Copenhagen is a modern city filled with historic buildings that trace the memory of all the epoques and events the city has passed through. To preserve and enjoy its historical architecture, it needs refurbishing traditional buildings within modern design, adapting to current trends. Refurbishment allows architects to repurpose existing structures for a new use, preserving its character and history while reducing the environmental impact of new constructions. Walking the streets of Copenhagen means passing by its evolution of architectural styles experiencing medieval, gothic, renaissance, baroque, rococo, neo classical and modernist architecture. The city is known for reviving historical buildings, by combining traditional and modern elements through simple, yet bold, measures. Here follow three of the most outstanding cases of rehabilitation of classic buildings in the city.
‘Postgården‘ transforms a former post office by opening up the building onto the street, and inviting the public inside. The renovation process by ‘Arstiderne Arkitekter’ works with an understanding of the original drawings, to preserve and emphasize the building’s historical features: the revitalization strategy creates a new framework for diverse businesses, showrooms and stores to receive a stream of people each day. ‘Postgården’ is once again bursting with life and activity.
In Copenhagen, refurbishment strategies of unused historical buildings tend to include the addition of contemporary and unexpected architectural features: ‘The Silo‘, part of the North Harbour (Nordhavn) renovation, is a vast post-industrial development currently being adapted by COBE into a new city district thanks to an inside-out transformation. ‘The Silo’ is inhabited (39 single and multi-level apartments, from 73 m² to 305 m² in size with floor heights of up to 7 meters), but also a destination as an urban focal point for the redeveloped Nordhavn area: both the top and lower levels have public access, to ensure a multi-dimensional experience for the various users of the building. The interior is preserved as raw and untouched as possible, whereas the 17-story former grain building’s facade has been reclad with an angular faceted exterior made of galvanized steel. The building’s new overcoat combines roughness and raw beauty: by revitalizing the cities’ industrial heritage, historical traces are discovered and perceived as collectivity treasures.
Since 1926, the ‘Designmuseum‘ has been housed in the former ‘Royal Frederiks Hospital’, one of the finest rococo buildings in the area, built during the reign of King Frederik V (1752-57). Thanks to new exterior display cases, the project opens up the arrival area of the museum, creating a more inviting and transparent setting: the repaved plaza, a new outdoor display case, and a new entrance (through an adjacent café/ticket office/shop), the project creates a public space where visitors and passers-by can experience and explore design through an open sky museum.
In 2023, Copenhagen will be the ‘UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture‘ and the host of the ‘UIA World Congress of Architects’. For more information about historic buildings’ refurbishments, go to VisitCopenhagen
