Western Europe’s Tallest Skyscraper to Be Built in the Danish Countryside

This skyscraper is set to rise at 320 meters from the ground — surpassing the Shard’s 306m height in London — and will become the headquarters of Bestseller, a Danish fashion company. But why the countryside? Well, Bestseller intends to give back to Brande’s local community, where it was founded in 1975 by Troels Holch Povlsen and is currently ran by his son, Anders Holch Povlsen. Construction is set to begin this year and is projected to be completed for 2023.

Anders Krogh, the project leader for the Bestseller Tower has stated that this project will benefit Brande’s community as it will put the town on the map, which could potentially attract tourists in the near future. The tower will stand as a unique architectural icon for the brand, but also its residents. The building itself will be Bestseller’s office space but will also offer Brande’s modest 7000-person community a hotel, educational facilities and green retail shops, in hopes to achieve their “climate positive” goals, as well as giving new opportunities for Brande’s residents.

The unconventional setting for this tower is audacious and has hardly gone unnoticed. Trine Kammer, an architect from Aarhus has expressed her concerns about the tower’s impact on the natural rural landscape of the Jutland Peninsula, as the tower will be visible from a 60 km radius. But this project has been met with little opposition, says Morten Dickmann, a local reporter. The question is, do skyscrapers always require an urban context? Rural sprawl is an ongoing trend in several regions across Western Europe and high-density buildings could play in a role in retaining open landscapes.