Location: Albertslund South (Albertslund Syd)
Year: 2014 - 2022
Architect: Vandkunsten
Engineer: Wissenberg a/s (totalrådgiver)
Consultant: Sociolog Lise Gamst, Urbano, Transolar, Imgaine Envelope, Daniel Wedel fra Soul Food, Simon Austin og Mark Vacher.
Program: Renovation of not-profit housing (1st Prize in competition for masterplan for urban transformation)

[Text description translated from the project statement on the official website of Vandkunsten – All rights to the content belong to the original author]

Preservation through transformation

The Atrium Houses in Albertslund South belong to the generation of large-scale, low-rise, high-density developments that shot up in Danish suburbs in the 1960s. An industrialized and uniform development in a technical quality that, unfortunately, has called for improvement through numerous renovations over the years. As part of a project competition, Vandkunsten paved the way for a new renovation practice by bringing both sustainability and autonomy to the Atrium Houses. Vandkunsten’s winning proposal aimed for ‘preservation through transformation’. The approach revolves primarily around modifying the landscaping and urban spaces to allow for new kinds of activities. The project deliverable contains a large assembly of options and leaves it up to the housing association and the tenants to pick and choose and coordinate solutions. The renovation of the more than 1,000 homes will be ongoing until 2022.

Historically, the low rent in non-profit housing has come at the cost of top-down administration and a high degree of uniformity. That is no longer the case today. The Atrium Houses allow for personalized solutions in the individual homes, and general proposals from the building committee are subject to collective decision-making.

With 1000+ houses to be renovated, series of solutions are validated by 1:1 mockups in test houses. Winning the competition of the renovation of the Atritum Houses, we saw a possibility to mark a turning point in large non-profit renovation and for Danish building practice in general: here was the chance to build and rebuild with a noticeable reduced load of waste. The plan show the 1001 Atrium Houses to be renovated as one of the largest cases of renovation in the country and certainly our largest project to date.

New facades are designed using sustainable design principles for disassembly. This mock-up detail holds a facade panel without perforation allowing for direct reuse or simple disassembly for cleaning or exchange. From the outset, the ambition has been to transform the Atrium Houses in a way that sets new standards for sustainable renovation. Reusing materials that have been discarded and replaced is a key part of this strategy; for example, discarded fence slats have been used to build raised beds. The tenants’ catalogue of options is an online webshop. After visiting the test houses, tenants can sit at home and shop and select the options for their individual home. Fittings, the color of the front door, and the entire interior layout are to be selected. Some options are free and others will add to the monthly rent.

Five houses have been completely renovated to test technical solutions as well as design options and interior layouts. A sixth mockup house has been renovated to test the results of the first round.

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© Image credits: Vandkunsten & Torben Eskerod

Sustainable transformation - Vandkunsten website

G. Musante, Ricostruire, riabitare, ripensare, in "Domus", n° 1027, 2018