Architecture | EFFEKT’S Thurohus Merges Design with Narrative

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish design studio Effekt’s Thurohus apartment complex features textured brick facade. The brick allows for the building’s homogeneous integration into the surrounding archetypal Frederiksberg streetscape narrative.

Thurohus occupies a former industrial lot, and Effekt says its design was informed by the existing scale and historical qualities of its contextual surroundings.

“Thurohus is a reinterpretation of the typical Frederiksberg perimeter block, referencing the existing historical surroundings in materials and details, but at the same time offering a new interpretation and rejuvenation of the typology.”

Thurohus features a tapered pitched roof echoing the shape of nearby Godthaab church. The building, portioned into three smaller sections, enables diversity in apartment type and simple brick-walled balconies appear to float above a paved shared courtyard. The design also allows for a small yard yielding a soft barrier between public and private space.

Inside the apartments are pale wood floors and angular white painted walls and ceilings. Dezeen writes those features promote an open and spacious feeling.

“This feeling of openness is enhanced in the apartments that occupy the upper storeys, where double-height rooms incorporate mezzanines and skylights integrated into the sloping ceilings.”

Do you love or loathe this work of contemporary brick architecture? Let us know in the comments.