Rethinking the Dormant Shell - Towards an Additive Community of Svanemølle Power Station

Rethinking the Dormant Shell Towards an Additive Community of Svanemølle Power Station

AFGANG 2019 - Aarhus School of Architecture

Students

Stig Fenger & Andreas Angelo Thiis

Tutor

Robert B. Trempe Jr.

Table of contents

Problem formulation

4

Context and site analysis

17

Building analysis

32

Set of values

70

Case studies

72

Concept development

78

Design development

85

Image on front cover: Image 01: Svanemølle Power Station 3

Image 02: Svanemølle Power Station seen from The Northern Harbor

Problem formulation Image of Intent The drawing is a construction of desires, opportunities, and potentials hidden within the perception of Svanemølle Power Station as a dormant shell, waiting to be activated.

Developed immediately after the first site visit prior to writing the problem formulation, the key elements of the thesis are collecvted in this drawing.

Using a mesh generated by photogrammetry of a facade, the plan of column distribution in black and a section in white, the emphasis and articulation of these three aspects of the building stand out as the points of departure for the building analysis to come.

The curtain acts as the welcoming buffer between past, present and the future, and was added due to an anomaly in the mesh generation. The drawing is therefore an allegory of the approach towards understanding the building’s logic, ultimately to ask the question: what does the building want?

Rethinking the Dormant Shell

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Image 03: Image of intent

Image 04: Svanemølle Power Station seen from Svanemølle Train Station

Introduction The project seeks to investigate an existing dormant structure and the potentials that lie within, waiting to be activated. Like a seed remaining dormant until spring. Additive and subtractive aspects seek to explore tectonic methods to deploy in the existing framework of the power station.

The building should function as an organism of different lives, coexisting within one infrastructure.

“For if the intervention is to find its place, it must make us see what already exists in a new light. We throw a stone into the water. Sand swirls up and settles again. The stir was necessary. The stone has found its place.

But the pond is no longer the same.”

- Peter Zumthor 1 This project addresses the notion of rethinking an existing structure. The station is a rooted and integrated part of the area, and as such a building type it holds significant potential and identity as a construct of its surrounding context and culture. With the location and history of Svanemølle Power Station it should be committed to give back to the city of Copenhagen.

Driver, position, concept Throughout the thesis, these three notions will be used continuously to reconcile the purposes of each paragraph.

The notion driver relates to the project by which means, methods and essential values we seek to complete the tasks at hand. Position is the synthesis of any political, economical and/or ideological issues that the project addresses. The concept is closely related to the actual architecture, driven and positioned by the above-mentioned notions.

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Rethinking//to think about again. Syn.: reconsider, readdress, reevaluate, reexamine, re-explore Dormant//temporarily in abeyance yet capable of being activated. Syn.: asleep, inactive Shell//a framework or exterior structure. Syn.: case, housing, hull Towards//along a course leading to. Syn.: concerning, regarding, aiming for Additive//of, relating to, or characterized by addition.

Syn.: accumulative, aggregated Community// an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location. Syn.: neighborhood, communal, collective, collaborative [1] Zumthor, P. and Oberli-Turner, M. (1998). Thinking architecture. Baden: L. Müller. pp. 17-18

Image 05: Visualization: vision for The Northern Harbor 2050. Svanemølle Power Station is seen in the foreground.

Site, context & history2 Svanemølle Power Station was built in 1953, on The Northern Harbor in Copenhagen close to the city, and has been partially empty since the mid 1980’s. The Svanemølle Power Station, designed by architect Louis Hygom, finished construction in 1953 and currently supplies the northern part of Copenhagen with power and district heating. A marina, the largest in Denmark, occupies the smaller harbor west of Kalkbrænderihavnen.

The marina, the bay in which it is located, and the power station are all named after a characteristic mill that burned in 1892, “Svanemøllen”.

The Northern Harbor is located north of central Copenhagen, hence its name, and originates from the late 1800s and began its gradual expansion alongside the industrialization in Denmark.

The inner area of The Northern Harbor was made through a containment of the harbor, and subsequent constructed piers to accommodate the increasing demand for a growing industry and ship traffic.

A free port was established in the 1890s on the inside of Langelinie as a result of the German decision to create a canal between Kiel and The Elbe to connect Hamburg with the Baltic Sea. A free port in Copenhagen would maintain the transit-trade through the city in an increasingly competitive market and so the harbor was equipped with modern buildings and cranes.

Through the 1920s up until 1931 a number of piers and basins were constructed to shape the area closer to how it looks today.

Kalkbrænderihavnen is part of the harbor area west-northwest of Nordbassinet, Kronløbsbassinet and Orientbassinet and is named after a lime kiln established in 1731 and a new from 1779. This area was taken into use in 1895 along with the free port and served as storage for coal and building materials.

The Northern Harbour and the immediate surroundings of Svanemølle Power Station have, due to their location near water, always been suitable for industrial functions where transportation of heavy goods could be carried out via ship or the nearby train tracks.

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[2] Nordhavnen.dk.

(2019). Nordhavns historie. nordhavnen.dk/ oplev+nordhavnen/nhhistorie.aspx [3 Feb. 2019] [2] Nordhavnen.dk. (2019).

Strategien. nordhavnen. dk/fra+vision+til+bydel/ processen+hidtil/strategien. aspx [3 Feb. 2019]

Image 06: Copenhagen 1500 Image 07: Copenhagen 2050

Image 08: superimposed

Master planning3 In 2008 an open international competition for a master plan of the development and expansion of The Northern Harbor was put forth.

The area is expected to be underway in 40 to 50 years growing from Marmormolen to Aarhusgadekvarteret to Kalkbrænderihavnen and Svanemøllehavnen and stretching north-northeast into the strait of Øresund. As with any contemporary building and urban planning projects, there is a challenge of being culturally anchored in the historical grain.

“If a work of architecture speaks only of contemporary trends and sophisticated visions without triggering vibrations in its place, this work is not anchored in its site, and I miss the specific gravity of the ground it stands on.”

- Peter Zumthor 4 The current proposal for expansion of Copenhagen is to add land masses in conjunction with the north-east part of The Northern Harbour, and in addition creating an entirely new island with gravel, sand, concrete etc. named Lynetteholmen. Alternate strategies are interesting to examine, given the required resources to create such land masses half a century into the future.

In connection to the notions of heritage and history, there is the concept of re-purposing existing buildings in the city. Given the pragmatic circumstances of The Northern Harbor as an industrial site, buildings are adapted to that and will serve a specific purpose. Through technological advancements, industrial machinery has become more efficient and significantly smaller in size. This can leave buildings as dormant shells, i.e. with the potential of facilitating housing or cultural activities.

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[3] Nordhavnen.dk. (2019).

Nordhavnen. nordhavnen. dk/presse/nyheder/2009/ maske+verdens+bedste+masterplan.aspx [3 Feb. 2019]

[4] Zumthor, P. and OberliTurner, M. (1998). Thinking architecture. Baden: L. Müller. p. 37

Image 09: Svanemølle Power Station

Impetus The project will be an investigation into a given situation, a dormant shell, and how this is best utilized to activate the inherent potential of it. The project will analyze the existing building of the Svanemølle Power Station, its situation and context to ask of it what to become and how to evolve.

Architecture forms a vital link between people and their surroundings. It acts as a gentle buffer between the fragility of human existence and the vast world outside.

- Kengo Kuma 5 The project aims to use cultural and artistic aspects as the catalyst for more purposeful dwelling types in Copenhagen, activating the potentials in a dormant shell. In doing so, it will also address the currently discussed plans for the building of Svanemølle Power Station to contain cultural activity, which is part of the strategy of the masterplan from 2008.

Given the diversity of the built volumes of the power station, these require certain programmatic and tectonic transformation approaches. The project will examine the power station and to what extent it is a suitable case to deploy housing, allowing building volumes to be removed according to the set of values established after the building analysis. Spatial constraints, such as the depths of spaces and geographical orientation, will in terms of lighting qualities depict to what extent those spaces are suitable for living.

While the requirements for offices, housing and cultural spaces differ, rethinking the way we live and work will be a focus of the investigations.

Tectonically, as part of the transformation process, removing building volumes will leave traces of what was once there. With a shift in materiality, form or technique, the building’s story of what it once was should be told in its own language.

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[5] Kuma, K. and Daniell, T. (2015). Natural architecture.

London: Architectural Association Publications. p 14

Urbanization in Copenhagen Urbanization is a global tendency, and in 2007 the balance between inhabitants living in rural areas or in cities shifted, meaning more than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities. It is furthermore estimated that the number of people living in cities globally will rise from 3.9 billion to 6.4 billion by 2050. In other words, two thirds of the world’s population will move to the cities, and those numbers also apply to Denmark.6 Being prepared for a growth in the population does not necessarily mean expansion of the city’s area, since people must move to the city for a reason, e.g. living centrally, or close to their work. Adding new land masses eventually changes the definition of living “in the city”.

Currently, Denmark is among the ten least urbanized countries in EU, but at the same time among the countries with the highest urban growth rates. Four larger cities in Denmark have experienced a rising number of inhabitants in this decade, with a growth rate of more than 10% between 2010 and 2017.

This data has inspired the scope of this project, where housing should play an essential role in the development of Copenhagen, alongside the addition of cultural attractors. Re-purposing existing buildings, other dormant shells, in cities is an approach that could prove beneficial in order to keep up with urbanization in Denmark. If pursued concurrently while expanding a city with new buildings, the identity of a given city can be maintained and avoid alienation from its original architectures, effectively hinging transitions in the city from historic areas and the future perimeters.

“Buildings and towns enable us to structure, understand and remember the shapeless flow of reality and, ultimately, to recognize and remember who we are.”

- Juhani Pallasmaa 7

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[6] Faktalink. (2019). Urbanisering. faktalink.dk/urbanisering [3 Feb. 2019] [7] Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The eyes of the skin. Chichester: Wiley. p. 76

Image 10: Plan, Svanemølle Power Station, 1963

Tectonic and programmatic driver The main drivers for the project can be narrowed down to 1) a programmatic driver that is an outside-in approach, progressively zooming in from site analysis to building analysis, and 2), a tectonic driver that solves the larger issues of the building beginning with a detail, e.g. the transition in materials between existing building and transformed result.

Using both approaches concurrently will combine the benefits from each and eventually find a balance according to the interests and intentions with this project. Given the differences between these two types of drivers, choosing one over the other before the analysis begins could exclude important information. It will prove crucial to the quality of the initial analysis to maintain an open-mindedness and avoid any biased attitude toward completing the tasks at hand.

Programmatically, the building is divided into smaller entities, solved individually while remaining connected to the building as a whole.

For example, the history of the building’s industrial purposes, both exterior and interior, may inform to what extent a space is suited for housing or cultural activities. Similarly, the existing materiality and sizes of spaces not only inform, but also constrain, certain tectonic solutions to be either housing or e.g. exhibition space.

Image 11: Plan, offices, 1955

Image 12: Plan, turbine hall, 1955

Image 13: Plan, boiler plant, 1955 10

Project development phases Phase 01: problem formulation This phase consists of the initial investigations into the project through reading and writing. The possibilities of the title are explored through rhetorics and elaborated on how the project will unfold throughout the semester. By meticulously choosing each word for the title of this thesis, it serves as the framework for the problem formulation. Through reading and re-writing phrases in selected books about architectural topics in relation to the title, specific quotes of interest will be reconciled, if possible, with the topics of the thesis. This way, the most central aspects of the project are conveyed through the author’s integrity and credibility. This approach seeks to both narrow down what the essentials in the problem formulation should be, and at the same time open up for new aspects to be explored.

Phase 02: Site Analysis Analysis of the site will be executed through explorations of the site of Svanemølle Power Station, from the greater context of Østerbro and The Northern Harbor to the closer proximity of the building itself.

Investigations will be done through a fan of supplementing methods.

