Polymeren Årslev

GOAL no. 11, 12, 15, 17

A new urban area is based on social communities, sustainable materials and access to nature. An important source of inspiration was a transformed factory – now a vibrant local meeting place.

Depopulation and a demographic shift towards more elderly people and fewer children and young people are jeopardizing the economic viability of villages and small towns the world over.

In Denmark, more than half the population now live in suburbs which have light and air but need greater density, climate adaptation, mixed functions, meeting places and access to nature in order to be more sustainable and stay attractive.

Polymeren is a former factory in the heart of the new town that has emerged through the gradual fusion of the villages of Årslev and Sdr. Nærå and functions today as a suburb of Odense. The factory closed in 2010, but was revitalized when the Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality took it over to turn it into a user-driven cultural melting pot. The factory halls were transformed into a public space with room for sports, concerts, communal meals, office space, a café and other facilities.

Polymeren also inspired a planned future urban development in Årslev, i.e., the project ‘Suburb of the Future’: a new district defined by community-building, climate solutions and sustainability with the reused polymer factory as a landmark.

The project includes a new urban centre that will pull the area together and high-density housing placed as clusters in the landscape separated by wedges of green space. In certain sub-projects ‘Suburb of the Future’ will focus on upcycled and recycled materials. The clusters will be designed to have an identity that reflects the landscape they are in: Bakken (The Hill), Åen (The River) and Skoven (The Woods). Constructed with lanes and a small square, each cluster will appear as a unit, reminiscent of the region’s old country estates. Rainwater is collected in lakes that serve as a shared recreational element.

This project demonstrates how a building stripped of its original purpose can be revitalized as an identity marker and a generator of a new urban area.

Project details

Where: Stationsvej 69, 5792 Årslev

Client: Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality

Architects and advisors: Vandkunsten (master plan), Holscher Nordberg (new urban center), Raw Mobility (infrastructure), DEM & Esbensen (engineers)

Faber’s Factories Ryslinge

GOAL no. 11, 12, 15, 17

A former factory in the small town of Ryslinge now contains four affordable dwellings built using an all-wood modular system. The house-in-house method is a new housing typology that makes it economically viable to reuse the cultural heritage in rural areas.

Due to their unusual diverse volumes and crooked angles historical buildings can be difficult to renovate. Everything must be adapted and custom made, which leads to high labour costs. Cities typically have buyers for these special dwellings, while rural areas lack a similar customer base. As a result, we risk losing these buildings and the cultural heritage they represent.

For many years, the curtain and blinds factory Faber’s Factories in Ryslinge was a major local employer. Today, the building houses four flats, a fitness centre, several entrepreneurial businesses and a café.

The old building had crooked walls, nooks and corners. Hence, the first step in the transformation was to create a 3D model of the building’s interior with a 3D scanner that used laser beams to document distances and colours. Based on this model, the architects developed an all-wood modular system that made it possible to create a ‘house in house’ solution independent of the original building. The housing modules are compact and energy-efficient and have a good indoor climate.

The rugged factory halls remain and are an unheated versatile space around the flats to be used for communal meals, studio space or an indoor playground, depending on the season. Basing the modules on an accurate digital model minimizes production waste. The unheated space has low operational costs, and the modular structure is simple to modify, maintain and reuse.

This project demonstrates that new building methods can make it economically viable and sustainable to transform cultural heritage in rural areas and create attractive and affordable housing.

Project details

Where: Hestehavevej 22, 5856 Ryslinge

Completed: 2020

Client: Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality.

Funded by the Danish Transport, Construction and Housing Authority (Trafik-, Bygge- og Boligstyrelsen).

Building owner: Skibsted Ejendomme

Architects and advisors: Arcgency in collaboration with Ekolab (engineer) and Aarhus School of Architecture