Danish Duo Behind Lumière Bricoleur Designs a Family Home in Former Military Barracks
Centuries after Christian IV of Denmark commissioned his hunting lodge just north of Copenhagen, the Jægersborg Barracks, the landmark building continues to inspire Danish designers. After being sold by the Danish Army in 2010, the Jægersborg Barracks became an apartment complex with its original yellow bricks and red roof intact. It’s no surprise, then, that Lumière Bricoleur, a Danish design firm helmed by Nikoline Henningsen and Morten Ravn, was eager to create a family home for their clients in this historic yet charming site.
“As with most of our projects, we strive to generate the sensation of living inside an art installation, while being comfortable on every level,” says Ravn. Working within the idiosyncratic proportions of the barracks, the designers addressed each challenge with a creative solution. The narrow entryway, for example, receives no natural light, making it the perfect location for a custom site-specific light installation made from an upcycled copper pipe.
The home’s floorplan allows for a natural transition from one room to the next. “In essence, everything the clients need, and a bit more, is spread out harmoniously, with lots of plants and art to enrich the different spaces,” explains Henningsen. The overall interior style derives from Danish and Japanese aesthetics— two sensibilities Henningsen say have, “a strong synergy” and “mutual admiration, so to speak,” for each other, favoring minimalism and lighter woods. The tearoom on the ground floor perfectly melds the two styles with Japanese-inspired art, biophilic decor, and tea set, plus wooden furniture that is locally-sourced, designed, and manufactured in Denmark.
The design duo always strive to transcend the mundane in every project, as evident in the main bedroom, which features wooden beams from Jægersborg’s original construction above the bed. The beams, painted white, add both a stoic and dreamlike mood to the room. As Henningsen says, “Why should we limit ourselves to mere functionality, when in fact, it is possible to turn daily living into a form of three-dimensional poetry?”