The proposed master plan from 2008 envisions a future developed urban area, a new district in the city of Copenhagen, transforming and expanding upon The Northern Harbor. It will grow and develop from the quarters closest to the city, Marmormolen and Aarhusgadekvarteret, and continue north-east into the strait of Øresund. The strategy of the area is developed through six main themes; islets and canals, identity and cultural trace, a “five minute city”, blue and green city, CO2 friendly city and an “intelligent grid”.

“Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society.”

- Peter Zumthor 8 11

Images 14, 15, 16: Svanemølle Power Station [8] Zumthor, P. and Oberli-Turner, M. (1998). Thinking architecture. Baden: L. Müller. p. 26

Therefore, the transformation of Svanemølle Power Station should also propose new and flexible ways of habitation.

The significance of identity and cultural trace in the proposed vision is of particular importance considering the title; Rethinking the Dormant Shell Towards an Additive Community of Svanemølle Power Station. The title suggests a utilization and activation of the dormant structure. Located on the harbor are numerous industrial buildings with varying degrees of cultural traces and importance. To enrich the area as part of the strategy these should be identified and utilized for their individual potential in the development of the harbor’s masterplan.

By og Havn, the governmental department in charge of the development of Svanemølle Power Station owns the plot on which the building sits. The plot is currently leased to the company Ørsted supplying the northern part of Copenhagen with power and district heating. Through an agreed early termination of the lease, By og Havn is looking into the building with the scope of creating the framework for cultural activities in the future.

Image 17: Svanemølle Power Station with the underpass in the foreground

The location of Svanemølle Power Station, right across from Kalkbrænderihavnen, sits on the cusp of the inner city fabric of Østerbro and that of the new harbor area to come. It has been supplied through the harbor to serve the city itself: It belongs to both the city and the industry of the harbor.

As part of the transformation process, Svanemølle Power Station will to a larger degree than today, be connected to the north eastern parts of Østerbro and the marina, as to engage its immediate surroundings.

Currently the dangers of approaching the power station when it is in use are too great, hence it is both guarded and cut off from the public by its surrounding wall and the train tracks along Kalkbrænderihavnsgade.

Phase 03: Building Analysis The building analysis is done as an important part of the process to comprehend the built environment into which additions and changes are introduced.

The plot of Svanemølle Power Station occupies the majority of a small pier between Kalkbrænderihavnen to the east and Svanemøllehavnen north-northwest. The power station itself takes up approximately half of the plot closest to the city. Towards the sea lies the old coal yard that used to fuel the station. The yards surrounding the power station lie mostly empty when not used as storage for boats from the neighboring marina.

Before 1985 the power station was operating on coal shipped from afar, offloaded on the dock and stored in the yard before fueling the machinery.

Since then, the station has been modified to operate on biofuel, arriving to the kettles and turbines through pipes from The North Sea. The overall structure of the power station is divided in three building volumes ascending from the main entrance. Towards the main entrance at the intersection of Lautrupsgade and Kalkbrænderihavnsgade lies the first volume occupied by offices, flanked by buildings for high voltage electricity distribution and various smaller functions enclosing a courtyard.

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The second volume houses the turbine hall and the third, facing the coal yard, a boiler plant and workshops. The three characteristic chimneys sit on top of the third and largest volume, above the boiler plant.

The building analysis is fundamental for the exploration of possibilities in terms of adding new building elements to the building’s interior. Since it technically is a concrete building, clad with bricks, there are aspects to explore in terms of how well concrete walls and slabs can be altered, while the brick walls appeal to atmospheres and materiality. Also, the current interior building principles, e.g. column-slab construction, will determine certain levels of freedom when adding material on the interior.

Image 18: Svanemølle Power Station east facade

The set of values As a transformation project depicts, some parts of the existing building will be left as is, while other parts are altered or completely removed.

Determining these categories are crucial aspects of the building analysis.

This analysis will be carried out and concluded as early as possible, so as to function as a guideline throughout the project rather than an ever-changing list of priorities. It will be referred to as the set of values.

Analyzing the structure of Svanemølle Power Station in plan and section from the original set of drawings is, first of all, an essential part of understanding the built spaces. The spaces in the building have served distinct and specific industrial purposes, meaning each one is designed to that particular original task. Deciphering the thoughts behind such a plan or section should inform the design phase as to which parameters the building is built upon and which parameters are more flexible and suitable for a transformative space.

The key parameters make up the set of values, the analysis-driven guide that informs the transformation. When discussing whether parts of the building are worth preserving or not, it is important to note that this discussion includes both the physically present building materials and the intangible aspects, e.g. atmospheres, lighting, acoustics, views. All factors are fragments of the whole and only evident as a result of the tangible.

“His [Alvar Aalto’s, red.] elaborate surface textures and details, crafted for the hand, invite the sense of touch and create an atmosphere of intimacy and warmth.”

- Juhani Pallasmaa 9

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[9] Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The eyes of the skin. Chichester: Wiley. p. 76

Phase 04: Case Studies Case studies will be carefully selected for particular relevance to the project, and will be carried out both on and off-site, meaning studio work combined with site visits. Investigating buildings with similar traits as Svanemølle Power Station and the topics of this thesis, is a way to gather knowledge of similar situations already carried out. In addition, these buildings are the results of the city’s history and reciprocally redefining its urban context.

They are chosen based on relevance to this thesis, and will address different scales and aspects.

“These buildings appear to be anchored firmly in the ground. They make the impression of being a self-evident part of their surroundings and they seem to be saying: “I am as you see me and I belong here.”

- Peter Zumthor 10

Investigating Nordkraft’s transformation will prove useful in terms of possibilities for large open spaces, and the reusing or disposing of existing machinery, artifacts etc. to convey a certain story of its past. Furthermore, the building has impacted its surroundings with its diverse cultural functions.

The construction of Battersea Power Station, London, was completed in the 1950’s has not been in use since Fall 1983 and subsequently been the subject of several redevelopment proposals, including a theme park and a corporate headquarter. It is currently being transformed into a combination of housing and public spaces.

The transformation of Tate Modern, London, proves a point of possibilities in re-purposing dormant industrial buildings by giving them a new and different programme. Instead of energy leaving the building, a concentration of culture, identity and commerce flows in and out of it.

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Image 19: Nordkraft in use, Aalborg 1960-1980 Image 20: Battersea Power Station: Pink Floyd’s ‘Animals’ album cover [10] Zumthor, P. and Oberli-Turner, M. (1998).

Thinking architecture. Baden: L. Müller. pp. 17-18

Image 21: Svanemølle Power Station from west

Phase 05: Concept Development Referring to the previous definitions of driver, position, concept, the latter heavily relies on the aspects for “driver” and “position”. With the current title it is given that the concept is by which means the dormant shell is re-activated. In this sense, the concept is to deploy cultural activities as a catalyst for purposeful housing in Svanemølle Power Station.

Investigations from the site and the building itself will provide answers as to how the existing building engages its surroundings. The different individuals, or actors, in the vicinity, both in Østerbro and on The Northern Harbor have their own identities. With Svanemølle Power Station acting as a hinge between these two areas, the future inhabitants of the building will be affected by those. Therefore a highly diverse community supplementing its surroundings.

The physical and architectural traits of the concept will be driven partly by pragmatic issues, such as construction principles determining finite cell sizes for apartments, or whether they can be more flexible and to a higher degree tailored for specific purposes. Secondly, the concept will partly be the result of the early stage determinations, the set of values, of which parts of the building are found to be worth preserving, and which are more likely to be altered.

Phase 06: Design Development In the design development phase, the integrity of the concept will be applied in different scales. Given the relatively large size of Svanemølle Power Station, the project will be marked by shifts in resolution according to each aspect of the design proposal. Particular areas will be developed mainly through tectonic approaches, while others will be driven by programmatic aspects. Ultimately, the investigations seek to re-activate the dormant shell, as one common entity, through adaptable solutions in current and ever-changing housing types while staying firmly rooted in its site, reminiscing its history and embracing its future.

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Image 22: Svanemølle Power Station from east

Image 23: Svanemølle Power Station seen from Aarhusgadekvarteret

Summarization Rethinking the Dormant Shell will seek to activate the dormant potentials of Svanemølle Power Station. The contexts of the building, both physically and culturally, will provide guidelines on how to engage with these and become a hinge between its surrounding areas. The driver will address the methods of how the project will operate, using a combination of technical and expressive drawings towards understand the programmatic and tectonic approaches to the transformation. The position relates to the synthesis of political, economical and/or ideological aspects of interest regarding preservation of the building’s physical framework and its intangible legacy.

The concept is the clear architectural idea, triggered by the process of the driver and position, as a symbiotic response to these. These three notions will be addressed continuously throughout the project.

How different people choose to build connections in their environment essentially defines those societies and their relationships to conditions around them.

- Kengo Kuma 13 Ultimately, the project will investigate to what extent the vacant structure of the power station is a possible solution to address the future of dwelling and the containment of cultural activity to coexist. The tectonic and programmatic approaches of the project will be in mutual dialogue to address the architectural transformation of the power station.

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[13] Kuma, K. and Daniell, T. (2015). Natural architecture.

London: Architectural Association Publications. p 14

Site analysis: desires Investigating the site of Svanemølle Power Station gives an impression of an industrial site with a legacy dating back to when coal-fueled power stations were the standard source of energy. The building was designed to work as a machine, and the site around it no less of a machine: the neighboring dock on the Northern Harbor on the east is equipped with two large scale cranes, and the Polish coal ships can dock only few meters from the building’s east facade.

The coal yard to the north is left empty in the summer month and used for boat storage in the winter. The marina has in a sense found a way to integrate with the dormant areas around the building, but safety measures ensure a certain threshold between the marina and the power station’s ground floor.

This drawing illustrates the initial desires and potentials that arose when mapping out the building’s immediate surroundings. It stands clear that the building’s integrity is firmly rooted in an industrial and maritime context.

Site Vibrations

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Image 24: Site Vibrations

Context plan The context plan illustrates the transformed building in its context, with the newly established connection to Østerbro via Løgstørgade, the current situation on The Northern Harbor and a rearrangement of the football fields. The axis is made from leftover bricks from the transformation, and the greenery is a continuation of the use of trees and bushes on Strandboulevarden.

Image 25: context plan 18

City structure Current buildings in Copenhagen

Mapping: City structure These simplified maps of built footprints in the area suggest certain urban typologies. The inner city southwest of the site is occupied mainly by the Copenhagen city block structure, compared to singular parcel housing north, and open industrial area west on the current Northern Harbor. The new masterplan from 2008 for The Northern Harbor suggests a modern city grid of a different urban character than the inner city.

These investigations have led to the understanding of Svanemølle Power Station’s location as being in-between several different urban cityscapes. This means that the transformation should be informed by the characteristics of both parcel housing, city block structure, industrial functionalism and large scale urban planning. Particularly the connection to Østerbro, via Løgstørgade, and building structure with a central courtyard derive from these observations.

Image 26: Svanemølle Power Station seen from The Northern Harbor

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City structure The proposed grid for the master plan that differs from the traditional city centre

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Infrastructure Infrastructure illustrating the varying accessibility in Copenhagen

Mapping: infrastructure and green spaces The map of infrastructure shows Svanemølle Power Station on the outside of the threshold of the train tracks compared to the inner city.

The metroline, connecting the masterplan of The Northern Harbor to the inner city close to the power station, is shown with a white line to illustrate the large scale approach in order to connect the future city areas.

Green areas are currently a part of the urban fabric of the city, and are as well in the masterplan for the new Northern Harbor. The local plan for the area of the power station also addresses this, and so too will the design proposal for the transformation of the building and site.

A significant difference between the historic center of Copenhagen and the masterplan proposal for The Northern Harbor is the placement of greenery. Traditionally, green areas were “pockets” or courtyards of smaller green areas, suitable for parks or gardens for entire blocks. The masterplan here proposes a green perimeter towards the sea, acting as buffer between the urban landscape and the coast. In the transformation of Svanemølle Power Station, the approach to adding green courtyards or gardens, instead of perimeters, is influenced by this observation, as it marks a shift between tradition and the future urban context.

