It is committed to preserving the unassuming essence of Kunsthal 44 and continues repurposing structures that previously served practical functions, including an old farmhouse, remnants of a demolished farm, a blacksmith, and a 1970s auto mechanic. These have shaped a diverse typological cluster, evident already as construction began, a collage which is amplified with a new hall for sound art and a residency building, forming a central courtyard aligned with the original rural layout. The hall, evocative of a barn, echoes the transformed auto mechanic, while the residency interprets the humble farmhouses.

The manifold heritage of the kunsthalle and its surroundings is evident in the choice of materials, intentionally kept to a minimum, employing unembellished, locally accessible construction components and, more importantly, harnessing their inherent qualities which are typically underutilized in contemporary norms.

For instance, industrial insulation, most often concealed behind finishing layers, is deliberately exposed within the new hall, serving not only to regulate the climate, but also to enhance the acoustics of a space dedicated to sound. Both additions are clad with corrugated steel sheets in varying configurations and dimensions, ranging from the more refined to the rather pragmatic, subtly revealing the programmatic objectives which span from the intimate residential building to the more industrial exhibition space.

In juxtaposing the old with the new, the restorations carefully maintain the characteristics of the existing buildings, while the additions are clearly recognized as contemporary interpretations of them. This interplay between resourcefulness and authenticity is naturally embedded in the artistic program Kunsthal 44, ensuring that it remains a space where local tradition and critical experimentation coexist, elevating the cultural landscape of Møn.

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The summer house is an interpretation of a traditional longhouse typology and the vernacular architecture found in the area with the characteristic barns clad in wood. The construction is designed around a grid made of glulam, which rests on cast point foundations. The intention has been to anchor the house more gently and be able to preserve the old trees on the site and hopefully create the impression that it rests on tree trunks and that the architecture does not oppress its natural surroundings and the forest floor.

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Emerging from functional necessity, three interposed masonry cores containing essential elements of a house – storage, stairs, and pipework – were introduced in the early stages of the process. Between them residual spaces emerge, not defined by walls, but instead functioning as fluid entities to be inhabited in various ways.

Without replicating, every addition refers to what already is. The masonry of the interposed cores, subtly differentiate themselves from the original bricks in dimensions, tone, and composition. Simultaneously, removed elements, such as crushed bricks repurposed into terrazzo flooring, interweave with the additions, both bringing original craftsmanship into consideration and embracing modern machinery and prefabricated components.

Despite the variation in appearance, every intervention from subtle regrouting of the exterior brickwork to distinct changes of the interior, engages with the existing without overriding its unpretentious character; at first glance, it still appears as just a house.

The transformation embodies an openness towards the unpredictable which does not thrive in the digital and schematic space. The construction site functioned as both studio, laboratory, and forum, fostering ongoing dialogue between the client, craftsmen, and architect. Here, rather than at the office, studies of building physics and materials continuously laid the foundation for every intervention and intentionally slow progression.

It allows the house to be an unfinished collage, cultivated by tactile on-site experimentation. Embracing the inherent uncertainties of the time ahead, the transformation is not aimed at completion but rather transition to another circumstance, acknowledging its eventual succession by others.

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By contrasting a tiny and unassuming gable with relatively tall rooms, the house appears small from the outside but spacious from the inside. The guest room is accessed from the outside as a way of further economizing on interior space, contributing at the same time a sense of privacy between the host and their guests.

Birch plywood is economically applied only where the body and walls come into contact, reducing material use and exposing different layers in the construction. Structural elements are left visible and allow one to recognize and follow the becoming of the house, creating an experience of temporal lightness.

The house’s facade sheets generate thin, shadowy lines across the structure, producing a subtle sense of hovering. The airy aesthetic is apparent throughout, from the thinly cut metal pieces making up the bathroom to the delicate wooden frame and its low density wood fiber insulation.

The project examines a lighter way of building, ecologically as well as aesthetically.

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The extensions and the new interior building elements are mainly simple wooden constructions and reiterate the dimensions and rhythm of the original pump stations’ concrete relief. This creates a direct link between the old structure and the new, while adding a new material and another texture that is pleasing to the touch. With this detail, the cladding and the main structure become one, reducing the complexity of the building, which is reflected in the budget as well as the final expression.

Myhrwold and Rasmussen engineered the original pump stations from 1966 to be unsentimental and raw in their materiality, and the vertical relief of the concrete façades reminds us of the surrounding ploughed furrows of the fields, and profiles of the soil that control the run of the river. By building on this motif the anchoring of the buildings into the surroundings and the history of the site is strengthened.

