Bestseller Tower, to be built in Brande, a 7,000-person rural town, will be seen for miles. It will be Western Europe’s tallest skyscraper and has been likened to the ‘Eye of Sauron’ from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Last month the local city council approved a 1,049-foot (320-meter) skyscraper that the Danish clothing giant Bestseller hopes to build in the little town of Brande. In comparison, the British Shard is 1,016 feet and the German Commerzbank Tower is 850 feet.
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Skyscraper Almost the Height of the Eifel Tower to be Built in a Tiny Danish Town
Until a local company announced plans to send a 320-metre skyscraper soaring over the surrounding countryside, most people in Denmark had only the faintest idea where Brande even was. Despite the building’s size, Bestseller has not come up against much local opposition. However, Trine Kammer, an architect who lives in Aarhus, but whose boyfriend grew up near Brande, complains that the local paper refuses to publish her objections. “People in Brande are so afraid to criticize Bestseller. It’s like a religion or something,” she says.
But unique architectural projects are often seen as ways of boosting tourism. If that’s true, then visitors may soon be pouring into the small Danish town.
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The Bestseller Company
The Bestseller Tower is designed by Danish star architectural studio Dorte Mandrup. The Bestseller Company was founded in 1975 in Brande by Troels Holch Povlsen. It is now owned by his son, Anders Holch Povlsen, whose wealth Forbes estimates at $7.9 billion. Povlsen is also the single biggest shareholder in the online shopping company Asos.
“Bestseller Tower will be a landmark that places Brande on the map,” said Anders Krogh Vogdrup, head of constructions for Bestseller, to the British paper Guardian after the local council voted the project through last month. He is probably right, A 1,049-foot skyscraper soaring out of the earth isn’t exactly what you’d expect to come across in a corner of rural Denmark.
Want to give something back to the town
“For more than 30 years, we have been very happy to have our home in Brande, and we feel we are a natural part of the local community,” Krogh Vogdrup said when the tower was first announced. The idea is “to give something back to the town.” Construction is expected to begin this year and finish by 2023.
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Surrounded by a flat, rural landscape, Bestseller Tower would be visible from around 40 miles away. Visitors to nearby Legoland as well as those exploring Denmark’s historic roots in Jelling, the royal seat of Harald Bluetooth, will be able to see the country’s latest seat of power towering in the distance.
Approved by the city council
“We are very pleased that the plans have now been approved by the city council and we are extremely proud and humbled by the amount of support our project has received, especially locally. It is important for us to underline that the city council’s approval is merely one of the preliminary steps of a long journey,” Anders Krogh Vogdrup said in a statement.
The plan appears to be popular within the town. “It will undoubtedly be of the greatest significance for the city of Brande, but I do not doubt it will affect the whole of Central Jutland,” said Ib Lauritsen, the mayor of Ikast-Brande, speaking to Danish broadcaster DR.
A landmark
The building is expected to house retail shops for Bestseller’s wide variety of clothing brands, as well as offices and a high-rise hotel with a conference center.
“Bestseller Tower will be a landmark,” Krogh added in his statement. “But it will also function as an architectural attraction benefiting hotel guests, students and other users of the building.”
Skyscraper Almost the Height of the Eifel Tower to be Built in a Tiny Danish Town, written by Tor Kjolberg