Image 27: Svanemølle Power Station seen from the football fields

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Green areas Greenry within the city core versus the periphery

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Low rise city scape Buildings that are 1-3 storeys tall

Mapping: City scape The mid rise city scape on the first map indicates the “city core”, named by the municipality of Copenhagen, southwest of the site. This is compared to the “low rise” city scape of the northern part of the city northwest of the site. Svanemølle Power Station sits in the intersection of urban Østerbro, suburban Hellerup and the current industrial Northern Harbor undergoing urban development.

In relation to the previous page, these observations inform the transformation of the power station regarding the larger scale urban approaches. Identifying the building’s immediate context plays a central part in the determination of its future. The location of the power station illustrates a possibility, if not a necessity, for it to become a hinge between these urban areas. This is considered part of the transformation process in terms of building height, programme, type of residents and the storytelling of the building’s and site’s history as an industrial complex.

Image 28: Svanemølle Power Station seen from “Svaneknoppen”

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Mid rise city scape Buildings that are 3-6 storeys tall

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Current harbor programme Recreational, commercial, industry, residential, cultural purposes White are the only currently buildings repurposed for cultural programme

Mapping: Building types The map of the current harbor programme illustrates the context on The Northern Harbor and what programme occupies which buildings. Beige is office buildings, blue residential, red industry and white are the only industrial buildings re-used for cultural purposes.

The map of preservable buildings shows blue as listed buildings and darker red as the highest level of preservability at 1-3, orange is level 4-6 and beige is 7-9, evaluated by ‘Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen’. The preservable buildings, as part of the finer inner city fabric, also expresses the industrial boundary of the train tracks.

Svanemølle Power Station is currently not listed or marked as suitable for re-using for cultural purposes. Given the currently developing proposal as the new Dansk Teknisk museum (instead of the one in Helsingør), the official category will most likely be re-used for cultural purposes. This thesis will therefore discuss and establish, in the Set of Values, which parts and aspects of the current power station are worth preserving and where the transformation will benefit from removing building volumes, part, machinery etc.

Image 29: Svanemølle Power Station seen from The Northern Harbor

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Preservable buildings Blue: listed, red: highest preservability is 1, lowest is 9

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Recommendation Svanemølle Power Station should be connected to Østerbro via the already existing underpass across the train tracks

Image 30: Svanemølle Power Station seen from Løgstørgade

Thresholds and urban spaces The mapping illustrates the various local plans surrounding the power station, where the train tracks mark the urban boundary towards the historic industrial harbor areas. The local plan of the marina, dating back to 1996, calls for recreational purposes, supplying the marina with the necessary facilities. This should be done while maintaining the aesthetic qualities of the area and coastal landscape, publicly accessible promenades and green areas.

The exterior expression of the power station is addressed, in the local plan 282 for Copenhagen, to be corresponding with the surroundings and character of the site. It is mentioned, for example, to be done specifically in brick or wood in darker tones, to supplement the current red and earthly tones. Other materials can be accepted if they provide particular architectural qualities. Given the time in which this was decided and The Northern Harbor’s future development strategies, the material choices for the transformation will be informed, but not restricted, by this local plan.

The urban axis running diagonally through Østerbro along Løgstørgade is currently not present across the sports fields, but is close to perfectly centered on the Power Station’s own central axis. On this axis, intersecting the train tracks, an old service and maintenance underpass should be re-opened as an underpass to connect the areas across the barrier of the train tracks. This is proposed in the context plan (page 18).

Thresholds and urban spaces Axes through the site and the building indicate new arrivals

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Image 31: Svanemølle Power Station seen from Ved Sporsløjfen

Infrastructure and connections The accessibility to the site is obstructed by the train track and the larger road of Strandvænget, running north-south of the power station.

Public transport via train allows accessibility through the train station “Svanemøllen”, west of the power station, as well as one further south called “Nordhavn Station”. On the western border of the tracks lies a path for such traffic between the tracks and sports fields.

Therefore, beside a more direct connection to Svanemølle Power Station from Østerbro, the path along the train tracks will benefit from more intersections to facilitate a more active flow of pedestrians in the future.

Infrastructure and connections Points of interest in terms of where to cross the train tracks

Svanemøllen

25m

25m

Svanemølle Marina

25m

25m

Svanemøllen Station

25m

25m

25m

25m

Svanemøllehallen

Paustian

Kalkbrænderihavnen

Gasværkgrunden Sundmolen

Østre Gasværk Theater

Aarhusgadekvarteret

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Image 32, 33: Svanemølle Power Station seen from Ved Sporsløjfen

Programme and urban fabric The mapping addresses three different types of urban structure found in the context. The urban condition of Østerbro, southwest of the power station consists mainly of city blocks with an inner courtyard. The underlying blue color indicates the defined “city core” by the municipality, roughly between 3 and 6 storeyed buildings. The current mainly industrial area of The Northern Harbor, east of the site as defined industrial zone, is an more open area. It consists of singular larger, but fewer, structures compared to Østerbro. The suburban Hellerup northwest of the site consists of green areas and parcel houses, each with their own garden.

The darker orange underlying this suburb indicates an area defined as “low rise” city scape corresponding to the singular housing typology, roughly 1-3 storeyed buildings.

The city programme of these areas corresponds to their setting as the urban holds institutions such as daycare and schools, a variety of supermarkets and some cultural institutions and attractions as well as sports facilities. So in addition to mapping out types of buildings, in order to respond to that architecturally, the functions of the buildings are noted too. Practically, this means that the transformation of the power station should not feature functions that are redundantly available in its surroundings already.

Programme and urban fabric Mapping the adjacent buildings’ functions and purposes

Industry Culture

Winter swimming guild

Industry

Café Offices

Offices

Café

Offices

Offices

Industry

Industry Industry Industry Amateur sailing club Parking

Rowing club Rowing club

Offices

Rowing club

Train station

Offices

Students rowing union Sailing school

Parking

Offices Supermarket

Industry

Restaurant

Youth center

Sports facility Culture

Offices

Rowing club

School

Offices

Offices Daycare

Offices Soccer and tennis club

Offices Paustian

Offices

Industry

After school care Youth center

Tennis facility

Tennis courts

Restaurant

Offices Offices

After school care Skating rink Kindergarten

Parking

Soccer fields Soccer fields

Offices Offices Offices

School

Offices

Soccer fields School

Soccer fields

Daycare

Offices Offices

Offices Church

Soccer fields Offices Offices Offices

Supermarket

Culture

Offices

Offices

Offices

Offices

Offices

Offices

Offices

School

Bakery Café

Offices Kindergarden

Supermarket

Daycare

Parking

Kindergarden Offices

Culture

Supermarket

OfficesOffices

Offices Offices Offices Offices OfficesOffices

Café Café

Supermarket

Supermarket

Culture

Offices Supermarket

Train station

25

1:2000

Recommendation The transformation of Svanemølle Power Station should take its point of departure based on the building’s context, history and architectural qualities, rather than forcing new programmes

Patching the urban fabric When working with larger fields in an urban context, condensing the building clusters into less defined, more abstract shapes can help determining their role in defining the site around Svanemølle Power Station. This simplification transitions the jumps in scale and allows for a more free interpretation of the areas that make up the city. Instead of focusing on the actual sizes and boundaries, but articulating the effects and impacts of the given area, the atmospheres, settings and qualities are taken further into the analysis. Manipulating the finite sizes also allows for an expressive reconstruction of the areas, defining the initial desires for the site. Desires that are based on qualities in the current context, re-purposed for the future.

Svanemølle Power Station as a hinge The notion of a hinge has connotations in line with the functional pivot points on a door, a hatch, a window etc. That is, parts that are connected on 1) a stationary, sturdy, grounded object or a wall, and 2), an object that is mobile, pivoting around one point but not able to rotate 360 degrees.

According to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, hinge can mean the following: 1) “a jointed flexible device on which a door, lid or other swinging part turns”, and 2) “a flexible ligamentous joint”, and lastly 3) “a determining factor, a turning point”. Applying those definitions to the site and the building as the pivot point is an approach to compress and condense the essential features from the building and its surroundings.

A prominent physical boundary between the Northern Harbor, including Svanemølle Power Station, and the old city is the large area of train tracks. Various mapping diagrams show that the train tracks function as a division for several aspects of the city, e.g. the distribution of industrial buildings and low-rise housing. In that sense, the train tracks function as a hinge, spanning along a line in a large scale and in a visible, tangible manner. On the other hand, Svanemølle Power Station can be seen as a hinge in itself, as a point rather than a line (or a series of points).

26

Image 34: mapping studies with the scope of seeing Svanemølle Power Station as a hinge

Perceiving Svanemølle Power Station as a hinge should be done in a more figurative sense, e.g. looking at what activities and social interactions it can foster as a building. With certain adaptations and additions, the building can function as an attractor for each of the different actors in the neighborhood.

Ultimately, the building’s qualities should funnel activities, social interactions and housing possibilities through the old city to the Northern Harbor and back. Instead of detaching from its historical center of Copenhagen, eventually, Svanemølle Power Station bridges the literal and figurative gaps between the Northern Harbor and the historical center of Copenhagen.

Engaging vibrations on the site Currently, it is considered more feasible to create new ground from scratch, and add new buildings, offices and homes. Architects are allowed, if not obliged, to challenge that paradigm: to rethink trends and strategies. In this case, creating new islands seems extreme when parts of Copenhagen already feature dormant buildings and areas to be further examined. The abandoned building’s history should be the impetus for a new building. In other words, by rethinking the purpose of a dormant building, architects challenge the conventional approaches to growing cities. Not to oppose the investors and entrepreneurs’ expertise, but as to engage in a mutual investigation of re-purposing dormant shells as a new typology.

27

Recommendation Svanemølle Power Station should maintain its iconic outer appearance, both to stay true to its origin and to serve as a marker in the urban landscape

Cultural attractions in the area The mapping of cultural attractions in the urban context of Svanemølle Power Station illustrates the palette of possibilities in the neighborhoods mainly supporting physical activity and sports in the area.

The list of different venues and types of attractions has influenced the ideas of the cultural community to be established in Svanemølle Power Station. The large spaces of the power station should not feature tennis courts or other sports facilities, as these are well established within the surrounding community. Culture in terms of art, installations and the possibilities to be creative and a maker of something lacks in the neighborhood but could supplement it.

The transformation of Svanemølle Power Station would eventually be added to the list of cultural attractions in the area. With its iconic architectural expression in the facades, the volumetric composition and last - but certainly not least - its three chimneys, a facade drawing, like the ones to the right, would be suitable for Svanemølle Power Station too.

Svanemølleværket

Image 34: Cultural attractions in Østerbro, with easily recognizable facades 28

Site plan The site plan features the newly established underpass, connecting pedestrians and bicycles to Svanemøller Power Station. The ground is covered with leftover bricks from the transformation process, eventually giving new life to the building’s surroundings.

Centered on the brickcovered field, a much smaller tranformer station should be placed. It emphasizes the transition from fossil fuels to a much more technologically advanced energy industry.

The former coal yard is repurposed to a communal and public garden, with a greenhouse and possibilities for growing vegetables and plants. The most northern part of the coal yard belongs to a sailing school, and will continue to store boats during the winter months.

Image 35: site plan 29

Context analysis This constructed drawing portrays the multitudes of observed and analyzed layers in the surrounding context of Svanemølle Power Station. The urban, suburban and industrial conditions meet across the site and the building will thus function as a hinge, introducing a cultural community between the different urban environments.

The axis via Løgstørgade will become the building’s new physical anchor point to the city, providing a new underpass to the harbor side across the train tracks. Through the duality of its programme, the building will be part of an existing cultural foundation mainly centered around physical activity and sports. It will supplement this via the creative community of art making, craftsmanship and an exhibition hall. Using these artistic parameters, the transformation seeks to create purposeful housing with art as a catalyst, where several smaller co-housing units inhabit the spaces outside the workshop and the exhibition hall.

