DAMPA_75_years_of_quiet_design_ENG - Flipbook - Page 86
The period following the launching of the aluminium panel
range saw a world-wide construction boom and sales
across the Nordic region and western Europe more generally grew satisfactorily. In 1957 agents for Dæmpa’s products
had been appointed in Norway, Sweden and Finland, followed in 1958 by an agent in Britain. In 1960, subsidiary
companies were registered in Germany, where Dæmpa
panels had first been sold in 1952, and in the UK. These new
firms, named ‘Dampa GmbH’ and ‘Dampa (UK) Ltd.’ were
the first legal entities to use the brand-name, albeit substituting the Danish letter ‘æ’.
A notable early British project in which Dæmpa metal strip
ceilings were used throughout was Castrol House in London, a 16-storey-high ‘podium and tower’ office block which
the firm of Gollins, Melvin, Ward & Partners designed. The
solution was inspired by Lever House in New York and was
the first in Britain with a glass curtain wall-clad exterior. As
was typical of corporate headquarters for the oil and petrochemicals industry at that time, a generous budget was allocated for the interiors, which were separately designed by
the firm of Casson, Conder & Partners. The foyer contained
an aluminium relief sculptural panel by Geoffrey Clark,
depicting the processes of oil extraction and refining.
Castrol House, London, Gollins, Melvin, Ward & Partners, 1959
Photo: Henk Snoek / RIBA Collections
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