Copenhagen's restoration architecture wave is undeniable. We dive into the trend

The start of the 21st century brought Copenhagen dynamic bridges, cascading housing blocks and a ski-slope energy centre that all looked like the future. Yet today, in 2026, for many Danish architects, it's the past that’s guiding them into the rest of the century. There’s been a recent wave of restoration architecture projects in the city, showing the social and environmental value of preserving and transforming existing, period fabric rather than building anew.

Discover Copenhagen's new wave of restoration architecture

With the city’s rising tourist numbers set to climb by nearly a quarter over the next decade, there’s been a focus on heritage sites of all eras being polished up and reinforced. This October, the 1642 Rundetårn observatory tower with its copper dome, 1920s telescope and spiralling brick ramp will reopen after an extensive refresh; whilst last year, the 1886 Circus Building, a performance venue with a 1980s colour and light universe by Verner Panton, was revived by Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects.

Denmark’s most-visited heritage attraction, the 19th-century amusement park Tivoli in the heart of Copenhagen, receives approximately 4.3 million visitors each year, so its in-house team of painters, designers, carpenters and even a historian work daily to magically maintain its 183-year-old spirit, whilst balancing the reality of its footfall. For Susanne Mørch Koch, CEO, this work is a natural, fluid and shared ‘calibration’, grounded in time and care for their guests that ‘comes together as a dialogue.’

Originally created as a whirlwind of world cultures and rollercoasters, Tivoli this August celebrated its new Japanese-themed ‘Hikari’ district, supported by a landmark investment of hundreds of millions of Danish kroner. It’s a vibrant street of delights, layered with references from ukiyo-e to konbini, designed with specialists in Japanese culture – all whilst expressing Tivoli’s own playfully nostalgic language, with appearances by mascot Pierrot the pantomime clown.

‘It's a piece of Danish heritage that is really alive,’ says Mørch Koch of Tivoli, ‘it should not turn into a museum. It’s a place that unites a family across generations, and I think we should really try to hold onto those moments of togetherness.’ Whilst being the number one tourist destination in Copenhagen, 65 per cent of Tivoli’s visitors are locals, showing how investment in heritage, as Mørch Koch explained, is an investment in generations of local life.

Just beyond the city centre, in the neighbourhood of Frederiksberg, the local municipal swimming pool dating back to 1934 has just undergone a much-anticipated restoration by architects Cornelius Vöge, with improved facilities and an updated café. ‘The use of the old public baths of the city is probably more popular than ever,’ says Dan Cornelius, architect and founding partner.

The pool’s original colour scheme, informed by its monumental cubist mosaic by Vilhelm Lundstrøm, has been brought back to life as a total scenography, which Cornelius believes is ‘vital’ to its ‘storytelling’. He imagines himself as a ‘biographer, archaeologist and curator’ whilst working on restoration projects, which he believes have ‘always been the most sustainable process of working with architecture.'

At architecture practice Schmidt Hammer Lassen (SHL), renovation, restoration and transformation are the fastest-growing sectors of their business, importantly distinguished by showing the range of possible approaches to heritage, listed and unlisted, from conservation to adaptive reuse. It’s a shift that’s been underscored by the updated Danish National Architecture Policy of 2025, renewed after more than 10 years, which has a much tighter focus on re-use and measuring the whole life cycle of carbon, taking into account, for example, the emissions of material waste.

‘You really have to argue to tear down a building. The threshold for demolition was much lower just a few years ago,’ says Nicolai Overgaard, partner at SHL. He’s overall positive about the policy updates, but aware that connected legislation, such as around operational carbon or change of building use, needs more flexibility to better enable architects who do transform buildings. ‘We’ve started the journey, and it’s really important that we keep working on that path.’

Many of their restoration and transformation projects require a carefully balanced inquiry into the meaning of time, innovation, past and present. The team is currently working on site (for two years so far, scheduled to finish in 2027) at the iconic 1872 Palm House (Palmehuset) at the University Botanical Gardens. It requires nine areas of key specialisms from expert scaffolders, glass and metalworkers, as well as contemporary solutions such as heat-retaining curtains.

Meanwhile, at the 1861 Gothic-inspired brick and stone University Library in Fiolstræde (reopened in 2023), the challenge was to adapt it from an active student library to a public building, requiring considered additions such as secondary glazing and acoustic improvements, all whilst preserving its incredible atmosphere. The painted windows were restored to their original colours using linseed oil paint, rectifying the use of acrylic in the 1980s, thereby restoring a more sustainable and authentic effect.

The practice enjoys reflecting on the logic of every architectural era, weighing up how to respect, return, edit, or expand. ‘I think as architects, we look at old buildings not in a nostalgic way, but in how and why they were constructed. Everything had a function. It’s not about image, but the performance of buildings that becomes interesting,’ says Elif Tinaztepe, partner at SHL, who has led major heritage renovation and transformation work from Australia to Luxembourg.

She’s noticed how these projects have begun to be funded increasingly by corporate and philanthropic interests. ‘Ten years ago, it wasn’t the case. Now, being custodians of these older structures is a huge prestige, and I think it’s an honest wish to be a custodian for the next generations.’

This can be seen at several major projects in Copenhagen. At Arne Jacobsen's 1978 Nationalbank, where SHL is currently working on a radical restoration; at the renovation of the 1950s headquarters of Danish philanthropic organisation Realdania by Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects completed in 2025; as well as at the 1625 Borsen former stock exchange, victim of devastating fire in 2024, where the Danish Chamber of Commerce has opened a visitor’s centre on the construction site for curious locals to observe the revival of their treasured monument carried out by Praksis, VMB and Leif Hansen.

For Tinaztepe, re-use, restoration and renovation have truly ‘seeped into collective consciousness’ in Copenhagen – and, as well as because of a wider awareness of climate change, the second reason is: ‘our honest need to be anchored in something that exists. We want to situate ourselves in a bigger continuum of things,’ she says. ‘Maybe people are tired of chasing the future, and they want to feel grounded.’

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