Patching the Urban Fabric

30

Image 36: Patching the Urban Fabric

Conclusion: site and context analysis Based on the site and context analysis, the point of departure for the transformation of Svanemølle Power Station lies in the notion of the building as a hinge. This will be applied in different scales, using the actors of urban areas and within the building itself. This way, the building programmatically ties the surrounding areas together, based on its functions and certain attractions to the different demographic profiles in the city. Secondly, the building features both public and private functions, eventually bridging the physical gaps between the building’s immediate surroundings and its interior, e.g. the sailing union to the west.

The industrial infrastructures, on The Northern Harbour and the train tracks, are deemed necessary in order for the current functions to continue. Yet, with a future of more housing and offices, and given the history of greenery in Copenhagen, green areas should also play a visible part in the recreational values deemed equally necessary. Connecting Svanemølle Power Station to Løgstørgade, across the football fields, can be done by opening the maintenance building under the train tracks.

Regarding the tectonic transformation approach, the Set of Values consists of atmospheric, material and historic aspects that will inform the specific changes. Together with the building analysis, in the forthcoming pages, this is the foundation for generating answers to the question “what does the site want?”. The project seeks to follow the vibrations found on the site, both historic and present, as to engage what has been lost over time and what the future might bring.

31

Building Analysis The analysis of Svanemølle Power Station is divided into separate segments in relation to the Set of Values, which is the synthesis of sub-conclusions. Overall, this analysis seeks to decipher the logics behind the building’s construction, expression and function. On the following pages, the most important observations will be systematically illustrated through diagrams and drawings. The different segments of analysis are in relation to the building’s exterior, interior, and materiality.

In the exterior analysis, focus is on horizontal and vertical grid lines, based on the exterior appearance. This is to portray the logics behind the building’s appearance and to discuss whether the exterior reflects the interior functions. The interior studies account for the materiality and plans, in which the construction logic can also be found. Furthermore, the artifacts, that is the machines etc. that currently are there, are mentioned in order to determine whether or not they should remain as part of the transformation.

Image 37: the structural elements of Svanemølle Power Station are primarily columns and beams 32

Current building, elevation south 1:500

33

Current building, elevation north 1:500

34

Current building, elevation east 1:1000

35

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Facade openings

1:250

Openings: windows A total of 8 different singular window types are used in Svanemølle Power Station. Each serve a different purpose and articulate particular expressions in the facade. Dissecting the windows’ locations, purposes and expressions can convey part of the building’s logic and the functions of the spaces behind.

3x3

5x5

8x8

3x3 The smallest window of its type is found predominantly in the southern wings, but also in the ground level of the turbine hall (level 2.10 to 10.50).

5x5 The second largest type of window with a square grid of mullions is only found in the facades of the boiler house. The larger window groups separated by pilasters, on both the facades on east, north and west, are equipped with these windows.

8x8 Also divided by pilasters, window segments of groups made up by 8x8 mullion grid windows are in found several facades of the building. Uniquely, the 8x8 grid is only found in one particular group of windows with its own concrete frame built around it, but the amount of 8x8 windows within this frame differs. On the turbine hall’s east and west facades, the 8x8 windows are used in grids of 3x7 and 3x6 on the southern facade. On the boiler house’s north and west facade it’s used in 3x9 while only 3x8 in the east facade.

Image 38: excerpt of 3x3 windows in the southern wings 36

Recommendation The transformed windows and openings should take point of departure in the existing openings’ location

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Facade openings

1:250

6x6

Openings: windows

4x9

6x9

6x12

6x20

6x6 This type of window is mostly used on the lower floors. With the divisions of smaller glass panels, this window offers possibility to install windows that can open and close. Particular suitable for spaces with workers, e.g. in the workshops or the offices.

4x9 Similar to the above-mentioned window type, this window’s subdivision with mullions offers possibilities for opening and closing. This particular type is only used in the northern facade of the boiler house where a newer door was installed, partly overlapping with the existing windows that were slightly wider, namely the 6x9 grid type window.

6x9 This window type is the largest of its kind to be used in the ground floor and is mostly used in the southern wings.

6x12 Only used in the transition building, this type of window is designed to be somewhat smaller than the largest windows, namely the 6x20.

6x20 This type of window is mainly used on the upper floors, but only in the facades of the boiler house and the transition building. They accentuate the vertical lines that are appear when looking at a facade as a whole. They are always in pairs of two except on the south facade of the boiler house where two singular windows stand out. A relief in the brickwork further emphasizes this.

37

Image 39: east facade of the boiler house, featuring several different types of windows

Recommendation Detailing in the transformed building should derive from the original building’s logics or directly as part of the transformation approach.

Ornamentation

38

Svanemølle Power Station Plan level 2.2 1:250

Plan and east elevation

Image 40: level 10.50 - the structural elements on the interior in relation to the exterior grid lines

N

Details The facades are, not surprisingly, left with little or no detailed ornamentation due to the original function of the building. In its time of construction, less than 10 years after the end of WW2, there was a tendency in Europe of optimism in architecture. So even though the building’s purpose is more of the industrial sort and the building technically built in concrete, the facades are brick clad and have features such as cornices, lintels and articulated roof tops.

The cornices are found, both immediately under the roofs, in level 10.50 on the facades of the boiler house and the turbine hall. Furthermore, they are repeated in the articulated roof tops as horizontal bonds on all free-standing facades of the transition building, the canteen building, the turbine hall, the boiler house and its two towers towards east.

Similarly to the cornices, shorter lintels are used in the visible facades of the boiler house. They create horizontal bonds between the pilasters and indicate the floor on level 34.50.

Svanemølle Power Station Plan level 10.5 1:250

Plan and east elevation N

With a singular purpose like that of a power station, it was the architect Louis Hygom’s job to solve the interior issues of making it possible for the machines to be placed and function inside. More architecturally, rather than pragmatic, it was also his job to come up with a proposal for the building’s exterior. Should the facades rather emphasize than hide the interior functions? In the investigations of the building’s logic, the relation between interior functions and the exterior appearance showed that ornamentation, like pilasters and lintels, often derive from a constructive part on the inside.

Image 41: level 2.10 - the structural elements on the interior in relation to the exterior grid lines

102,50

54,00

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal lines

34,50

10,50 2,10

Proportions: east facade

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Vertical lines

Height From south (left on the drawing above) the building is lowest and grows taller towards north (right on the drawing). The north-eastern part of Østerbro is therefore closest to the southern facades that are the lowest of the building. This way, the building’s scale relates better towards the city, while the functions demanding larger spaces are placed further away from pedestrians and their lines of sight. Quite the opposite is the case when arriving to the marina by boat, where the boiler house with its three chimneys above stand tall as a monument. This downscaling towards the city is divided in roughly three larger volumes: the southern wings, the turbine hall, and the boiler house. The turbine hall is also connected to its surrounding building volumes with two smaller volumes, namely the high voltage building and the transitional building respectively.

Openings The entire east facade features several different sizes of openings for the building’s doors, gates and windows. Besides adding architectural quality to the building’s expression, and breaking down its massive scale, the windows in the turbine hall and the boiler house serve a much more functional purpose. In the unlikely case of an explosion from the machines, turbines or boilers, the windows serve as pressure valves to avoid collateral damage to the building.

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal and vertical lines

102,50

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Facade openings

1:250

54,00

Materials The entire building is built of concrete, and partially clad with bricks. The facade is almost entirely clad with bricks, only disrupted by concrete cornices and ribbons. The Svanemølle Power Station is therefore Denmark’s largest brick-clad building.

34,50

10,50 1:250

39

2,10

Image 42: facade analysis, east

102,50

54,00

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal lines

34,50

10,50 2,10

Southern wings

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Vertical lines

The two southern wings have been used for primarily office spaces, control rooms and dressing rooms for workers of both the power station and foreigners arriving with coal ships etc. In other words, the functions and sizes of these spaces have been built in a scale according to people working there.

Height In terms of the previously mentioned downscaling towards the city, the southern wings are still as tall as 32 meters above ground level, making them equivalent in height as an 8 storeyed building, only rarely found in the older areas of Copenhagen. When seen from the south, the building volume in-between the wings (former canteen) is placed above ground but not to the wings’ full height. Despite the seemingly additive traits of such a volume, it was all built at the same time (in the early 1950’s) and not as an addition.

The roof is a hipped roof, only to be found on these particular wings of the entire building. The other building volumes feature more refined details on the roof.

Openings The southern wings, containing mostly offices now, have the smallest windows in the building. They are placed in a grid so that a group of smaller windows effectively take in enough light as a larger window would.

Looking at the facade from the outside it is possible to get an idea of where the floors are divided, namely between these groups of windows.

Also the vertical divisions suggest the placement of columns in this part of the building.

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal and vertical lines

102,50

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Facade openings

1:250

54,00

34,50

10,50 1:250

40

2,10

Image 43: facade analysis

102,50

Recommendation The high voltage building should be removed to clearly accentuate the facade of the turbine hall and to create better conditions for housing 54,00

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal lines

34,50

10,50 2,10

High voltage building

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Vertical lines

The high voltage building, as the name suggests, previously housed the electricity transformers and a control room to monitor them. The spaces are now primarily open offices, and since the staff number has declined rapidly since the 1980’s this is enough to house them all. On the eastern side, through a gate, wagons or trains can drive, on rails, through the high voltage building and the base of the turbine hall all the way to the coal yard.

Contrary to what the facade suggests, there is only one large space inside.

The windows are placed so that the upper groups look like a first floor, but are merely done so to line up with the windows on the left.

Height On the east facade, the height is approximately half of the southern wings, contradicting the previously mentioned downscaling of the building’s height. The interior space is, contrary to what the facade suggests, 3-storeyed with one floor between the two groups and a second floor in the center of the group on the top.

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal and vertical lines

102,50

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Facade openings

Openings The windows are grouped in similar ways as the southern wings’ facades, but differ slightly yet somehow obviously. The individual windows are the same dimensions as the southern wings facades, but are grouped almost like the ones on the higher levels in the southern wings despite being closer to the ground. Furthermore, the grid in the groups of windows is not of the same as the windows in the same height on its neighboring building volumes. This particular building volume therefore stands out in the facade both in terms of the heights and the expression of the facades as a whole.

1:250

54,00

34,50

10,50 1:250

41

2,10

Image 44: facade analysis

102,50

54,00

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal lines

34,50

10,50 2,10

Turbine hall

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Vertical lines

The turbine hall is the largest open space without columns. It used to house the steam turbines fueled by the coal from the boiler house.

Pilasters Offset from the facade edges, the pilasters frame a different facade-grid.

The pilasters separate each large window segment, consisting of smaller windows.

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal and vertical lines

Windows The facade of the turbine hall is significantly different from the others. It features three large groups of windows, divided by pilasters between each.

Contrary to the southern wings, this suggests an interior with machines rather than people. These windows are larger than in the southern wings and are mainly part of the previously mentioned pressure valve in the unlikely event of an explosion from the machines on the interior. Also the base (8,4m tall) follows the three-part division, but with another type of window.

Materials The turbine hall is particularly interesting in terms of materiality, since it is the only building volume with an interior that is fully brick-clad. Contrary to the boiler house, even the columns are clad in red bricks similar to the ones on the exterior. This suggests that the architects wanted a more refined space, even though it is primarily for machines. The ground floor is kept as concrete painted white and with yellow-brown tile flooring, ultimately creating a sense of “basement” rather than “ground floor”. The bottom 8,4 meters of the turbine hall is the ground floor, featuring pressure tanks, pipes, valves, etc. There is a gate in the eastern side of the hall, starting from the high voltage building, for wagons with coal entering and exiting the site.

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Facade openings

1:250

54,00

34,50

10,50 1:250

42

102,50

1:250

2,10

Image 45: facade analysis

102,50

Recommendation The transition building should be altered or removed in a manner where its functions are still present, but the exterior accentuates the facades of both the turbine hall and the boiler house 54,00

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal lines

34,50

10,50 2,10

Transition building

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Vertical lines

The transition building connects the turbine hall to the boiler house. Its floors are on different levels than both the adjacent buildings, except the common floors on level 2.10 and 10.50. It is mainly used for flow both horizontally and vertically.

