Pihlmann Architects creates modern brewery in former Copenhagen slaughterhouse

Bulbous metal tanks grasp from the place carcasses was suspended on the ÅBEN brewery in Copenhagen, which native studio Pihlmann Architects remodeled from a slaughterhouse right into a a restaurant and bar.

Positioned in Copenhagen’s Meatpacking District, the brewery is housed in a 1932 butchery that has been used for numerous business actions for the reason that early Nineteen Nineties.

Guests enter ÅBEN by means of the constructing’s unique blue-rimmed doorways

Pihlmann Architects maintained and restored lots of the slaughterhouse’s unique options as a part of the renovation for Danish beer firm ÅBEN.

“Turning the area again right into a meals manufacturing facility, with all of the pragmatic measures we had to bear in mind, generated our concepts from the very starting,” studio founder Søren Pihlmann informed Dezeen. “Bringing again the genuine character of the area was key.”

Conical steel fermentation tanks within ÅBEN brewery in Copenhagen — Conical metal fermentation vessels have been suspended the place carcasses used to hold

Organized throughout one open-plan degree, the brewery options the unique gridded rail system from which 980 carcasses used to hold when the area was a slaughterhouse.

Pihlmann Architects changed the carcasses with conical fermentation tanks which can be reached through a low-hanging galvanised metal walkway – additionally suspended from the listed constructing’s unique sawtooth roof.

White tiles lining the walls of ÅBEN brewery in a former slaughterhouse — Pihlmann Architects was led by the constructing’s industrial historical past

Geometric clusters of white wall tiles which were preserved for the reason that Nineteen Thirties have been additionally stored in place, echoing the brewery’s unique goal.

“Bringing the important thing parts again to a worthy situation was extra of a job than deciding on which [elements] to maintain,” famous Pihlmann.

Semitransparent curtains within brewery designed by Pihlmann Architects — Semitransparent curtains divide areas and management acoustics

Areas are delineated by slaughterhouse-style semitransparent curtains, which cloak numerous eating areas which can be positioned across the restaurant’s central open kitchen the place guests can expertise the brewing course of up shut.

Furnishings was stored easy and “unfussy” in an effort to emphasise the restaurant’s industrial parts, together with angular chairs and bar stools completed in aluminium and wooden.

“The [material and colour] palettes are true to perform on the one hand and [true to] historical past on the opposite,” mentioned Pihlmann.

Crimson pink flooring runs all through the brewery, which was in place when the constructing was bought. It was maintained so as to add heat to the in any other case scientific interiors.

At evening, the restaurant’s electrical gentle absorbs this color and displays from the fermentation tanks, making a extra intimate surroundings.

Central open kitchen within ÅBEN brewery — A central open kitchen is flanked by bar stools

Making the meals manufacturing processes seen was on the core of the design idea, based on the structure studio.

“It isn’t solely in regards to the preparation of the meals, it is extra in regards to the brewing happening,” continued Pihlmann.

“The area which produces hundreds of litres day by day is open for everybody to step into, and truly see how and the place the product they devour is produced.”

“In the present day, we’re so indifferent from what we devour, we simply go to the grocery store and decide it up from the chilly counter having no clue the place it is coming from,” she added.

“I am not that naive to assume that ÅBEN alone will change something, however I am satisfied that it is essential to vary this detachment.”

Steel fermentation tank within brewery in Copenhagen — The slaughterhouse’s unique white tiles have been preserved

Pihlmann described her favorite facet of the undertaking as “how the weather we have added each undergo and utilise the present area, not simply visually but additionally by means of their structural perform”.

“The constructing is constructed to hold an enormous load,” she mirrored. “Again then, it was tonnes of lifeless meat. In the present day, it is huge serving tanks from the ceiling.”

Based in 2021, Pihlmann Architects was included in our record of 15 up-and-coming Copenhagen structure studios compiled to mark the town being named UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Structure for 2023.

Earlier slaughterhouse conversions embrace a coaching faculty for cooks in Spain that was as soon as used to butcher meat and a cultural centre in Portugal that’s at present being developed by Kengo Kuma and OODA.

The images is by Hampus Berndtson.