The focus in the thesis project is to transform a former cement factory into a beach hotel that emphasizes Samsø's cultural heritage and traditional rural architecture. The existing building is a collage of various development stages, with the oldest sections in a detering state and in need of renovation. The project aims to reuse existing materials to reduce global warming potential to express the building’s history and preserve its original character, while incorporating new materials to highlight the meeting between the original and new materials. The thesis examines the building envelope assemblies and details to optimize them according to current standards. By focusing on cultural heritage, atmospheric and materialistic potentials, the project seeks to optimize material selection and programming of the transformation into an aesthetically appealing and sustainable beach hotel. In addition the total CO2 equivalent will be calculated and compared to the same building constructed from all new materials.
The thesis proposes a matrix for selecting materials that best suit the building’s atmospheric and spatial qualities. The matrix is based on a catalog of materials on site, serving as a lookup tool for technical and atmospheric information.