1:250

Height The transitional building follows the concept of downscaling, however only in a limited fashion. The current height suggests a demand for natural sunlight into the rather slim and relatively tall space, yet leaving space on the boiler house for it to be able to still get enough sunlight in through its windows in the southern facade.

Openings The windows in the east facade of this building volume is a mix of windows found elsewhere in the facade of the entire building, and windows that are variations of those, but only found here. The windows are placed according to interior floors that connect the turbine hall to the boiler house. The two lower floors are oriented primarily towards the turbine hall, while the top floor is only connected to the boiler house.

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal and vertical lines

102,50

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Facade openings

1:250

54,00

34,50

10,50 1:250

43

2,10

Image 46: facade analysis

102,50

54,00

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal lines

34,50

10,50 2,10

Boiler house

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Vertical lines

The boiler house is the largest space, in terms of volume. It used to contain the boilers that produce steam and to storage the coal used as fuel: four boilers and two natural gas turbines. Currently only two boilers are in use, boiler 21 and 22, while one gas turbine is put out of use but can be reactivated in case of sudden demands.

Proportions As the largest facade of all the building volumes, the boiler house is the most eye-catching of the three. In addition, the east facade features two towers on each side of the facade, functioning as an articulation of each side’s stairway and lift.

On the facade itself, several features play a role in accentuating the interior functions while symmetry, hierarchy and repetition contribute to a sense of harmony in the expression of the facade. Firstly, the pilasters separate window segments that follow certain grids. Some grid lines overlap, especially the vertical ones, while the horizontal lines are clearly divided and without interruptions.

Pilasters Offset from the facade edges, the pilasters frame a different facade-grid.

The pilasters separate each large window segment, consisting of smaller windows. The above-mentioned towers contain a set of stairs each, starting from contour 2.10 meters, and are connected via the floor on contour 34.50 meters. This accentuates the interior functions, where the machinery is centered, while the periphery of this facade mainly is transition space.

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Horizontal and vertical lines

102,50

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation east 1:250

Facade openings

1:250

54,00

34,50

Base The bottom 8,4 meters of the boiler house is a base with gates for trucks to enter and unload coal.

10,50 1:250

44

2,10

Image 47: facade analysis

Current building - section A 1:1000

45

Current building - section B 1:1000

46

Current building - cross section 1:500

47

102,50

Recommendation The chimneys should be re-purposed to ventilation units for the entire building

54,00

Chimneys 34,50

The three chimneys serve more than a functional purpose today. Naturally, the two boilers that are still running are connected to the first two chimneys, starting from the left on the illustration above. The third was in use when the boiler house featured six boilers. Underneath the third chimney is “blok 10,50 7”, where a gas turbine exhausts its leftover material through air vents on the north facade, rendering the third chimney obsolete.

2,10 Iconic value Currently, the boilers only run in peak times and during winter. The image of a coal-fueled power station with a 50 meter tall chimney is today a symbol of man-made climate change, and thus a symbol of pessimism.

On the other hand, climate change or not, the three chimneys stand as one symbol for Svanemølle Power Station itself. The proportions, the redundancy, and the rhythm of which they are composed as a part of the building’s entirety, make it stand out from other industrial buildings.

Removing the chimneys would draw parallels to a bull losing its horns: it is immediately recognized as something less potent and that “something” would be obviously missing. With its approximately 100 meters height, and built only two meters above sea level, the chimneys are visible from a great distance. Keeping the chimneys on top of the boiler house of the power station would serve as a symbolic marker in the landscape, and knowing that they will never exhaust steam from burning fossil fuel, a rather optimistic symbol.

Recommendation In line with the building’s logic, it is recommended to find a new purpose for the chimneys in order to keep its symbolic strength. Since the new housing and workshop facilities will require an expanded system of ventilation, the chimneys can be re-purposed as air intakes and exhausts to supply the entire building with fresh and clean air.

48

102,50

Recommendation The smaller additions on the north facade, including HVAC-systems, should be removed and aligned with the original cornice 54,00

34,50

10,50 2,10

North facade From north, the boiler house is the only visible building volume. The boiler house is the largest space in terms of volume, and used to contain the boilers that produce steam and to storage the coal used as fuel.

Towers The tower on the left in the drawing above, towards east, features windows according to each floor in the stairway.

Svanemølle Power Station Plan level 10.5 1:250

Plan and north elevation N

Pilasters Offset from the facade edges, the pilasters frame a different facadegrid of six segments. The pilasters separate each large window segment, consisting of smaller windows. The two large window segments with windows measuring 1680mm x 1680mm in a 8x8 mullion grid are placed asymmetrically on the second and fourth segment. The remaining segments feature the more widely used facade system with windows measuring 1065mm x 1065mm in a 5x5 mullion grid.

49

Image 48: level 10.50 - the structural elements on the interior in relation to the exterior grid lines

Svanemølle Power Station Plan level 2.2 1:250

Plan and north elevation N

Base The bottom 8,4 meters of the boiler house towards the north is currently a variety of additional smaller buildings, added since the development of “blok 7” and its gas turbine which takes up approximately one third of the boiler house towards west. The smaller additions feature ventilation systems, with an exterior filter as seen on the elevation, and service rooms for blok 7.

Image 49: level 2.10 - the structural elements on the interior in relation to the exterior grid lines

102,50

Recommendation The building volumes towards south should be lower and more open, since this is the point of arrival for most visitors and residents Svanemølle Power Station Elevation south 1:250

54,00

Horizontal lines

34,50

offices

entrance 10,50 2,10

South facades

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation south 1:250

Vertical lines

From south, looking north, all the different larger volumes of the building are visible. This angle is where the upscaling is most evident, and is furthermore the view one sees when arriving to the building.

Proportions The apparent symmetry of the complex of the canteen, the two southern wings and their stairway-buildings is disrupted by the two volumes on each side of the southern wings. The volume on the left is slightly wider than the one on the right, while they also differ in facade expression and in the purposes they serve. The volume on the left features and open office space and three floors, where the one on the right is one large room for trains and wagons to enter on a set of train tracks. There seems to be no coherent axis of symmetry for the entire building.

The turbine hall is the widest building volume visible from this angle with a span of 71 meters. Being a slightly taller building than the southern wings, the turbine hall begins to articulate an upscaling in building volume height towards north, away from the city. Next in line is the transition building and lastly the boiler house, with the three iconic chimneys and additional two towers towards east.

Openings A great deal of the building’s variety of window types can be found in all of the southern facades. Contrary to the east facade, the concept of an elevated ground floor is replaced with an open ground floor functioning as entrance to the building. Furthermore, a relatively large part of the southern facades are left without openings, suggesting interior functions suited for machinery over people working or living there. The overhanging canteen differs particularly from the other facades of the building with a high ratio of openings versus bricks.

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation south 1:250

Horizontal and vertical lines

1:250

Svanemølle Power Station Elevation south 1:250

Facade openings

1:250

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Plan level 2.10 - The southern wings In plan and cross section the southern southern wings of the building can be further dissected and analyzed. The two tallest structures, as identified in the cross section, are when compared to the remaining building relatively narrow spanning 10,5 meters. The 25,2 meters between the two wings allows for a court yard like typology yet most space is taken up by the elevated canteen, staircase and elevator towers. Running the opposite direction of the wings is the former high voltage building in which the former control room was situated. This exists no more and has been replaced with newer regular offices to oversee the operation of the power station.

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The wings and court yard With the depth and structure of the wings these allow for the easiest transition into the new programme of co-housing. With a length of 38,25 meters and 25,2 meters in between, the wings span a possible renewed court yard or garden able to provide the wings with more light and air than currently. The existing decks of the wings vary in height from 3,7 meters to 6,5 on the highest floor (6th). The open nature of the plan layout in the wings suggests a modular inserted system of potentially dwellings adapted in height due to the changing nature hereof.

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Plan level 2.10 - Turbine hall The base of the turbine hall is a space very much articulated through the functionality and machinery of the space above - the turbine hall itself.

Three holes in the deck above connects the base level 2.10 to the one above visually and physically via slender metal stairs. Towards the western end of the hall massive concrete columns sits on either side of one of the wholes in the deck above. These support two of the turbines above. As with the rest of the building the structural system is of concrete yet the inner walls and columns of this space are internally clad with bricks as well. Columns in the eastern and westerns facade stand 10,3 and 10,4 meters apart letting light in through a grid of small windows. Large ventilation systems hides in the southern wall utilizing the space between the columns. Train tracks pierce the extended eastern facade as service trains formerly could enter the space below the largest deck opening and crane above.

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Grids The grid of the 1000x1300 mm columns in the walls is also spanning the with of the neighboring building volume towards north, the transitional building. These share an open plan in the base level and the columns follow the same grid.

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Plan level 2.10 - Boiler house Similar to the base of the turbine hall the base of the boiler house is very much defined by the functions of the space above which is the boiler house itself. The base of the building thus becomes increasingly apparent throughout the entire structure. The forest of columns is a supportive system for the boilers and machinery above. Two main rows of columns run east west outlining the large windows on the level above in the facade.

These main columns run, along with those in the facade all the way to the roof structure of the boiler house. The eight largest have a foot print of 2000x2000 mm to carry the heavy loads form above. The remaining columns follow a multitude of grids and suggest six zones between the larger columns carrying the initial six boilers above.

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Pockets Lining the facade are various pockets. Towards east these previously housed transformers, north workshops and west offices. This leaves a dark inner space mainly concerned with support and waste from the boilers.

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Plan level 10.50 - The southern wings In plan and cross section the southern southern wings of the building can be further dissected and analyzed. The two tallest structures, as identified in the cross section, are when compared to the remaining building relatively narrow spanning 10,5 meters. The 25,2 meters between the two wings allows for a court yard like typology yet most space is taken up by the elevated canteen, staircase and elevator towers. Running the opposite direction of the wings is the former high voltage building in which the former control room was situated. This exists no more and has been replaced with newer regular offices to oversee the operation of the power station.

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The wings and court yard With the depth and structure of the wings these allow for the easiest transition into the new programme of co-housing. With a length of 38,25 meters and 25,2 meters in between, the wings span a possible renewed court yard or garden able to provide the wings with more light and air than currently. The existing decks of the wings vary in height from 3,7 meters to 6,5 on the highest floor (6th). The open nature of the plan layout in the wings suggests a modular inserted system of potentially dwellings adapted in height due to the changing nature hereof.

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Plan level 10.50 - Turbine hall The turbine hall acts as one large open space housing five major machines; two generators, a water container and two heat exchangers. The main space defined by the large spans of the concrete columns 24,8 meters across north to south and 55,8 long east to west. The floor plan runs into the transitional building towards north in a form of gallery for smaller equipment. Three large windows in each facade, east and west, lets light into the hall.

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Materiality and structure The interior brick cladding of the concrete structure is noteworthy as only few spaces of this size would be treated this way. The arched concrete beams supporting the vaulted concrete ceiling is exposed as such though.

The flooring of the hall is concrete and largely tiled with ceramic tiles.

Slender steel staircases lead between the two levels of the turbine hall as well as around and over the water container and heat exchangers. A large steel crane runs on H-beams supported by a concrete shoe sitting on the side of the columns in the longitudinal direction.

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The columns continuing from the level 2.10 below are restricted to the ones along the facade and the largest 2000x2000 columns running east to west in the middle of the plan. The deck is also concrete but tiled with ceramic tiles in zones between the footprints of the boilers. Of the original layout with six boilers and thus six concrete bases only the two in the middle remains. A concrete wall is put up separating the western third of the floor plan into a separate boiler system that currently is not running.

Each of the two towers in the eastern facade marks itself in the plan and is used for stairways.

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Material elements The columns are exposed light colored concrete opposed to the brick clad columns of the turbine hall. In the boiler house the exposed columns contrast brick clad inner facade. Three concrete chutes previously functioning as coal hoppers sit between the eight central columns.

