It’s not often that something as modest as a former Aldi store gets a makeover by a star architect, but that’s exactly what’s happening with the Paperkunst Museum. Designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), the museum completely transforms the existing building that houses the paper museum into a light-filled space framed by an eye-catching roof that resembles a giant piece of paper draped over the building.
The museum is located in Denmark’s Jutland peninsula, occupying a former Aldi supermarket building which has been vacant since the company decided to pull out of Denmark in 2022. Unfortunately, there are no photos of the original store, but one of BIG’s senior architects posted the current museum building to his Instagram page, and it’s really going to be a transformational one, as it basically looks like a standard Aldi store with a big museum sign.
It is 900 square metres (1,076 square feet) but will be more than doubled to create space for workshops, events, classrooms, storage and office facilities. The walls of the existing building will be given a new layer of origami-inspired acoustic paper art on the outside, and a lot of glass will be added, as well as the same wood used to make paper.
Of course, paper-related exhibits are central, and the current Paper Museum, for example, includes a so-called “paper airplane airport” and activities such as paper boats that children can play with.
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“Paper art is the creation of three-dimensional shapes and complex images from a monochromatic, two-dimensional material – a single sheet of paper,” says Bjarke Ingels, principal of BIG. “By treating the roof surface like a piece of paper, existing and new functions come together in one unified gesture. Clarity enhances expressiveness, simplicity breeds complexity, and an outdated supermarket is given new life beneath the floating, curved roof.”
Ambitious renovations are currently a big trend in architecture, with many influential designers and industry leaders looking to improve existing buildings rather than build from scratch and reduce construction-related pollution. The Key Quarter Tower is one notable example of this approach, but others include the Domino Sugar Factory and the Pyramids of Tirana.
It is not yet known when the Papyrus Museum is scheduled to be completed.
Source: BIG
