Designed for craft beer and disassembly – The Brainstein Taphouse is a combined breweries visitor center and community pivot at the Koege Harbour.

Located at a stretch of municipality-owned quay that is a potential part of the climate strategy of the city of Koege, the Braustein Breweries was faced with a huge challenge when they wished to accommodate their annual 15.000+ visitors with a visitor center, as well as their wish to ‘give back’ to the local community that has been very supportive of the microbrewery. The Braunstein brothers challenged us to combine the potential temporary life span of the building with their vision of an identity-rich architecture and a wish to communicate both sustainable production and the brewery’s role as local pride and anchor.

Our answer is both local and global in it’s approach: By approaching the building design for a potentially temporary lifespan, the Taphouse is ‘designed for disassembly’ to make reuse of the building components a realistic option if the building cannot remain standing – either by rebuilding the whole building elsewhere or by using the materials as part of other projects.

The warehouse is composed of a few sustainable materials, which are not mixed. This has significantly reduced waste compared to similar construction projects. The building is based on simple tectonic principles and is finished entirely with mechanical joints. All primary wall surfaces are without paint or grout.

The wooden floors are laid with waste products from the nearby flooring manufacturer Junckers. The large roof surfaces are made of click-jointed polycarbonate, while the wooden facades are made of CO2-neutral Accoya, which is certified Cradle2Cradle Gold, FSC and the Danish eco-label Svanemaerket.

The Taphouse is partially self-sufficient in electricity from solar panels, and natural ventilation reduces the need for mechanical ventilation.

Braunstein Taphouse is designed as a locally anchored building, located almost exactly at the junction between the city and the harbour as a gateway emphasizing the connection between the two. The ground floor accommodates a café at one end and a restaurant at the other, while the upstairs spaces are used for events and can be used almost free of charge for locals for public events.

The historic buildings and industrial atmosphere of the harbour have inspired the architecture and urban spaces around it. The resulting building emphasizes the identity of the port – both a natural part of it and entirely its own.

An optimised strategy for construction waste reduction and building with pre-fabricated elements minimises the overall material impact.

By only using a few sustainable materials — which are not mixed — the project has significantly reduced waste compared to similar construction projects, while achieving the local pivot the client dreamed about.