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Plan level 34.50 - Boiler house The seven meter high space above the boiler house itself contains the top half of the concrete chutes and has originally served as a loading area for coal supplying the coal hoppers. Two metal gates in the eastern facade are equipped with a crane system extending trough the facade as two H-beams.

The open floor plan, as seen on the other levels, is built to house the large machinery that runs the power station.

Structure The roof structure illustrated in the plan is also of concrete. The largest beams are 800x2000 mm, required to support the heavy load of the chimneys and roof whilst also maintaining the open floor plan.

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Svanemølle Power Station Plan level 2.2 1:250

Recommendation The structural elements should be kept as is, in order to actively re-use them as a guide to follow the building’s original construction logic

Columns and beams N

Structural elements Systems Being a solely functional building, the structural systems and logics of its construction are interesting to look into. The building is built of columns and beams, and floors are primarily for creating spaces rather than structural integrity, since they are all supported by beams.

The arcs in the turbine hall indicates a relatively specific spatial situation, where a larger span of open space is needed. By arcing, the beams counter the vertical bending moments and can therefore support heavy loads over a longer distance. These arcs differ from the rest of the building where, specifically in the southern wings, the spans between the columns are much shorter, proving more suitable for smaller rooms, e.g. offices.

Standardization and customization Some of the largest columns measure 2000x2000 mm in footprint and are only found in the boiler house. Using columns with dimensions of this scale, are most likely due to the fact that the machinery on the interior was placed before the structural elements of the building were planned and drawn. With such large spans to built around the boilers, large columns were needed.

There are up to 20 different types of columns and up to 15 types of beams used in the building. Furthermore, there can be found different grids for each type of column and beam in the plan. This suggests a highly pragmatic and optimized structural approach has been prioritized.

There is no or only little effort put into following idealistic trends of mass production and standardization in building elements.

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Image 51: parallel projection drawing of the building’s structural elements

Svanemølle Power Station Plan level 10.5 1:250

Artifacts N

Recommendation The boilers and installations should be altered and re-purposed to ensure a connection to the space’s previous function. Given their size and location, removal of the one towards north could be beneficial for installing dwellings

Artifacts: boiler house Remnants of the past Seeing Svanemølle Power Station as a dormant shell, waiting to be activated, one must think of the catalysts that spark the activation. By applying schemes of an artisan co-housing community into the southern wings and the boiler house, internally connected by a museum with satellite exhibitions, the shell is put to use. A great part of what potentially makes the community differ from the common notion of co-housing is the repurposing of artifacts in the building. Turbines, generators, boilers, pipes, railings and stairs can all be given new life and contribute to a building that is not only re-purposed to its future, but also explains its past. The previous page accounts for the complexity of structural systems, built around the machinery that was already known to be built on exact locations in the plan.

Hierarchy and sense of scale In the boiler house, six boilers and their surrounding pipes and stairways have taken up the majority of the open space between the columns. Prior to construction of the building, the layout of the boilers and their connection to the water intake, employee accessibility and lastly the chimneys, have been carefully planned. Currently only two boilers are left and in use in the boiler house. Similar to the building volumes removed on the exterior, removing machines on the interior leaves voids or traits of what was once there. In the case of the boilers, that were relatively large in size, the great distances between the columns are emphasized leaving visitors with an experience of the grand scale: of feeling small, feeling that the space was originally created for something bigger than humans, that is the machinery.

Image 52: boiler house, interior

Image 53: boiler house, interior 66

Recommendation The turbines, the crane and other functioning machines should be kept as is, and if not suitable at its current location, removed to the turbine hall for exhibition

Artifacts: turbine hall The heart of the building Located in the center of Svanemølle Power Station, the turbine hall has housed the turbines, effectively creating energy for the city of Copenhagen.

Despite its grand scale the interior brickwork seems to create a more intimate atmosphere in the turbine hall. In addition, the turbines that are kept as is in their original locations, once again defining the spaces around them as seen in the boiler house. As for the pipes and tanks in the turbine hall, separate stairways and catwalks are installed for employees to access the machine parts up close. On the contrary, the turbines stand for themselves, like furniture in a living room. Their locations are not obstructing the flow through the space, they instigate pauses to stop and wonder what their functions might have been in the past. They are therefore suitable as parts of a permanent exhibition that tells part of the building’s history, and alternatively as an interesting backdrop for a temporary exhibition on another subject.

The crane Along the walls in the turbine hall, two H-beams rest on the brick clad concrete columns with a span of the entire length of the turbine hall’s 72 meters. Between these beams rests the original truss beam crane that lifted cargo from wagons entering the turbine hall underneath. This is a feature that hints of the building’s thoroughly planned construction, since it was known the turbine hall would house heavy machinery. Allowing for flexibility in terms of installation and exchange of machinery, the crane is an integrated part of the space. The turbine hall would not be what it is without it, and the crane would not be there without its purpose. The turbine hall is indeed suitable for an exhibition space in many ways, and since the crane is a vital part of the space’s history it should also be a part of its future. When kept as is, it tells parts of the building’s story while also being an active part of the temporary exhibitions when e.g. lifting and installing larger installations into the space.

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Image 54: turbine hall, interior. Brick clad walls and heat exchangers

Image 55: turbine hall, interior. Brick clad walls and the crane

Massing studies Models in 1:1000 were used to investigate the overall massing changes to the building. For example, the articulation the building as one whole could be altered into the previously mentioned three larger volumes. However, removing too much building mass also disconnected the three volumes.

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Image 56: volumetric studies for the overall massing of the building

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Sun studies Part of an overall massing study is to account for the lighting properties, especially for the amount of sunlight.

Where the 1:1000 models account for proportions and scale, sun studies can verify decisions or prove new points. In this case, by removing the top floor of the southern wings, the ground floors gain natural daylight one hour earlier and lasting one hour longer, in the western and the eastern wing respectively.

This verifies the point made in the massing studies, that showed more appropriate proportions when removing said top floor. The result was that the outline of the turbine hall’s east facade is more clearly accentuated when doing so, which is a point in the Set of Values.

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Image 57: sun studies indicate benefits from removing building mass, in order to gain more sunlight in the lower floors 69

08: chimneys 01: entrance

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Set of Values 04: dwelling

This drawing is a synthesis of the most important parameters to have in mind when transforming Svanemølle Power Station into an artisan studio and co-housing community with its own exhibition hall. The drawing is created with graphical representations of the points listed below, eventually projecting the values of the existing building upon its own facades.

Aspects of the analyses used in the drawing include grid studies in plan, horizontal and vertical lines in the facades, windows and openings in the facades. Beyond the facade and plan studies, the complex composition of structural systems is illustrated by the wireframe line drawing.

The points sum up sub-conclusions from the building analysis and have been revised and updated concurrently with said analysis.

At the beginning of concept development, the set of values was locked in and subsequently informed the main parameters of the concept.

06: materials 04: exhibition 04: construction

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02: facade 07: workspace 04: dwelling

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03: urban garden

01: downscaling of the building volumes towards the city 02: clear accentuation of each building volume in the facade 03: historical relationship between the coal yard and the building 04: the particular logic of the existing beams and columns 05: the material quality of the brick cladding in relation to the human scale 06: the machinery and the chimneys tell the story of the building 07: public access is a priority 08: daylight is a priority Set of Values 01: downscaling of the building volumes towards the city 02: clear accentuation of each building volume in the facade 03: historical relationship between the coal yard and the building 04: the particular logic of the existing beams and columns

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Image 58: Set of Values

05: the material quality of the brick cladding in relation to the human scale 06: the machinery and the chimneys tell the story of the building 07: public access is a priority 08: daylight is a priority

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Conclusion: building analysis The building analysis has shown that the building was originally designed specifically for its purpose, a functioning power station, designed and built from the inside out. That is, the machinery and their locations were not only taken into consideration when developing plans, but were to a large degree defining the structural systems and therefore, too, the open spaces in-between columns. The entire building seems to be tailored and optimized for its functions. This is particularly evident in the use of 8 different window types, 15 different beam profiles and 20 different column profiles.

The facades reflect the interior functions and spaces to the extent where Svanemølle Power Station can be read as several smaller entities on the same footprint. Based on the facades and internal structural systems, the building can be architecturally divided into three major building volumes: the southern wings, the turbine hall and lastly the boiler house. Since a sense of proportions, repetition and hierarchy is applied to all facades, the architect created a somewhat coherent language in the architectural expressions for each building volume.

Particularly interesting is the insight of what kind of spaces the building features today, where most of them are intended for machines over people. Since the transformation of the building is towards a peopledriven community, including housing, the spaces will have to be adapted to this new purpose in a more or less apparent way.

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Image 59: composition of column and beam profiles found in Svanemølle Power Station. The multitude suggests highly optimized and specified use of material, indicating that all structural elements are made for a reason

Image 60: Battersea Power Station is undergoing a thorough transformation

Case studies To gain inspiration and see examples of transformations in industrial settings take place, case studies in London were selected for further investigation on site. The study trip sought to inspire approaches to transformation, where a building’s legacy is told through a combination of new and old materials, either in harmony or juxtaposition.

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Image 61: Tate Modern was among the visited transformation projects. Here a facade of the newest addition

Image 62: Coal Drops Yard by Heatherwick

Case study: Coal Drops Yard, London Architects: Heatherwick Studio Groundbreaking: 2014 Completed: original 1851-1860, transformation 2018 Themes: transformation, industrial Function: retail (not housing) About: The coal drop buildings were built to be as efficient as possible, adapted to wagons on train tracks entering and exiting in a continuous flow.

Like a machine, the entire complex was built for very specific functions.

Yet, the materials used and the architectural expressions of the buildings are somewhat refined when compared to contemporary architecture and the context of this building. The brickwork features details and follows the tectonic rules that apply when building, and constructing, with bricks, e.g. arches around windows and a limited height for the building. Also, the roof is of a lighter material than brick, namely wood, so as to again follow the tectonic rules.

What Heatherwick does with the curved roofs is a gesture to technological advances while respecting and indeed embracing the legacy and the craftsmanship of the building’s original state and style. The juxtaposition of the irrational curves and the rational brickwork creates and interesting clash between the past and the present.

Image 63, 64, 65: Coal Drops Yard by Heatherwick 73

Image 66: The Isokon Building

Case study: Isokon Building, London Architects: Wells Coates Groundbreaking: 1933 Completed: 1934 Themes: Bauhaus, modernity, co-housing, minimum flats Function: dwelling, co-housing About: Architect Wells Coates attended a pitch for “minimum flats” at CIAM II in 1929, most likely influencing his vision for the Isokon Building, or Lawn Road Flats, in Hampstead, London. The Bauhaus movement was also a likely contributor to the ideas behind these flats, namely the modern take on habitation. The Lawn Road Flats consisted of minimum flats with services including laundry, shoe cleaner, bed making and room service - as in any hotel, except this would be your permanent address.

In 1937 the ground floor was equipped with a restaurant and a bar, Isobar, which for a time became the center for intellectual life in north London. It would attract writers, painters, architects, designers, sculptors etc., since the building’s residents primarily were from the creative segments of society. This creative community, where creators would come and go, has inspired this thesis in terms of the need of and possibilities in facilitating atmospheres like this. Be it for living or temporary visits, a creative milieu is likely to spark and accelerate innovation and creative processes. In other words, creativity is a potent catalyst in the pursuit of creating purposeful housing.

Image 67: plans for “minimum flats” 74

Image 68: Nordkraft in Aalborg was a former coal-fueled power station

Case study: Nordkraft, Aalborg Architects: Transformation by CUBO Architects Groundbreaking: 2009 Completed: 2011 Themes: Power station, transformation, culture Function: Offices, sports, cultural activities About: Similar to Svanemølle Power Station, Nordkraft was a coal-fueled power station transformed into a cultural center. In terms of Svanemølle Power Station to become a hinge in Copenhagen, where the building works as an attractor for the people of the city in different scales, Nordkraft has achieved similar results worth learning from. Power stations provide electricity and heat from its very core and out through systems of pipes, using heavy machinery working at high temperatures. Therefore, only a selected few employees are allowed inside and the public may only visit in rare occasions. Today, Nordkraft works like a “foyer to the city”, meaning it has become a central stage for cultural activities but also a building that invites the public inside for a number of reasons. Cafés, cinemas and theatres are thriving in Nordkraft and contribute to the new found cultural identity of Aalborg. Unfortunately, all of the interior artifacts (machinery, turbines, pipes etc.) were sold as scrap metal before the architects were given the assignment, leaving a lot of the building’s history to be untold through its own objects.

