Header: Rasmus Hjortshøj
At the entrance to Odense, where an industrial zone meets the quiet wetlands of Glisholm Lake, a new circular structure marks Denmark’s third-largest city. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the new headquarters for Dymak is a 2,800-square-metre building that functions as both an office and a physical showcase for the company’s product line. It serves as a living catalogue, putting raw, tactile surfaces at the centre of the working environment.
An undulating roof shapes the workspace
The building’s form is defined by an uneven, looping roofline that rises towards the north and drops lower in the south. This geometry is practical: the high northern elevation opens up wide views of the nearby forest, while the lower southern side limits heat from the sun and blocks noise from the adjacent motorway.
Covering this sloping roof are roughly 880 custom photovoltaic panels angled to capture sunlight for on-site energy. The resulting shape resembles a geometric loop that handles climate control, power generation, and sound insulation through its form alone.
Raw materials and natural light
Inside, the building relies on low-carbon materials. The structural framework uses mass timber, complemented by clay tiles, clay mortar, and insulation made from eelgrass. These choices create a raw, earth-toned interior that mirrors Dymak’s own business focus.
The façade is a grid of wood and glass. To manage the indoor temperature without relying entirely on mechanical cooling, a system of vertical fins grows denser on the sunny southern side and opens up towards the north, filtering daylight across the floors.
Visitors enter through a double-height reception space. The ground level contains public and production zones, including a showroom, a photo studio, and a gym. The upper floors house open-plan workspaces, meeting rooms, and quiet lounge areas beneath ceilings made of recycled paper fibres.
The central green amphitheatre
At the centre of the loop lies a sheltered circular courtyard, protected from the noise of the surrounding roads. Hard-fired clay tiles in warm tones flow directly from the indoor floors out into this open-air space, laid in curved patterns that match the building’s geometry.
The courtyard is shaped like a stepped landscape, with broad seating edges connecting different levels. Planted with native trees, white-flowering perennials, grasses, and herbs, this central garden serves as an outdoor hub for staff and visibly changes with the seasons.
A balanced workspace for the future
The Dymak headquarters suggests a different direction for workplace architecture—one where the building itself actively supports the people inside it and the landscape around it. Instead of treating sustainability as an added feature, BIG lets it shape the architecture from the very beginning. The looping roof harvests energy, the timber structure lowers the building’s environmental impact, and the central courtyard gives nature a permanent place at the heart of the workplace. Together, these decisions create an office that feels grounded in its surroundings, proving that commercial architecture can be both environmentally responsible and deeply connected to everyday working life.
Project Information
Project Name: Dymak HQ
Location: Odense, Denmark
Client: Dymak
Collaborators: Cj Group, OBH Gruppen, Henry Jensen, ZERO Engineering
Photography: Rasmus Hjortshøj
Project Team
Partners in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Ole Elkjær-Larsen
Project Manager: Joos Jerne
Project Leader: Lisbet Fritze Trentemøller
Team: Frederik Skou Jensen, Celia de la Osa Muñoz, Emil Westlin, Jakub Kulisa, Laura Watte, Marius Tromholt-Richter, Celina Holck, Christian Rasmussen, Giulia Orlando, Ioannis Mathioudakis, Kamilla Heskje, Narisara Ladawal Schröder, Oliver Steen, Richard Howis, Snorre Nash, Søren Mortensen, Sofia Papadopoulou, Jesper Boye Andersen, Finn Nørkjær, Frederik Lyng, Victor-Antoine Delorme, Lucas Malthe Mikkelsen, Matthew Thomson, Anders Holden Deleuran, Tore Banke, Cosmin Paduaru, Harish Karthick Vijay, Karim Daw, Tim Christensen, Andreas Bak, Jonathan Russell, Andrea Hektor, Alexander Gale Heiede, Jesús Fernández Fraile, Thomas Lejeune, Kannan Selvaraj, Kai-Brith Kalda, Antoine Gisèle Maes
BIG Sustainability Team: Katrine Juul, Will Chuanrui Yu, Sille Foltinger, Pernille Ulgvig Sangvin, Henrik Kania, Jens Max Jensen
BIG Landscape: Giulia Frittoli, Ulla Hornsyld, Anders Fønss, Brian Malig Collado, Alicia De Nobrega, Olivia Ann Egeberg, Sirui Qiu, Ahmed Badra
