Control Tower - Copenhagen Airport

Client

Naviair
Collaborators

Moe & Brødsgaard A/S
Location

Copenhagen Airport
Area

3,273 m2
Status

Completed in 2005

Infrastructure

Control Tower - Copenhagen Airport

The control tower at Copenhagen Airport was designed to convey a significant expression of high quality. The project comprises three main elements: the flat base building, the 21-storey tower and, at the very top, CAB – ‘the huge eye’, where flight control takes place.

The Control Tower was designed on the basis of some very clear functional criteria. On the one hand, the Control Tower is a closed, secured workplace. On the other hand, it is an outward-looking icon that makes Copenhagen Airport visible to the outside world. The tower can be seen from miles away: a distinguished workplace for the staff, who spend both day and night in it.

The Control Tower features exclusive materials that are appropriate to the location. The 72-metre-high shaft of the tower is cast in concrete. ‘CAB’ and other functions are made of steel with glass cladding.

The air traffic control features have an elaborate tactile feel, characterised by high-quality wooden floors and wooden partitions that occupy the changes in floor level.

The tower is designed with a cross-section like a modified triangle, where the wide side faces the runways, and the narrow side faces the town of Dragør. For safety reasons, the glass on the gondola is faceted. The tower’s 72m height makes it a distinctive point of orientation on the flat island of Amager.

The Control Tower was created on the basis of an invited competition.