The Elephant House
The Elephant House is a project that transforms an existing Chapel building, from the 1880s, into an Activity Centre and Men’s Shed affiliated with Copenhagen Centre for Cancer and Health.
The centre offers different rehabilitation programs that will make use of the new spaces for fitness and training, mindfulness, yoga, discussion groups, events and more. The centre inhabits an adjacent building from 2009 by Nord Architects Copenhagen, and the Elephant House will function as an annex for the centre.
LETH & GORI’s transformation of the former chapel called the Elephant House, seeks a new spatial design that carefully embraces the cancer patients with daylight, warmth, authentic materials and details - in celebration of the craftsmanship and original qualities of the historic building.
The project appreciates and cares for the existing qualities of the historic building and the marks that have been left over time. The simple and authentic timber structures, terrazzo floors and chalkstone block walls. The materials and colour schemes stem from a careful reading and translation of the historic building, for example the decorated wood ceilings. New double steel glass doors and a large steel window painted in Copenhagen green allows light to fill the spaces. Blue solid doors, black handles, dark red furniture elements in MDF, stainless steel kitchens and red lacquered radiators links the new spaces to history and time.
