This project is about converting a former power transmission into a contemporary exhibition space where the history and the development of Refhalsøen are exhibited. It isn't only about the single design elements but seeing the architecture as a part of a broader context for history, materiality, and the surrounding area. My ambition was to show that you can preserve and restore existing buildings and transform them into a new function rather than demolishing and constructing new ones—the reinterpretation of the existing changes our perception of the atmosphere of the building. So Let us build on the story and show the different layers of architecture.
The building is located at Refhalsøen, one of Copenhagen’s last remaining areas of former industrial production. It is an artificial island and has, in the past, been known for its shipyards. In 2009 the area was opened for public use and now hosts more temporary activities and creative professions. Still, in the long run, the government has planned to expand the island, which will accommodate residential and commercial buildings and will be finished in 2070.
I gathered inspiration and registered the color and material used in the area. They describe the area and atmosphere.
Today's Buildings in our technological world seek timeless perfection. Towards maximum efficiency in construction, processes have led architecture to lose the sense of materiality. By studying the materials, the industrial production, and historical references – gives back the material an atmospheric sense, that we can relate to. We as humans have a mental desire to understand and relate. That's why these materials need to express their age and history and tell us their use.
I used iconography as an analytical method to register the area. Through photography, I investigate and represent the story behind the motive and aim to enhance the spatial concepts and the care of detailing and materiality. The photographs illustrate the details, materiality, and atmosphere in the area. And
demonstrate how the ordinary can contains the extraordinary. - the combinations of materials, colors, and functions, everything looks in a way unorganized, which isn’t the truth. Everything had a function at one point. You can see the history and the environmental effects in the layers of the building and how human use has affected the buildings. It tells a story of the place.
I conducted an investigation of the spatial elements to gain a detailed understanding of the building and understand the problematic issues and inherent characteristics. All these small spatial elements create the industrial atmosphere, and you know that they are placed there only for functional reasons. Which is the identity of the building.
The ambition is to restore and keep the industrial traces of history. That’s why the existing elements play an important role in my project. This isn’t about replacing everything and making the building picture-perfect but about respecting the identity of the building. And at the same, it isn’t about repeating history but reinterpreting the spatial quality and creating new and time-related functions.
Overview of the building's three levels
The rooms are turned into 7 different functions · 5 exhibitions with different focuses
· Entrance room where the future plans are exhibited ·
· Gallery room for photographs of the existing conditions·
· Basement – a dark room with a focus on the light from the openings in the floor- for video exhibition ·
· The two front rooms in the basement is to display the history ·
· Other facilities such as a café and toilets
The assignment was to redesign an existing spatial element. The grid is used for the steel window and floor grate, which I decided to redesign because they are characteristic of the building's identity and history. My fascination with the grid started with window openings. How is it changing in relation to where you are standing. You can clearly see the grid and the repetition as the grid consisted when you are standing in front of it but when you move to the side it changes and closes the holes. It has changing qualities that create a balance between closeness and transparency. Depending on where you are standing it becomes a room divider.
A library of newly added spatial element
The podium for the architectural models · different grid structures such as gallery walls · other built-in furniture.
The selected colors underline the difference between the existing and newly added spatial elements. By introducing other colors, the perception of the space changes reduces the scale and manages to define a more domestic and human space that fits the new purpose of the building.
These are the main elements of the gallery space. Each is created out of the grid principle and adapted to the different spaces’ qualities. The colors underline the difference between what is existing and what is the intervention.
The first room you meet, here is the development exhibited. One of the spatial elements is the beige-colored steel grid wall there runs along the wall, its form is inspired by the effect the grid creates when you move from side to side. When you enter the gallery space the grid covers the exhibition but when you start to move further into the room the grid opens up and you can see the exhibition. The long wall is constructed around the existing spatial element and included in the exhibition. Its form and color underline the length of the room and the light atmosphere. The grid frames create focus on the individual drawings or renderings because the grid isolates them.
Before the transformation, the only way to enter the front rooms in the basement was to remove the floor grate and use a ladder. All the soil is removed and there are now established tile floors and two new openings that connect the rooms. The podium between the concrete columns is for showing large architectural models of the current situation, it's placed underneath the floor grid, so can see through it from the Café.
These grid walls are attended between the existing concrete columns. The grid becomes gallery walls, room dividers, and art installations themselves. Which pushes our perception of exhibition space. The modern view of Gallery spaces is known as the white cube. Most galleries and museums are characterized by their clean walls, minimal architectural detail, and bright natural light. This design becomes a dialogue between history and the future. The white cube doesn’t fit the area’s identity and it is an exhibition of the area. So the grid competes with the exhibition, which is the atmosphere of Refhalsøen, where everything is in a way competing with each other.
The exhibition space is to inform the citizen of the development and make it interesting and understandable. In the entrance room is a largely centered podium, growing from the floor where the models for the developments are exhibited.
There are many openings in the floor surface on the ground level that would have been for either the drainage of fluid produced by the transmission machinery or the ventilation of air. Today they provide this unique lighting effect in the basement. The light penetrates through the openings and throws shadows on the concrete walls.
The floor grid is a solution to preserve the openings in the floor and keep visitors from falling. The green-colored steel grid is laid on the same level as the newly established terracotta tiles and there are attended the existing concrete floors. The largest change in the building is that the existing floor will be replaced with tiles in terracotta whose dimensions complement the grid structures.
The architectural approach reflects on the history and materiality of the building and establishes a new identity.
Previously have the mezzanine deck been used to manage the machines, today you can get an overview from the top to the basement of the exhibition's different layers. The gallery wall in the front room has another grid structure. It is a seamless steel mesh, that gives a lighter and veiled effect. It is supposed to indicate the height of the room. The method of the grid is inspired by historical body armor. It is attached to the ceiling with industrial hooks, that run in a railing installed. To support the idea of a more light and organic look the exhibition material is printed on linen/canvas.
// 2nd master project at KADK