Felleshus / Pan Nordic Building

The Felleshus / Pan Nordic Building, which is open to the public, combines the security, working and representation functions of all five embassies. The house also serves as central passageway to the embassies. The name Felleshus denotes the sense the building imbues and what it is used for - a house for all, a house in which to meet and interact. The Felleshus has an auditorium for concerts, readings, film viewings and conferences, exhibition spaces, conference rooms, a spacious terrace and a Nordic canteen. The facade of the building is panelled with maple wood. The entrance opens up in the form of a centrally placed glass front as high as the building. The glass-roofed entrance hall spans all floors and is flanked by slender columns. On the second floor an extensive exhibition area and the terrace open up. On the next floor is the Nordic canteen. The walls and columns in the Felleshus are made of exposed concrete. Complementing this, the use of maple wood imparts a warm, bright atmosphere. The floor is of light-coloured Swedish marble. The building is the public space for the entire complex and presents a functional, modern and inviting ambience to visitors.

Embassy Complex

Connections between countries and political alliances in Northern Europe have a long history. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden comprise the so-called Nordic Region and have a common representation of interests in the Nordic Council (since 1952) and in the Nordic Council of Ministers (since 1971). After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the German Parliament's resolution to relocate the capital from Bonn to Berlin, the often considered idea of a common Nordic embassy complex was able to be realised. The vision of five national embassy office buildings with one common building open to the public, the Felleshus/Common House, enclosed by a band of copper, corresponded to the fundamental idea of individual freedom, combined with a feeling of unity. The almost 230 metres long and 15 metres broad copper band is the distinguishing feature of the design of Berger and Parkkinen. It consists of approximately 4000 pre-patinated lamellas and gives the complex a unified appearance from the outside. The area inside the copper band, the plaza, is transected by geometric lines. The area within these lines forms the plaza, and the sides of the four intersecting lane strips are defined by the sides of the buildings. The lane strips form streets between the individual embassy buildings. Three water basins between the buildings are an architectural reference to the connecting seas between the Nordic countries. The embassy buildings, in turn, are grouped to correspond to the arrangement of the countries on the map.

The Embassies

The Royal Danish Embassy is the only building to have an open glass facade...(more...)

The facade of the Embassy of Finland with its horizontal slats of larch wood ... (more...)

The Embassy of the Republic of Iceland with its facade of red liparit...(more...)

The 120-tonne granite monolith of the Royal Norwegian Embassy.... (more...)

The Swedish Embassy is open to the plaza with large expanses of glass and limestone from Gotland... (more...)

History

Already in 1952, the five Nordic countries founded the Nordic Council with the aim of political and social cooperation. The idea of a joint project in building the embassies for Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden had also existed for a long time. The resolution to relocate the seat of government from Bonn to Berlin made the realisation possible for the first time, whereas the choice of a common location was contingent on history. In 1996 the first decision was reached in the two-stage architectural competition. The Austrian-Finnish architectural partnership Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen won first prize with its design. Berger and Parkkinen designed the concept as a whole. In addition, Berger and Parkkinen also designed the Felleshus/Common House. In a second phase each of the five countries held national competitions for their embassy buildings. The five ambassadors turned the first spade together at a joint groundbreaking event in May 1997. The construction of the buildings took only 29 months, and the embassies were officially opened in October 1999 in a joint ceremony.