Resource Rows seen from the east. The brick panels are fabricated by the architect from cut-out segments of old brick walls complete with mortar. When put together they from a an almost knittet texture. On brick level it saved 500g CO2 per brick or 70%

© Rasmus Hjortshøj

The brick wall panels were cut out of existing buildings in one piece carrying their history with them. The combination of vertical and horizontal bricks and the offset surface gives the scheme an instantly animated and warm look.

© Rasmus Hjortshøj

The steel bridge that stretches at an angle across the courtyard connecting the two parallel terraces roof-to-roof is a recycled roof truss. Upcycling brings the architect closer to the materials in a role not unlike the historical baumaister.

© Rasmus Hjortshøj

The terraced houses are in three stories and has direct access to a roof top green house. All exterior wood is upcycled waste wood. Lendager applied an old Japanese technique charring the surface with fire to impregnate it.

© Rasmus Hjortshøj

The south facing row houses have a small garden in front of the entrance. The scheme facilitates and inspires to recycling and a more sustainable lifestyle.

© Rasmus Hjortshøj

Resource Rows and landscape seen from above.

Ground floor of the Resource Rows.

Floor Plan third floor Ressource Rows

Long section of the Resource Rows seen from the south.

Long section of the Resource Rows including courtyard

Upcycle brick panel assembly diagram showing the workflow for cutting out, upcycling and applyng the panel.

Ørestad Syd is a new development area in Copenhagen. As people move away from rural areas and towards cities, we witness an expansion of urban settlements. The abandoned rural homes are often demolished, resulting in large amounts of material being wasted. The Resource Rows utilizes demolition waste.
Neighbouring the nature area of Kalvebod Fælled, it is possible to get the best of both worlds. The scheme is arranged around an open courtyard, with two rows of three-storey terraced houses bookended by two five-storey apartment blocks. There is a shared courtyard and roofscape, which includes 29 rooftop houses. The green areas of this previously uninhabited district are thus reshaped into the green areas of the settlements shared spaces.

The Resource Rows address challenges related to climate, resource scarcity, waste, community and urbanisation. The goal is to contribute to lowering the industry’s CO2-emissions and material consumption, and ultimately contribute to making construction regenerative. The material innovation process was as interesting as the architecture and revitalized the architect in a role similar to the historic baumeisters.

With the client we wanted to explore how future cities can make the best use of all available resources. We concluded harvesting materials from old buildings is the future of new build. This way of thinking has great potential to generate economic, environmental, and social value. We explored the notion that all materials, buildings, cities, and people are resources that always maintain value.

The materials have been harvested and put into production by the architects. We developed methods for scaling the reuse of untapped resources in “construction waste” to build new homes, using sustainable, non toxic and certified materials! The result show that the utilization of existing resources has a positive direct impact on the environment!

By reusing waste wood and the walls from abandoned buildings as new facade elements, we save CO2 and virgin materials, while also getting a new building with history and character. These inherent stories also function as shared references binding the tennants closer together soiallyh. The blocks are made with a double skin structure. However, in the terraced houses, the outer brick panel skin is tied back to an inner timber frame.
Recycle materials includes façade bricks and aluminium, internal floors, exterior wood for terraces and decking and roof top houses including the windows. The exterior timber was waste form the crates used for transporting concrete element for the Copenhagen Metro. The wood has been applied an old Japanese technique charring the surface with fire to impregnate it.
A design will never be part of the solution unless it adds value to the project. Our LCA and LCC show that a rowhouse over 50 years saves 29% CO2 on building level and are cost-neutral to operate compared to benchmark.