Transformation of old offices into 187 bright youth housing units
- Address
- Hejrevej 10, Copenhagen
Info
- Client
- Park Street Nordicom
- Area
- 11,000 m²
- Architect
- Panum and Kappel
- Project Period
- 2019
- Contractor
- Rasmus Friis
- Construction Cost
- 3.5 million DKK
Project Description
On Hejrevej in Copenhagen’s Northwest District, which is emerging as the city’s new student neighborhood, Park Street Nordicom is converting a former office building into student housing.
The existing building, which for many years has served as a municipal office space, is being completely transformed—with housing for 187 students replacing the existing open-plan offices.
The housing is being developed by Phoam Studio based on their successful PULSE housing concept. The idea is that the practical and space-efficient student apartments will be complemented by large common areas for socializing, studying, and, for example, cooking. In addition, there will be a large green rooftop terrace, which will help make Hejrevej a very attractive place to live for future Copenhagen students. The ground floor will also feature a grocery store and other retail spaces that will bring the entire neighborhood to life.
The challenge in the comprehensive transformation of a relatively conventional office building has been to upgrade and adapt the existing structural system. Steel reinforcement on the rooftop terrace ensures that it can withstand the new load.
The existing stairwells will be removed, and stability will be restored by inserting new load-bearing wall panels where necessary. In this way, the original column-and-beam system is supplemented with load-bearing partition walls to the extent necessary to transfer the load down to the existing foundations.
At the same time, we are creating new bathrooms for all units and upgrading the building’s fire resistance to 120 minutes—the current standard—instead of the previously accepted 60 minutes.
The building is also part of the municipality’s stormwater management strategy for the entire Northwest area, and in that context, we are installing a stormwater retention basin in the basement that will supply water to the building’s laundry facilities and for flushing toilets in the apartments’ bathrooms.
Sustainability
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.
The project is highlighted in the Danish Agency for Social Affairs and Housing’s “Guide to the Reuse of Load-Bearing Structures” (2023), prepared in collaboration with ABC and the Danish Technological Institute, as a green pilot project. The study shows that the transformation resulted in a 96% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to a similar new construction project.
The significant reduction stems from the fact that, in this case, the existing structure was reused for the entire 11,000 m² and it was only necessary to install reinforcements in a few places where required for the transformation.
