ISFUGLEN – WINTER BATHING HOUSE

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  • 2022

  • Built Environment
    Architectural Design

Designed By:

Commissioned By:

Brøndby Municipality

Winterbathers club "Bifrost"

Designed In:

Denmark

The winter bathing house “Isfuglen” is a club for winter bathers and consist of sauna, community room and changing facilities. It’s located at the very tip of the entry point to Brøndby Marina, South of Copenhagen. The project is 110m2 and was commissioned by Brøndby Municipality and the winterbathers club.


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Image: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
Image: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
Image: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
Image: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
Image: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
Image: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
Image: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
Image: Helene Høyer Mikkelsen
  • CHALLENGE
  • SOLUTION
  • IMPACT
  • MORE

  • The location is unique and provides the house with a special opportunity to become an active and visible part of the Marina and life in the water. In addition to this, the prominent location allows for the house to become a small beacon when entering the harbor from the sea side. The strict local planning restrictions meant that new buildings in the marina area should be a “copy-paste” of the exiting iconic fisherman cottage typology on site. This was challenged in this project.

  • The design development of the house is based on analyzing and interpreting the existing fishermen's cottages placed on the Marina. The new bathing club is a modern interpretation of these icons. The house creates cohesion to the existing buildings in shape and color, while at the same time expresses its own unique identity. A recognizable identity and a shape that substantiates a story of the harbor as an active and innovative gathering point.

  • Isfuglen is made with a focus on social sustainability, gathering and easy access as well as healthy building materials, good acoustics and daylight environment. The project has become a gathering point, a destination, not just for the people who enjoy the cold rinse of water in winter, but for everyone who want to enjoy the water from here and take a rest on the big wooden public deck that connects the club house to the stair down to the waves.

  • The project offers access to a sauna with a breath taking panorama view of the water and associated changing rooms with skylights and colors of the blue sea. Furthermore, a generous community space has been placed as you enter the building. From the very enclosed entry façade this opens up towards the wooden terrace and the ocean. The walls shifts between big windows and a reflective surface that mirrors the view. The ceiling oscillate like waves – with references to the existing iconic sheds on site. The idea is that the visitor never loses sight of the context, so even in the heat of the sauna you feel the presence of the sky, the water and the magnificent harbor. The aim is to connect man and nature.