fold

Architecture and interiors, Copenhagen.

Work Workplace

Lagerhal

Odense Havn, Funen. 2026. Under construction.

The inside of a concrete warehouse during works, with steel props and scaffolding in front of a tall opening and tools leaning against a rough wall.

The ground floor in May, with the old loading door opened up and the slab propped for the new openings.

A cooperative of 22 makers bought the warehouse together: joiners, ceramicists, printers and a bicycle builder. The building is a concrete frame with brick infill, and the frame is the part worth keeping. Work started in March and the first workshops open in January 2027.

The frame

The warehouse is a concrete frame from 1934, with a column grid of 6 by 6 metres and a slab that was designed for sacks of grain. The slab can carry more than any workshop will put on it, which is the reason the cooperative bought the building.

We are keeping every column and all the slab. New openings are cut in the infill brick and in two places in the slab, where we need light and a stair.

A small room with turquoise painted walls, two large windows, boxes, old shelves and rubbish on the floor.
The old foreman’s office, as found. It will become the cooperative’s meeting room.

Light into the floor

The building is 36 metres long and 14 deep, and the middle of the ground floor had no daylight. We are cutting two slots in the first-floor slab, each 2.4 by 12 metres, and putting rooflights above them. The slots also let the dust and the noise of the woodshop rise out of the way.

A dark timber-lined room with one small bright window, two plastic chairs, packaging on the floor and a long shelf on the left.
A timber store room on the upper floor. The boards and the window will stay.

Sharing the tools

The two shared workshops hold the machines that nobody can afford alone: a panel saw, a thicknesser, a kiln and a press. A booking board on the wall shows who has which machine and for how long. The kitchen is the only room every member passes through, and it is placed at the end of the yard door on purpose.

Where it stands

Demolition and propping are done. The new slab openings are cut and the steel is being fitted. The first workshops open in January 2027, the studios in the spring.

Drawings

Plan of Lagerhal Ground floor plan, with the harbour to the north. Scale 1 to 200. Rooms: Wood and metal workshop, Ceramics and print, Kitchen, Meeting room, Studios. Wood and metal workshop 182 m² Ceramics and print 154 m² Kitchen 35 m² Meeting room 49 m² Studios 84 m² 36 m 14 m 5 m N
Ground floor plan, with the harbour to the north. Scale 1 to 200.
Cross section of Lagerhal Cross section through the workshop and the new slot, looking east. Scale 1 to 100. The roof is a gable, with the eave at 5.4 metres and the highest point at 8.2 metres. Levels: Ground floor, First floor. Ground floor 0 m First floor 3.6 m Span 14 m Eave 5.4 m Ridge 8.2 m
Cross section through the workshop and the new slot, looking east. Scale 1 to 100.

Materials

What the building is made of, where each material is used, and who supplied it.

  • Close photograph of pale oak veneer with a fine straight grain.

    Oak

    Studio partitions and the shared kitchen table

    Ravnkilde Sawmill

  • Close photograph of a warm beige plastered wall with a soft hand-finished texture.

    Lime plaster

    Repairs to the brick infill

    Skovlunde Kalk

  • Close photograph of corrugated zinc sheet, grey with a soft sheen.

    Zinc

    Rooflight kerbs and the new yard canopy

    Vesterhav Zink

  • Close photograph of a brushed brass surface in a muted gold tone.

    Brass

    Signage and door furniture

    Brøndum Messing

Credits

Architect
Fold
Structure
Brink og Lund Rådgivende Ingeniører
Demolition
Fyns Nedrivning
Builder
Fynsk Totalentreprise
  1. 2022 The Printworks Workplace Islands Brygge Built
  2. 2026 Orchard House House Svendborg Under construction
  3. 2025 Kiln Hospitality Nordvest Built