Torpedo Hall Apartments
Tegnestuen Vandkunsten

Photo: arcspace

Located in the old Torpedo (boat) Hall the 67 apartments designed by Tegnestuen Vandkunsten are the first loft-style residences made available in Copenhagen. 

With its canals and maritime atmosphere Holmen, the former Royal Naval Dockyards, is an area of great natural beauty and significant architectural value.  The abandoned 17th century red brick warehouses, barracks and foundries now house the Royal Academy schools specializing in drama, film, design, architecture, and music as well as theaters, galleries, restaurants, offices and shops.


Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

The steel and concrete Torpedo Hall, constructed in 1954, served as a maintenance hall for torpedo boats.  In the conversion the architects left the structural elements intact to emphasize the unique architecture of  the 155 meter long building.  Trusses and columns stand untouched by the new building.  Footbridges running across and along the canal street contribute to creating a dynamic sequence of movement.

Photo: arcspace

The new independent concrete structure has the same five meter grid as the columns in the old hall but, to emphasize the two independent structures,  the architects shifted the grid  40 centimeter and pulled back the new facades in relation to the old columns.  Parking is located behind sloping steel panels.

Photo: arcspace

The old roof was removed, leaving the original trusses exposed, to admit daylight into the interior street on the second floor above the garage. Footbridges running across and along the street contribute to the dynamic sequence of movement.  

Photo: arcspace

All apartments can be accessed from the interior street from which a large wooden staircase leads to the lower floors along the canal, the former boat basin, that was kept as an extension to the street.  Owners of small boats can dock on the canal. A free standing elevator is located at the intersection of the upper and lower street, additional elevators are located inside the new building.

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace

The impressive building volume is carried into the light and flexible one- and two-story loft apartments that, varying in both size and layout, all have either a roof terrace or a balcony.  The slender trusses are left exposed in the penthouse apartments where they support the new roof.

Model photo courtesy Tegnestuen VandkunstenInterior Facade Model

Model photo courtesy Tegnestuen VandkunstenExterior Facade Model


Drawing courtesy Tegnestuen VandkunstenPlan


Drawing courtesy Tegnestuen VandkunstenLongitudinal Section


Drawing courtesy Tegnestuen VandkunstenCross Section