT Erhvervsbyg A/S
Visualisations: SLETH

Rains’ new HQ is designed as manifestation of how landscape and building correspond with one another. Both in terms of how the building places itself in the landscape – and takes shape of it – and how the landscape places itself into the building, becoming a source of welfare for the employees and guests of the house.

The project creates a living workshop that actively takes part in the urban and natural environment, and at the same time represents Rains’ image and brand in its architecture.

The HQ contributes positively to the development of a new neighborhood north of Aarhus with an outward-facing and active house, located in an impressive landscape with hilltop views. A unified volume with different environments in open connection and with close contact to the Scandinavian climate and landscape.

Located in a meadow landscape, the building takes shape from the outside environment, natural conditions, and sloping terrain. The building itself is based on the open character of the administration building and the logic of the warehouse building, resulting in a hybrid with a high degree of transparency and coherency across the diverse functions – both inside and -out.

The facades react differently to their immediate environment and the functions to which they are linked; open glass facades overlooking the landscape, integrated warehouse and logistic functions, and a green façade acting as a living fence – all unified in a robust steel skin.

An inner courtyard bridges the different facades, functions, and zones across the building and simultaneously functions as an arrival area and focal point for the building’s layout. The courtyard allows daylight to enter the building and creates a distinctive connection between inside and outside, bringing the natural, Scandinavian environment into the very heart of the building. The tactility of green, soil and stone – in combination with recreative elements of excess rainwater – enhances the experience and story of the Scandinavian climate which is aligned with the very core of the Rains brand.