It's not often that we see something as humble as a former Aldi store get the starchitect treatment, but that's what's happening with the Museum for Papirkunst. Designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), it will totally transform the existing building, which hosts a paper museum, into a light-filled space defined by an eye-catching roof that resembles a colossal piece of paper draped over the building.
The museum is located in Jutland, Denmark, and occupies a former Aldi supermarket after it was left empty following the company's decision to exit the country in 2022. Unfortunately, we've no photos of the original store available, though one of BIG's senior architects has posted the current museum building to his Instagram page and it looks essentially like a standard Aldi store with a large museum sign on it, so it really will be a transformation.
It measures 900 sq m (1,076 sq ft) but will be expanded to over double that size to create space for workshops, events, teaching rooms, storage, and office facilities. The existing building walls will also get a new acoustic-regulating layer of paper art on the exterior that are inspired by origami and large amounts of glazing will be added. Additionally, timber will be used that's sourced from the same wood used to make paper.
Paper-related exhibitions will of course be the focus and, for example, the current paper museum includes a so-called Paper-Plane Airport and paper boats for children to play with, among other activities.
"Paper art is about creating three-dimensional shapes and complex images from a monochromatic two-dimensional material – a sheet of paper," says BIG boss Bjarke Ingels. "By treating the roof surface as such – a single sheet of folded paper – existing and new functions are brought together in one unifying gesture. The expressive is accentuated by the clear, complexity arises from simplicity. And an obsolete supermarket finds new life under the floating curved roof."
Ambitious renovations are a massive trend in architecture at the moment, with many influential designers and industry leaders making the push to improve existing buildings instead of building from scratch and therefore reduce construction-related pollution. The Quay Quarter Tower is one notable example of this approach, while others include the Domino Sugar Refinery and Pyramid of Tirana.
We've no word yet on when the Museum for Papirkunst is expected to be completed.
Source: BIG