In Copenhagen, a nondescript 1960s office block has been transformed by Pihlmann Architects into a creative workspace by reusing 95 per cent of existing materials on site On Thoravej in Copenhagen’s Nordvest neighbourhood, garages and small‑scale industries stand alongside single‑storey houses, allotments and larger apartment blocks. The area has developed without a guiding district plan, resulting in a diverse urban landscape that is rare for Copenhagen. Its unique atmosphere has, over the past few decades, made it a retreat for artists, who have repurposed spaces left behind by businesses. Nordvest is among the city’s most recently gentrified neighbourhoods. Earlier regeneration drives in Copenhagen have involved extensive demolition and new developments that streamlined once‑diverse urban environments. Around Thoravej, a community‑driven district plan launched in 2021 has led to more organic changes, preserving the disorderly townscape, restricting new developments and promoting the reuse of existing buildings. Thoravej 29 is one such building. Originally constructed in 1967 for the fur trader Danske Pelsauktioner, it was designed by architect Erik Stengade. The building has a floor area of 6,336m2 and features a concrete frame with loadbearing columns and prestressed TT slabs. Its unremarkable facade, clad in yellow machine brick, had undergone various insensitive renovations over the years. Looking down the street today, you hardly notice the significant economic investment that has transformed this unassuming block into the talk of the Danish architecture scene. The gables and facades have maintained the dull yellow brick, while white plastic windows from the first floor and upwards reflect the lack of aesthetic consideration in past renovations. Weathered fibre cement boards finish the volume against the sky behind a railing that encloses the terrace on the recessed third floor – hardly anything that draws attention. And yet, a slender, raw aluminium profile framing the ground‑floor openings offers a subtle clue that a contemporary architect was here. In 2021, Bikuben Foundation – established in 1989 as the grant‑giving heir to former Danish savings bank Sparekassen Bikuben – purchased the building for 80 million Danish kroner (£9.2 million). The foundation aimed to foster closer connections with those it supports by generating a creative and collaborative community centred around the foundation’s own offices. Today, the building houses a carefully curated community of approximately 30 organisations. Most are in the cultural sector, such as SMK Fridays, which runs the youth programme at the National Gallery of Denmark. Others are focused on social issues, such as Analyse & Tal, a data consultant on societal trends, and Hjem til Alle Alliancen, a homelessness charity for young people. Thoravej 29 is a cornerstone of the Bikuben Foundation’s portfolio, with its architectural transformation prioritised from the outset. The foundation invited three young architecture firms to present concepts based solely on a single A4‑page proposal. Each architect was paired with an engineer and a contractor for an initial development phase. As has become almost customary in Danish architectural selection processes, Pihlmann Architects emerged as the winner – this time alongside contractor Hoffmann and engineers ABC Rådgivende Ingeniører. Pihlmann Architects is run by architect Søren Pihlmann. His career started in a highly successful collaboration with Kim Lenschow under Lenschow & Pihlmann before they went their separate ways in 2021. With primarily conceptual work and a few smaller buildings, Pihlmann has been awarded Denmark’s most prestigious architectural awards and is curator of the Danish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. Thoravej 29 is the firm’s largest project to date. Fuelled by strong client marketing, including a recently published book that thoroughly documents the project’s process, the expectations have been sky‑high. With that challenging outset, it is the more impressive that the completed refurbishment surpasses them all. The ground floor facing Thoravej features various doors and garage gates. All new facade work is meticulously finished in an industrial raw metal. This includes the canopy, which helps identify the main entrance among the many doors leading to staircases, an exhibition space at one end, and an art gallery at the other. Thoravej slopes slightly, prompting three small steps that elevate the entrance. Paired with the canopy, this detail adds a touch of formality to the otherwise understated entrance. Inside, a generous space is bathed in light from the southern glass facade. A wide staircase, divided centrally by a column and beam cross, takes visitors upstairs. It offers a spatial drama that is in striking contrast to the dull ’60s facade. ‘The architectural concept we presented on our initial A4 sheet was that of a building reusing itself,’ Søren Pihlmann explains. ‘The aim was to minimise the use of new materials and reduce waste on site.’ Originally, the building had low ceiling heights and TT slabs spanning from one facade to the other. Improving the vertical connection was a key challenge in creating the cohesive community that the client envisioned. The central staircase rests on a tilted former floor deck. This move was a complex undertaking. ‘If simply cut out, such a slab would break under its own weight,’ Pihlmann explains. ‘We needed to drill down into the slab and get hold of the reinforcement to maintain the stress during demounting.’ Despite hefty new steel landings and significant engineering to maintain structural integrity, the result looks intuitive and convincing. It stands as a centrepiece encapsulating the project’s core architectural concept. ‘Ventilation, electricity and sprinkler systems are all exposed – the result is seductively brutal’ To the right of the entrance is a public café, where the bar counter is made of two stacked TT elements, showcasing another use of the cut‑out decks. A long café table combines deck pieces with a tabletop crafted from scrap wood, including old doors from the building crushed and pressed into an MDF‑like plate. Metal from removed ventilation systems, lamps and suspended ceilings has been pressed into blocks, which serve as holders for vases and magazines. Next to the café, preparations are under way for the grand opening party on the night of my visit. ‘For other uses, the space can be enclosed with acoustic room‑dividers and transformed into a proper auditorium,’ Pihlmann says. In the back, workshops for resident artists are equipped with furniture by Copenhagen studio Archival Studies, which also designed other free‑standing furnishings for the building. The floors of the large open space reveal remnants of former divisions, with tiled sections for wet areas, corridors and repairs beneath old walls. The concrete surfaces are sanded, but traces from former walls are carefully kept on walls and ceilings. New door frames are mounted directly into untreated plasterboard with visible steel edging left exposed. Plain mineral‑wool board fills the gaps in the TT decks for acoustics. Ventilation, electricity and sprinkler systems are all exposed. The result is seductively brutal; despite the potential for troublesome dust, it feels well thought‑out and meticulously executed. Moving up the main staircase, visitors reach the shallow glazed extension added to the original back facade. ‘We needed a proper vertical access for ventilation shafts and other piping to avoid endless perforations weakening the concrete slabs,’ says Pihlmann. ‘The extension provided that and, like the pavement in front, we could reuse the former facade as floors.’ The upper floors in the extension are simple galvanised grates that are easy to cut around the pipes. To avoid overheating, the glass is shielded by – of course – industrial greenhouse curtains. In front, on the first floor, there is a terrace on the larger ground floor, and to the left, a canteen. A library on the right offers a pleasant resting space, featuring gratifying fresh flowers on a TT slab, and comfortable lounge furniture, all placed atop a colourful vinyl billboard by Los Angeles‑based artist Martine Syms. Only two rooms in the building are painted: the white gallery and a ‘black box’ theatre accessed from the basement. Apart from the reused radiators, next to nothing in the building has additional surface treatments. The tilted deck‑stairs reappear, providing access to the second and third floors, which house office spaces, meeting rooms and all the elements of a well‑equipped creative environment. The atmosphere is relaxed yet highly professional. The programming appears efficient, and the omnipresent aesthetic of reuse and raw, off‑the‑shelf architectural assemblages stimulates creative thinking without being importunate. It is rare to encounter architectural work so consistent with a central concept while effortlessly meeting the client’s needs. The architectural concept prioritised minimising new materials and repurposing existing ones to reduce waste. A sustainability report commissioned by the client highlights the impact: 95 per cent of existing materials were retained, resulting in an 88 per cent CO2 reduction compared with a new-build. The refurbishment has cost 120 million Danish kroner (£13.8 million), which equals 19,200 Danish kroner (£2,214) per square metre. This is nothing lavish compared with a standard new office in Denmark.  Thoravej 29 emerges within the debate on a ‘new aesthetic’ aligned with the sustainable transition of Denmark’s building industry. With works like Lacaton & Vassal’s Palais de Tokyo refurbishment in mind, it is debatable whether this aesthetic is really so new. Pihlmann’s version is ascetic but not minimalistic, avoiding the totalising control of a gesamtkunstwerk while remaining deeply architectural in every assembled detail. It has style and a certain humour – both shaped by engagement with the building rather than imposed upon it. The true achievement of Thoravej 29 is affirming a reality that has been unfolding in Denmark: that no respectable company, organisation or institution can build a new domicile without seeming hopelessly blind to the present moment. Instead, find a suitable existing structure and make use of what is already there. You can always go to Thoravej 29 to see how it is done. Stages of transformation: