pihlmann

The book 'Thoravej 29' provides an in-depth account of the transformation of a former factory at Thoravej 29 in Copenhagen, detailing its three-year journey from early 2022 to 2025. Through text, drawings, and over 300 images from before, during, and after construction, it offers insights into an architectural approach that prioritizes valuing and integrating materials often overlooked or considered peripheral.

The book delves into the project's methodologies, detailing material modifications and spatial reconfigurations that showcase the building's adaptation over time. The physical design of the book itself reinforces these themes, employing diverse paper types to layer various documentation methods, including 3D scans, systematic tracing and categorization of every building material found within and around the pavilion, renovation schedules, and detailed technical drawings.

The project highlights the retention and repurposing of 95% of the existing materials based on their inherent qualities, with examples such as slabs repurposed into stairways, facades into pavement, and doors into furniture.

Laid out by Alexis Mark and structured into ten chapters, each dedicated to a distinct architectural intervention, the book presents a unique perspective on the transformation. It incorporates timelapses tracking specific locations during the change, alongside extensive documentation by photographer Hampus Berndtson, covering both the construction process and the completed project. Further insights are provided through work-in-progress snapshots, originally captured for internal documentation, and technical drawings at various scales.

A continuous conversation between publisher Kristoffer Lindhardt Weiss and architect Søren Pihlmann threads throughout the book, framing the project's conceptual and practical dimensions. Thematically, the book examines an approach to material use beyond conventional practices and an experiment in dismantling hierarchies, contributing to architectural discourse.

'Thoravej 29' delves into the emergence of a new material culture, where industrial-era building practices' products are utilized as resources, and explores the pursuit of illogical pragmatics.

Generously supported by The Bikuben Foundation.