Elevators are easily recognizable, spectacular structures in their own way, but adapting them to a different function is not easy. However, this does not happen so rarely: for many years a student dormitory has been set up in such a facility in Oslo, this fall in the Cape Town port in the elevator a museum of African art will open, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, and in May 2017 the first tenants moved into The Silo apartments. converted from an industrial building into a home by the architects of the COBE bureau.
The Silo with a total area of 10,000 m2 is located in Norhavn, Copenhagen's North Harbor, which is now being transformed from an industrial area into a mixed-use area. The residential complex has 38 apartments on one or more levels with a total area of 106 to 401 m2, and the ceiling height in some cases reaches seven meters, and several of these dwellings have preserved the rough concrete of the original elevator walls. All residents received panoramic windows and balconies, and the frames were placed on the outside and not visible from the interior.
The most visible feature of the project is the galvanized steel facade. It covers the concrete walls of the elevator, but emphasizes its industrial essence and the past of the entire area - both immediately after installation and darkening over time.
The first of the 17 floors of the building is occupied by space for various events, and above, in a glass block, there is a restaurant, which turns into a kind of lantern at nighttime; from there, views of the city and the sea.
According to the architects, The Silo is both a dwelling and a tourist attraction; especially important for them was the very fact of the revitalization of the industrial heritage, which allows preserving the history of the city, transforming the "industrial waste" in the public consciousness into valuable and important objects.
