Dezeen Magazine

Dorte Mandrup designs Bestseller Tower, the tallest building in Western Europe

Dorte Mandrup wins approval for tallest tower in western Europe

At 320 metres high, the Bestseller Tower, designed by Danish firm Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter for the small town of Brande in Denmark, will be the tallest in western Europe.

Planning permission was granted for the supertall skyscraper in March 2019, with completion scheduled for 2023.

Bestseller Tower will be taller than the Shard, the 307.5-metre-high tower designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano in London, UK. However it won't beat eastern Europe's tallest building, the 462-metre RMJM-designed Lakhta Centre in St Petersburg, Russia.

Dorte Mandrup designs Bestseller Tower, the tallest building in Western Europe

The skyscraper will hold a hotel, conference space, shops and offices as part of of a "village" complex of buildings that will cluster around its base.

Developer Bestseller is a Danish fashion company headquartered in Brande – population 7,000 – and the brand will have a retail presence on the site.

"The plan is born out of a passion and interest for architecture and a vision of creating a unique building that matches the unique setup of a rethought headquarters," said Anders Krogh, project manager at Bestseller.

As well as its record-breaking height, Bestseller said their aim is to make the skyscraper "climate positive" as part of Bestseller's sustainability drive.

Dorte Mandrup designs Bestseller Tower, the tallest building in Western Europe

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter, along with consulting engineers Ramboll, will be working to design the building in accordance with the DGNB sustainability certification.

"This year, we unveiled plans for a 125 MW solar power plant to cover the entire global energy consumption for our owned and operated buildings, so it’s only natural that we look for sustainable solutions for the project in Brande as well," said Krogh.

"The city council's approval is obviously essential, but we still have a lot of homework to do and much to consider before a project like this can be brought to life."

Dorte Mandrup founded her eponymous practice in 1999. Recent designs for sustainability-focused buildings released by Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter include a climate research centre in Greenland and a centre for the UNESCO-protected Wadden Sea in the Netherlands.