The Silo: New facade for North Copenhagen

The Silo is part of the transformation of Copenhagen’s North Harbour, a vast post-industrial development that is creating a new city district.

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In response to the international interest being shown to a former industrial building that has been cloaked in galvanized steel, Galvanizers Association has produced a detailed account of the architectural statement that is the Copenhagen DLG Silo. The book is written by Isabelle Priest, sub-editor at RIBAJ magazine, and recounts the extraordinary process by which a concrete monolith of Copenhagen’s industrial past has been sensitively repurposed to form an iconic statement for a 21st century skyline.

The Silo, a former grain storage facility, sits in the heart of one of the largest ports in the Baltic basin, Copenhagen’s North Harbour. It has been transformed into statement, luxury accommodation with cultural and amenity provision. It is part of a regeneration scheme that underscores Copenhagen’s push to become the first carbon neutral capital city by 2025.

Regarded as a landmark project across Europe, The Silo shows that galvanized steel facades can be lightweight, functional and aesthetically on point. COBE chose galvanized steel as their preferred material for its honest and lively qualities, which reflect the industrial heritage of the building.

We wanted to keep some of the history and soul of the areaexplains Caroline Nagel, project director and architect at COBE who worked on The Silo, as it has become known.