Mikkelsen Architects transforms former post office

News

2 Mar

Transformation from post office to youth housing

How should we, as architects, relate to the civil infrastructure of the 1970s and 80s when its original function no longer exists?

Throughout Denmark, many buildings from this period were constructed for centralized public systems, postal services, logistics, and administration. They were built to last: heavy concrete, clear structural grids, and durable proportions. Today, their function has largely disappeared. However, the architecture still remains, along with its embedded CO2.

Reusing this generation of buildings may become one of the defining challenges of our time. Durable structures and architectural clarity from the recent past, integrated with a forward-looking, holistic approach, can help us develop new, relevant architectural responses.

Mikkelsen Architects is in the early stages of a major transformation project. The starting point is a former post office – the goal is to create over 250 new youth residences in a municipality where there is high demand for good youth housing.

In addition to providing youth housing, the project will emphasize the building's various communal functions and create public paths across the site, ensuring that the new project becomes an integrated and positive addition to urban life as a whole.