Historically Aalborg has been an industrial city, but is in recent times shifting to a student city. This has meant the end of several industrial buildings, and sites, in the city to make space for housing and offices. The transformation of Nordkraft was therefore also a way to mark this shift in the demographic development, towards a pulsating and vibrant Aalborg that is still rooted in its past.

Image 69: Nordkraft in Aalborg when it was still running

Image 70: Nordkraft, turbine hall 75

Image 71: Tate Modern interior, turbine hall

Case study: Tate Modern, London Architects: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (transformation: Herzog & De Meuron) Groundbreaking: 1891 (pioneer station), 1893 (A station), 1947 (B station), transformation 1995, 2012 Completed: original 1891 (pioneer station), 1893 (A station), 1952 (B station), transformation 2000, 2016 Themes: transformation, industrial Function: museum About: Tate Modern is the result of transforming Bankside Power Station into a contemporary museum. Several additions have been necessary in order to accommodate the required spaces for art, performances, shops, cafés and administration. This is evident in the exterior additions that differ in materials, shape and overall expression, with the roof café in opaque and transparent glass and steel profiles and the Switch house which is an irrationally brick clad concrete building. Where the Bankside Power Station was built to fulfill very specific tasks, architecturally harmonious and balanced to emphasize the tower’s height, its current additions accentuate what is new and what was there to begin with.

Adding large volumes like the Switch house, the roof café and further expansion below ground level seem contradicting to the rationale that the building would be suitable for a museum in the first place. This is, however, due to the importance of keeping certain spaces as is, e.g. the turbine hall in particular. With occasional installations, the vast nothingness of the space can be emphasized, and when emptied it truly feels like a vacuum of its own legacy. Keeping the turbine hall is a bold move from the architects, but indeed proves the necessity of maintaining core spaces of a building in order to tell its story properly.

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Image 72: sections of Tate Modern with the turbine hall centered

Image 73: Battersea Power Station under transformation

Case study: Battersea Power Station, London Architects: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Dr. Leonard Pearce, J. Theo Halliday (Redevelopment: Wilkinson Eyre, Frank Gehry, Foster + Partners) Groundbreaking: 1929 (A station), 1945 (B station) Completed: 1935 (A station), 1955 (B station) Decomission: 1975 (A station), 1983 (B station) Themes: transformation, industrial Function: retail, housing, public About: Elaborating on the notion of a building as a hinge, Battersea Power Station currently undergoes a transformation that will work as such. Located opposite of the relatively exclusive residential area Chelsea, in London, the former power station is a catalyst for numerous complexes seeking to match or even outshine the prestigious neighborhood. Revitalizing a symbolic building like the power station attracts future residents and companies. The architectural qualities of the building give back to the city and sets an example of the importance in high quality engineering and architecture. Where most buildings are a product of their time, and affected by trends, Battersea Power Station seems to hold the potential to influence an entire neighborhood on its own.

The transformation of the building itself is based on principles of addition. When one would think the building is large enough to house the proposed programmes, developers and architects have deemed it necessary to add floors on the current roof levels while simultaneously lowering the ground floor. This additive approach towards a building of this size draws parallels to the transformation of Svanemølle Power Station. Yet, seeing the development that Battersea Power Station is currently undergoing, skepticism has been brought upon the necessity of adding new building material. One of the conclusions in the building analysis, is the fact that power stations are built for machines rather than people, which is evident in the sheer sizes of the spaces. This has informed the concept of “Addition

by Subtraction”, which will be discussed on the following pages.

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Image 74: elevation Battersea Power Station, before the transformation

Image 75: section of Battersea Power Station

Concept development This drawing acted as impetus for the concept development of the transformation. With the relatively large building, solving conceptual approaches throughout the entire building quickly became restricted when taking all the technical details into consideration. Hence, a more freely diagrammatic and expressive approach to visually convey the key aspects of the concepts.

Instead of line drawings extracted from the technical drawings of the existing building, the basis for this drawing is a point cloud generated from photogrammetry scans of a 1:200 section model of the existing building. This way, lines that have a beginning and an end, accentuating thresholds and finite spaces, are not used. Instead, points float in and out of adjacent spaces, jittering along the thresholds.

Eventually, this emphasizes the part of the concept where the building should be experienced internally as one interconnected entity rather than three larger volumes.

The Additive Community

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Image 76: The Additive Community

John Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

Personas

54 years old Boat carpenter Rowing & sailing Co-housing

John is a craftsman building and restoring smaller wooden ships and boats. He is residing in one of the dwellings in the garden above the former boiler house of Svanemølle Power Station. His interest the co-housing come from a desire to be part of a community to an extent he finds difficult in Copenhagen. Here is also able to work and utilize the facilities of the workshops in close proximity to the recreational possibilities of the harbor.

Peter Svanemølle Power Station

Twelve different made up personas were created as part of the programmatic concept development.

Their identities were constructed in order to shape the demands of the co-housing facilities and the artisan studios. Some are made based on residents in currently existing cohousing entities, while others are constructed to ensure diversity and to challenge the flexibility of the artisan studios and the co-housing units. Furthermore, the personas can be used actively in describing the envisioned scenarios of the transformation. Some residents might only visit the exhibitions monthly, while others daily.

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

29 years old Furniture designer Photography Artisan studio

Peter has started a small design brand doing furniture that he designs and makes himself.

He considers the power station a good framework for the beginning of both his design studio and living in close connection with the city. As his business grows in the future and he might need a bigger workshop for multiple people, he would not depend upon the workshop of the power station and maybe move to the roof garden or the wings, but will always come back to the workshop to some extent.

Casper Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

37 years old Graphic designer Tennis Artisan studio

Working as a graphic designer Casper is able to work from home or most of the common space in the building. The flexibility related to his work allows him to easily use public workshops for spare time project. Divorced from his wife leaves him to take care of his son half of the week, but when not the community of the power station relieves him of feeling alone, even though he is not the most active person in communal activities. His son plays soccer just across the train tracks.

Richard Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

42 years old Artist Carpentry Artisan studio

Richard is an artist in residence in the cultural community of the Svanemølle Power Station. As a visiting artist he lives for the duration of the construction, exhibition and dismantling of his exhibition in one of the artisan studios overlooking the turbine hall.

The residency allows the building to not only show his final exhibition but also the process of making. Richard lives and works in the co-housing community of the former power station and the workshops provide the framework for him to execute his installation.

Julie

Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

31 years old Marine biologist Winter bathing Co-housing

Julie works as a marine biologist north of Copenhagen and therefore commutes every day by train. As she recently graduated from university and moved to Copenhagen the co-housing offers an affordable alternative whilst also providing her to opportunity to meet people and establish a network in the new city. She enjoys winter bathing and has joined the guild on the opposite side of the marina. She lives with her boyfriend and small child in the former office wings.

Janine Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

72 years old Retired Walking Co-housing

Janine is retired and plans to live in the co-housing for as long as possible as the co-housing is able to provide her with many of the same benefits of a retirement home as she is still fresh and doesn’t need care.

The community aspect is to her the biggest advantage. She lives with her husband and they enjoy the life and diversity within the building and the outdoor areas surrounding it.

Claus Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

58 years old Gallery owner Exhibitions Co-housing

As a gallery owner the spare time interests of Claus very much run parallel to his professional livelihood as he is always looking for new artists. The creative pulse of the former power station thus suits him well. However he resides with his family in the roof garden above the former boiler plant now turned workshop providing them both air and green garden space and the possibility to enter the public workshop and not actually dwell within it.

Elizabeth Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

61 years old Kindergarden teacher Gardening Co-housing

Elizabeth teaches in one of the kindergardens on Østerbro. She grew up in a co-housing in the 60’s and have lived in different ones most of her life as she has wanted to pass on those values to her own children. As her children has grown up and moved out the sense of community and togetherness suits her along with the communal garden, as she participates in all common dinners.

Oscar Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

29 years old Bike mechanic Kayaking Co-housing

Oscar is a newer resident to the community and works in a smaller bike shop in the inner city. He moved in because of the affordability of the co-housing compared to many other places in Copenhagen, especially when he compares to the value as he doesn’t mind sharing common spaces as long as he has his own smaller dwelling to retreat to. He tries to participate in the communal dinners, but finds it difficult to keep up twice a week.

Jane Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

32 years old Anthropologist Caramics Co-housing

Jane graduated as an anthropologist from the University of Copenhagen and now works for the municipality working with elementary school kids. She has a husband and a two year old daughter and the family are engaged participants in the community, both of the former power station and neighborhoods of Østerbro and The Northern Habor. The creative open workshop provides Jane with the opportunity to do ceramics in whatever spare time she can find.

Anne Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

38 years old Fabric designer Winter bathing Co-housing

As a fabric designer Anne designs and weaves various fabrics for boutiques in Copenhagen. She is able to work from the creative community of the power station and find it to be a source of great inspiration. With a husband and two children the family resides in the roof garden co-housing and she works from home and the workshop below in the boiler plant. The family is an active agent in the community participating in all communal dinners.

Victor Svanemølle Power Station

Age: Profession: Hobby: Apartment type:

40 years old Coffee roaster Cooking Co-housingt

Victor roasts coffee in another building on The Northern Harbor but lives in the co-housing of the former power station as he enjoys participating in the urban transformation of the area. With an interest in cooking he contributes to the small community by often being in charge of the communal dinners. Others might spend more time in the garden growing vegetables but he likes being in the kitchen. We live in the roof garden with his family.

Image 77: Personas 79

Co-housing The typology of co-housing is not a new one and have been present in Denmark since late 60’s and early 70’s. An article published in 1967 by journalist Bodil Graae, called ‘A Child Should Have One Hundred Parents’ arguing shared childcare duties between families facilitated the cohousing community of Sættedammen in Hillerød just 30 km outside of Copenhagen. The concept allows people to form communities of living closer together sharing things from simple tools, gardens, kitchens or dinners to shared caretaking of children in the community.

The concept of shared space in the community provides possibility for smaller dwelling sizes as the importance of communal spaces and social interactions grow. The project addresses a potential future way of communal living in smaller dwellings with a variety of communal spaces in relation to a creative way of working within an existing structure. The sizes of communities within the overall added community of Svanemølle Power Station differ to allow people to better know one another and e.g. organize communal dinners. Each of the former southern wings constitutes a smaller community within the overall building and each thus have a common space on the roof with a roof garden. The boiler house is another type of community of artisan studios in relation to the public workshop below on the ground floor. Above the boiler house in the roof garden a fourth sub-community resides similar to the ones in the wings arranged around a common garden. The dwelling types vary to accommodate different types of people to strengthen the diversity of the power station.

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Image 78: removed building volumes

Transformation approach: scars and voids

Image 79: Excerpt of the current building

When transforming Svanemølle Power Station, a certain approach is applied as to how the building’s shell is repurposed. This is evident in the reworked facades and the siteplan where existing building volumes are removed.

As part of the transformation of Svanemølle Power Station, parts of the building’s history should be told through its architectural expression.

Facades The current building’s walls are reinforced concrete, clad with bricks - with bricks only being an aesthetic value rather than a functional climate screen.

When removing building volumes, for reasons such as optimizing daylight intake and overall volumetric composition, scars or voids in the facade will appear.

Scars and voids The definition of a scar in Svanemølle Power Station is when a building volume is removed from another building volume. The intersection between these will have a visible outline of what was once there. A void is the case where a building volume, that has been removed, was internally connected to another building volume. Removing a volume therefore results in an opening in the existing building.

