The building has been converted into a new, 5-star hotel owned by Strawberry Brothers. The conversion was designed by the Swedish architectural firm Kook & Tjäder AB and is being carried out by the Norwegian construction company HENT.

The project involved the renovation and conversion of 25,400 m² of floor space spread across four floors. The ground floor and basement have been converted into restaurants, a lounge, a reception area, and an event hall, while the remaining floors have been converted into new hotel rooms. As the icing on the cake, a spectacular swimming pool has been built on top of the building’s low wing.

The exterior walls and facades of the existing building have been preserved in their current architectural form. Inside the building, most of the interior has been removed to make room for hotel rooms, restaurants, and common areas.

During the construction of the event hall, glulam beams spanning approximately 30 meters from wall to wall were used. The curved shapes of the beams create a “hillside landscape” in the courtyard above.

Spanning the old courtyard—which has now been converted into the hotel’s new grand foyer, housing a lounge area, bar, lunch restaurant, and reception—a beautiful, curved glass roof with a complex steel structure was designed.

The ground slab was removed, and a new ground slab was constructed as a self-supporting, cast-in-place slab with approximately 890 new supporting mini-piles, driven into place using hydraulic equipment. The foundations beneath the existing walls and columns were preserved.

The existing building, dating from 1912, was constructed with concrete columns and slabs. The facades are built of solid brick, which was standard practice at the time. The conversion to a hotel in 2020 did not entail major changes to the structural system, but new foundations were laid, new elevator shafts were installed, and localized reinforcement was added in a few places. In addition, the concrete roof over the large inner courtyard has been replaced with a glulam deck.

With regard to the structural documentation, the existing material was very comprehensive, and the complexity of preparing the new documentation was the same as for a new construction project.

The selection of materials and interior design, with an eye toward life cycle and maintenance, has been a central part of sustainable construction. In some rooms, for example, materials with a low environmental impact have been consistently chosen; such as recycled mortar, recycled bricks, and furniture from sustainable design brands. Furthermore, there has been a focus on energy flows and reuse (excess heat—pool), which is technically interesting and relevant to building operations.

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 has resulted in an 81% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to a similar new construction project. You can read more about the case study by clicking here.