Danish military facility re-purposed as a museum & community hub

Tenderstream member Cobe, together with Drachmann Arkitekter, Jørgen Nielsen and Martin Funch, have been selected as the winning team in the competition to transform Mosede Fort in Denmark. Built in the early 1900s as part of Copenhagen’s coastal defence, the listed fort will enter a new chapter as a museum and community hub, relating stories from the country’s history during and after the First World War. Museum director Tapdrup Mortensen states: "We really feel how history leaves its mark in these times…museums have a high level of credibility, and we must use this actively to create space for conversations about our common history - even when it is complex and when we do not necessarily agree."

The design includes a timber building which will house exhibition spaces, a restaurant, ticket office, and museum shop. Circular objects present in the fort are reinterpreted as windows, framing history, landscape, and memory in new ways. Together with the restoration of the surrounding landscape, the project opens the fort to the public, creating a sequence of spaces for learning, reflection, and everyday use. The ambition is to bring history into the open, establishing the fort as an accessible building that invites visitors to walk, stay, explore, and engage closely with the site’s unique history and significance.

The project is supported by, among others, the philanthropic association Realdania, which was also part of the contest's evaluation committee. Stine Lea Jacobi, philanthropy director at Realdania, stated: "The winning proposal from Cobe shows in an exemplary way how to meet the ambitions for what Mosede Fort should become: on the one hand, a characteristic museum building with its own architectural expression, and on the other, a local meeting place where everyone is welcome.” 

Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research

This tender was first published by Tenderstream on 30.04.2025 here

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