The building is part of the K. W. Bruun & Co. Foundation, whose roots date back to 1914, when founder K. W. Bruun sold his first cars. The family-owned foundation is currently led by the fourth generation of the Bruun family.

The project involves a comprehensive consolidation of two existing structures: a historic building, the Agricultural Museum—formerly owned by the Frilandsmuseet—and Virumgaard, a three-winged farmstead worthy of preservation. The historic building was converted into a museum and exhibition space for classic cars, and the three-winged farmstead now features a bistro and diner in one wing, an administrative building and production kitchen in the middle wing, and a banquet hall with a vaulted ceiling in the third wing.

The project also includes the construction of new facilities for the K.W. Bruun car dealership and an approximately 10,000 m² car hotel, as well as the creation of a long pavilion connecting the car hotel and the historic building. A new cobblestone plaza has been constructed between the buildings to tie the entire area and all the buildings together as a unified whole.

The total project area, including the renovation and new construction, covers approximately 17,500 m² spread across five different buildings.

ABC has entered into a strong project partnership with the client’s consultant EKJ, the lead consultant and architect Lundgaard & Tranberg, as well as engineering consultants Jørgen Nielsen and sub-consultant SINUZ. ABC has provided fire safety consulting services for the project, including certified fire safety consulting for the highest fire class (BK4). The fire consulting has focused on preserving the historic wooden and cast-iron structures, particularly with regard to the open layout and the interior wooden surfaces.

At ABC, we specialize in renovation and transformation projects to avoid wasting usable building materials and to reduce the need to produce new building materials. By reusing as much of the existing structure as possible, we avoid both the environmentally harmful transport of construction waste away from the project site and the need to produce new, high-carbon structural elements for the project.

Since the Classic Car House project involves both historic and preservation-worthy buildings, many decisions are predetermined, as demolition is not permitted. In projects of this type, reuse takes on a whole new meaning, as it’s not just a matter of reusing the building’s structural framework for new facilities — Instead, one must think in terms of reusing not only the building’s load-bearing elements but also its aesthetic expression, which is an exciting challenge for consultants.