Remnants of the past In applying any visible change to the building’s volumes and overall massing, one should consider the possibilities of explaining the building’s legacy and history. The building’s original, and current, functions are what defined the architectures of the building. When repurposing the spaces, changes in the facades’ appearance are inevitable and should not be hidden as if the building already was suitable for another purpose. The honesty in the architecture of the original building, according to its purpose where each constructional element is there for a reason, is one of the most significant traits of the building (point 04 in Set of Values).

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Image 80: Building volumes are removed, leftover parts reinforced with structural elements

Image 81: Tombac-clad lintels are put in place to maintain the bricks above

Transformation approach: tectonics

Image 82: New openings should follow the current vertical grid lines in the facade

Materials Currently the facades are clad in bricks to cover the raw concrete underneath. Brickwork allows for subtle ornamentation e.g. when defining a facade’s edge conditions and is a material of a much higher quality in terms of tactile properties and relates better to the human scale (point 05 in Set of Values). According to the local plans for Svanemølle Harbour (local plan 282) any building’s exterior should have an appearance of darker tones, similar to that of wood and bricks.

Tectonics The logic of brickwork lies in the bond and a vertical stacking, held together by mortar and gravity. Since the walls are only clad with bricks, and not structural brick walls, each brick rests on the brick below it. Brick ties between the concrete and the bricks only hold the bricks toward the concrete, but features no significant vertical support. This is important to have in mind when considering removing patches of brick cladding on a wall, or entire volumes intersecting a brick wall.

The Dormant Shell The approach in this project is to maintain the structural parts, i.e. the concrete columns, beams and walls. The latter is the most prominent in the project, hence it is titled “Rethinking the Dormant Shell”. In addition, it is sought to keep as much of the original as is, and only remove building volumes where it is deemed necessary (point 02, 07 and 08 in Set of Values). This is in line with the original principles upon which the building was built, where no column is placed without a purpose, and one purpose only. Furthermore, the location of the machines, turbines and boilers were planned out before the building was built, meaning that the structural systems were drawn around the layout of machinery (point 04 in Set of Values).

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Image 83: On-site adaptations are made, preserving the structural capacity of the existing building

Image 84: Newly altered areas on the facade are clad with a new material in order to accentuate a difference between old and new

Addition by Subtraction This drawing is titled “Addition by Subtraction” and illustrates that expression generated to emphasize the approach through which the building gains more value by removing building material on the exterior. This is naturally the case in terms of a transformation process, where the previous functions of the building do not entirely suit the future purpose, that is housing and exhibition.

In the case of adding dwellings inside the buildings, the approach is rather that of minimizing unused space than filling an empty space to its limits. In other words, subtracting negative space.

E.g. when one of the boiler house’s best qualities is the vast space with nothing but a large boiler and some twenty meters tall columns, filling the entire void with dwellings would negate this quality that was the reason to add dwellings in the first place. It is about finding a specific balance that answers well to the question “what does the building want?”.

Artisan studios

Artist’s residence

Workshops

Workshops

Exhibition

Co-housing

Café

Addition by Subtraction

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Image 85: Addition by Subtraction

Conclusion: concept The concept takes it point of departure in the set of values, generated as a guide to inform the transformation of Svanemølle Power Station. The tectonic concept is, in short, to apply a variety of dwelling types inside the building, to the extent where the building’s logic allows it. Programmatically, the artisan studios and the co-housing units are built around an exhibition hall and a workshop, both functioning as catalysts for more purposeful housing.

In terms of perceiving the building as a hinge, it aims to blur the thresholds towards its immediate surroundings and engage the vibrations on the site. Through both tangible and intangible means, the building tells its history by actively engaging in the future. The majority of the ground floor is public, funneling visitors into the exhibition hall and the workshop.

A great and unique sense of privacy is achieved in both the co-housing entities and the artisan studios, where the latter plays an active part of the workshop’s environment in the boiler house.

Given the building’s original purpose, removing building material is deemed necessary in order to achieve satisfying amounts of sunlight and to alter the overall massing into dimensions better suited for the human scale. So when materials and parts, or even entire building volumes, are removed, it is done based on the logic of the building’s construction.

Similarly, when new volumes are added, these also follow the logics.

However, they are made from simple, but different, materials to clearly accentuate what’s new without blurring the original building’s identity. This is because removals and additions are made in the first place to emphasize the current building’s traits.

Communal space

Co-housing

Artisan studios

Gallery Co-housing Workshop

Exhibition hall

Communal space Foyer

Public base

Passage

Fab lab

Promenade

Public base

Fab lab

Food bank

Promenade

Artisan studios

Bike parking Car share parking Co-housing

Exhibition hall

Passage

Workshop

Co-housing Artisan studios

Gallery

Court yard

Passage Co-housing Public base

Promenade

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Co-housing

Roof garden

Artisan studios

Communal space Foyer

Artisan studios

Public base

Promenade

Image 86: diagrams indicating different zones in the building. The large arrow along the promenade covers public functions, following the ideas of a hinge

Design development The analysis of Svanemølle Power Station provided the base understanding of the existing building as a dormant shell. To this shell the project makes modifications to both clarify the expression of the existing building and strengthen the analyzed qualities of it, while also let it evolve in relation to the deployed programmatic strategies. The project has centered around understanding what the existing building desired for its various spaces.

Addition by Subtraction Contradictory to the development of Battersea Power Station in London this project desired a different approach to simple addition of volume to a point of compromising the identity of the existing structure. Instead of adding for the sake of adding, the project deploys the scheme of addition by subtraction. The project investigates the strengthening of the expression of the power station through removal of some of its volume by being careful to expose the central qualities of the building.

Image 87: plan level 34.50 85

66,78 m2

64,97 m2

91,08 m2

60,24 m2

73,48 m2 60,07 m2

Roof garden dwelling Co-housing

Roof garden dwelling Co-housing

Roof garden dwelling Wings : 1st floor dwellings Co-housing Co-housing

Wings : 2nd-3rd floor dwellings Co-housing

Wings : 4th floor dwellings Co-housing

Dwelling types The Additive Community The strategy became a response to the typology of the urban condition of Ă˜sterbro arranging dwellings around a central common space such as the role of the garden or courtyard of the Copenhagen city block. The former southern wings are now co-housing structured around a common courtyard, the boiler house organized around the public workshop and the roof garden structured similarly to the wings.

The nature and quality of the turbine hall is kept and the introduced programme is what changes, not the nature, but the use of the space into an exhibition hall. The exhibition hall works as a satellite for other institutions or visiting artists to utilize. The creative community will house visiting artists in residence to construct and curate their exhibitions and it becomes a place concerned with the process of making.

The food bank in the ground floor towards north is, beyond pragmatically convenience for the inhabitants of the boiler house and the cafĂŠ, a gesture to a future without coal-fueled power stations. The coal yard north from the power station used to be for storing and transporting coal, but will now be communal and public gardens.

In addition, the boiler house’s capacity and potentials allow for the boat owners from the nearby marina to use the workshops, optimizing the scarce space there is for both the marina and the power station to coexist.

63,45 m2

63,45 m2

91,08 m2

60,07 m2

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Wings : 1st floor dwellings Co-housing

Wings : 2nd-3rd floor dwellings Co-housing

Wings : 4th Co-housing

Plan level 10.50 - exhibition floor Purposeful Housing The strategies of removal of building mass derives from the Set of Values and seeks to strengthen the analyzed dna of the power station. The ideas of downscaling resulted in modifications to the hight of the former southern wings combined with the importance of letting light into the courtyard. Sunlight also factored into the removal of elements within the barely existing courtyard.

The desires of a clearer accentuation of each overall building volume resulted in removal of volumes across the wings both resulting in more dwellings, daylight and a clearer marking of the turbine hall. Exposing all four corners allows it to clearly mark itself in the urban landscape.

Image 88: plan level 10.50 87

Plan level 2.10 - ground floor Rethinking the Dormant Shell The scale of spaces within the building and in particular the depth of some made the issue of daylight in the building a significant factor. As the project was concerned with a future way of dwelling within an existing urban structure, possible areas for dwelling units was first located within the analyzed framework. The southern wings were thus appointed suitable for housing due to their dimensions and possibility of apartments being naturally lit from both sides.

The multitude of smaller windows in the boiler house established a smaller scale within the facade and the structural columns, previously arranged around the boilers, provided footprints of small dwelling sizes. This could be done without disrupting the large windows running centrally in the space east to west. These artisan studios were established in relation to the introduced programme of the boiler house in the ground floor of public workshops. The space above the boiler house have the same issues of central depth yet without the specific qualities of the massive space below. The central part was thus removed to establish a perimeter of similar dwellings to the ones below, but arranged surrounding a central courtyard or roof garden providing natural light through the apartments.

Image 89: plan level 2.10 88

Towards Future Architectures New architectural elements to the building will be of a simple character executed in wood and glass to not compete with the existing expressions.

Externally these additions will follow the building’s original construction logic and appearance, e.g. the vertical grid lines in the facade. This design seeks to clearly indicate what is newly added, while stand out in a lighter and more transparent fashion. Internally wood will be used to supplement the existing structure with a clear distinction marking the human inhabitation of the power station. Beside appealing tactile properties, timber is also suitable for flexible solutions as the systems with which the artisan studios are assembled in the boiler house. Timber allows for on-site adjustments and less complicated transportation in and out of the power station.

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Image 90: Svanemølle Power Station seen from Løgstørgade

Sources Literature Kuma, K. and Daniell, T. (2015). Natural architecture. London: Architectural Association Publications.

Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The eyes of the skin. Chichester: Wiley.

Zumthor, P. and Oberli-Turner, M. (1998). Thinking architecture. Baden: L. Müller.

Images and links (If not stated otherwise, images are own drawings and photographs) Byoghavn.dk. (2019). By og Havn. byoghavn.dk/presse/nyheder/2019/by++havn+overtager+ikonisk+kraftvrk+i+kbenhavn.aspx [6 Feb. 2019] Faktalink. (2019). Urbanisering. faktalink.dk/urbanisering [3 Feb. 2019] HOFOR. (2019). Svanemølleværket. hofor.dk/nyhed/stadig-vaere-varme-svanemoellevaerket-danmarks-tekniske-museum/ [7 Feb. 2019] Image 01: Cobe.dk. (2019). COBE - Nordhavn. cobe.dk/project/nordhavn#2659 [6 Feb. 2019] Image 10-13, 18 : Kk-borger.filarkiv.dk. (2019). FilArkiv Borger. kk-borger.filarkiv.dk/ [4 Feb. 2019] Image 19, 69: Aalborgstadsarkiv.dk. (2019). Aalborg Stadsarkiv. aalborgstadsarkiv.dk [5 Feb. 2019] Image 20: Pinkfloyd.com. (2019). Pink Floyd pinkfloyd.com/design/album_covers.php [5 Feb. 2019] Image 52, 53: Alastair Wiper Livogland.dk. (2019). livogland.dk/sites/livogland.dk/files/dokumenter/publikationer/webfakta_-_urbanisering.pdf [3 Feb. 2019] Nordhavnen.dk. (2019). Nordhavnen. nordhavnen.dk/presse/nyheder/2009/maske+verdens+bedste+masterplan.aspx [3 Feb. 2019] Nordhavnen.dk. (2019). Nordhavns historie. nordhavnen.dk/oplev+nordhavnen/nh-historie.aspx [3 Feb. 2019] Nordhavnen.dk. (2019). Strategien. nordhavnen.dk/fra+vision+til+bydel/processen+hidtil/strategien.aspx [3 Feb. 2019] TV 2 Lorry. (2019). Folk flytter væk fra København tv2lorry.dk/artikel/folk-flytter-vaek-fra-koebenhavn-men-ikke-ret-langt [3 Feb. 2019]

For both professional and moral support, a special thanks to Rune Bjerno, Pernille Brunse, Jan Buthke, Thea Thorsgaard Frølunde, Ryan Hughes, Jonathan Iversen, Reduan El Marrouni, Casson Mann, Emma Foss Ringgaard, Lars Thiis, Bob Trempe, Vilius Vizgaudis

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