A giant staircase tops the new Red Cross Volunteer House in Copenhagen, designed by architecture studio COBE to double as a public meeting place.
The triangular building is an extension to the Danish Red Cross headquarters. Its tiered roof branches out from the second floor of the old building and steps all the way down to street level, to create what COBE describes as an "urban living room".

"The roof of the building is now the Red Cross' face to the world," said studio founder Dan Stubbergaard. "The building has become an urban space and expresses both generosity and modesty while inviting the outside world in".
"It's a unique meeting place that offers an attractive and inviting space to the many thousands of volunteers and, equally, to passers-by and the rest of the city," he added.
Copenhagen-based COBE won a competition to design the Red Cross Volunteer House in 2013. The brief was to create a facility able to welcome any of Denmark's 34,000 Red Cross volunteers, as well as a new public space for the city.
"With the Red Cross Volunteer House we wanted to create a place that provides optimal settings for the heroes of everyday life – the thousands of volunteers who make an extraordinary effort to help marginalised people," added Stubbergaard.

The structure is designed to fit in with the colours and forms of neighbouring buildings and spaces, from the Fælledparken park, t...