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As a recreational counterpart to urban life built for a Copenhagen-based family, the first version of The Danish Cottage transforms an existing farmhouse by bridging historical layers, tradi- tional building techniques, and contemporary design. Surrounded by an apple orchard and a strip of small lakes, the barn was left as the only remnant on the site. The transformation, therefore, revisits the barn, using the ground floor as a starting point to create a rustic and authentic atmosphere with exposed brick walls, framing the flexible area of the building. Whitewashed both on the interior and exterior of the building, the bricks draw on regional identity, while the concrete-coated floor adds contrast to the interior with a raw, yet polished expres- sion. The ground floor spaces are intended for use during summer when outdoor and indoor activities merge to a greater extent; where major events unfold; where friends and family gather; and where the large gates open towards the spectacular setting surrounding the house.

In a quest to create an ideal getaway from a hectic city life, the ground floor was added a new roof structure that provides a framework for the living spaces. Characterized by an optimized floor plan organized around a central core, the living area on the 1st floor is covered with oak, adding warmth to the space while contributing to the feeling of home. On the exterior, the roof pro- file and dark green color resonate with traditional farmhouses in the area, which were originally equipped with pitched roofs as a pragmatic feature rather than adding a new roof structure in need of more capacity. This functionality is reused in the house, only this time to allow for a particular height throughout the entire space. Designated for togetherness and modern comfort, the 1st floor has precise edges and carvings where wood clad- ding adds smoothness to the space and emphasizes proporti- ons in the new architectural element.

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A shelter in its original sense has connotations of basic living serving a merely functional purpose and attending to our primal need of having a roof over our head. The starting point of the Vipp shelter is going back to basics; back to nature with basic functions defining a dense, compact space yet wrapped in the Vipp DNA with a clear aesthetic coherence and use of solid materials. In this way, the shelter becomes a tool that facilitates a nature escape.

“The objective was not to make a house or a mobile home. Vipp is rooted in the manufacture of industrial objects, so the term shelter is a typology that allows us to define this hybrid as a spacious, functionally generic, livable object”. – Morten Bo Jensen, chief designer in Vipp.

According to Morten Bo Jensen, the biggest difference between this getaway compared to anything else on the market is the fact that he is not an architect. The shelter is conceived more like a product than a piece of architecture that melds seamlessly with its surrounding. We didn’t start with a piece of land on which we customized a house taking into consideration the natural surroundings. “There is plenty of amazing architecture out there, but we wanted to conceive something different; an escape in the form of an object designed down to last detail, where the only choice left to the customer, is where to put it”. Downscaling a house or a pavilion to a product has given birth to the Vipp shelter and what Vipp encourages us to do with this modern escape is to live within the frame of a product.

To where the inspiration comes from, Morten Bo Jensen explains; “Large volume objects like a plane or a ferry are a clear reference in the design, like these products the shelter is a voluminous, transportable, complex design construction.”

The Vipp DNA unfolds in every details and the company’s favorite material since 1939, steel, is a recurring element cutting across the shelter frame and exterior facade, the kitchen modules and down to its accessories. As there are very few objects within the space, it was critical that their design and materiality work well with the minimal interior finishes. Favoring function over form while making sure all products are part of the same recognizable family is a recurring theme in Vipp’s product development and also a primary objective for the development of the shelter. As a result, the sensation of a contiguous space carefully thought out to the last detail is what welcomes you in the Vipp shelter.

The simple steel grid structurally supports the two level space, where only the bathroom and bed loft is shielded from the main living space. Within the transparent shell, nature is omnipresent yet with a physical blindage that provides shelter from the extreme winters in the north. The geometry is distributed with short distance to window frames accentuating the sensation of nature’s proximity from each angle in the shelter blurring the distinction of indoor outdoor space.

“We are challenging the trend that everything we surround ourselves with has to be high-technological”, explains Morten Bo Jensen.

Vipp takes on an analog approach in creating an operational living space that works and therefore begins with function. “If you are cold you heat up the fireplace centrally positioned in the shelter for an equal distribution of heat; if you are warm you slide open the parallel windows to create natural air-condition. By locating the house in the deep deciduous woods, we are able to take advantage of the leaves as sun shading in the summer months. In the winter, when the trees lose their leaves, the building’s black exterior absorbs sunlight and with the fireplace, there is a reduction in fuel consumption”.

The perfect getaway retreat should by definition be remote, smart but spartanious and surrounded by breathtaking nature. On top of this Vipp has added the criteria of simplifying the process of creating your own getaway. When buying the Vipp shelter you buy into a design approach where choices have already been made based on a long experience within processing of solid materials with a defined aesthetic idiom. Designers and engineers have made the necessary deselections and defined the construction and material requirements. Prefabrication was an essential criteria in the construction meaning that the installation process can happen within a couple of days without an elongated process on a construction site.

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