DELEGÅRDE – BEVAR MERE

Across the Danish landscape, thousands of farms and agricultural buildings hold distinct cultural and historical value. Many are vacant or threatened by demolition, yet they hold significant potential for new forms of housing, communities, and businesses in rural settings. Working from a transformation over demolition approach, the studio develops new strategies for how the existing building stock can frame contemporary life and activities – with respect for both the site’s history and the resource demands of the future.

BEVAR MERE – TRANSFORMATION OF AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS

This approach forms the basis of the project Bevar Mere, an initiative supported by Grundejernes Investeringsfond, Landsbyggefonden, Dreyers Fond, and Realdania. The aim is to create attractive and climate-conscious environments by preserving, reusing, and transforming existing buildings rather than constructing new ones.

Across the country, around 110,000 manor houses, farmhouses, residential buildings, and agricultural outbuildings stand vacant – corresponding to approximately 60 million m² of existing building stock. The transformation of these buildings therefore represents not only an architectural opportunity, but also a significant resource and climate initiative.

At the same time, the project explores how traces of lived life – materials, construction, and patina – can add character and historical depth to architecture.

Within the project, the studio has drawn on experience from its own ongoing transformations of former agricultural properties into, among other things, a visitor centre and commercial use. These projects have highlighted the complex challenges that often accompany the adaptation of older buildings, including hazardous materials, energy requirements, fire safety, building regulations, and financial constraints. These experiences have formed the basis for the development of new tools and methods that can make the process more accessible for both private and professional stakeholders.

DELEGÅRDE – TOOL FOR NEW COMMUNITIES

DELEGÅRDE is a development tool for families, communities, and initiators who dream of transforming traditional farms into modern co-housing communities with space for multiple generations under one roof. The tool functions as a strategic instrument in the early stages – from initial considerations through to concrete planning – and creates an overview of opportunities, challenges, and decision-making processes.

It does not provide a fixed answer but helps structure the questions along the way and qualify the dialogue with prospective co-residents, authorities, advisors, and financial institutions, making the path from idea to realisation more safe, clear, and concrete.

The tool was developed in collaboration with Björn Emil Härtel Jensen from Byværk as part of the work with the transformation of existing agricultural buildings.