![Section through Distillery [originally at 1:50]](/sites/default/files/styles/header_image/public/2025-05/1-50_Distillery_Section_2-01.jpg?itok=zqSlDVVV)
Productive Landscapes is a scheme that aims to develop a disused brickworks within Mergelgravene, an industrial area located in the port city of Esbjerg. The city lies on the coast of Jutland, an area of western Denmark, situated within the World Heritage site of the Wadden Sea.
Taking into consideration the existing sheds onsite, the project looks at transforming the area into both a productive and ecologically conscious space, rewilding the land of the former brickworks to allow for nature to seep into the city from the sea coastline. This thesis proposes an Akvavit Distillery (Scandinavian spirit) with a space for growing botanicals and accommodation for workers.
Considering the 100m radial boundary for new construction surrounding the wind turbine, existing buildings located within this will be redeveloped to allow for storage and other back-of-house processes, with the new buildings positioned by the waters’ edge of the Mergelgravene lake, once excavated for its clay and marl resources.
Enhanced by the journey taken throughout the site of both public and productive processes, the scheme aims to utilise the positioning of the site close to the city centre, while being accessible by farmlands to the northeast for grain intake.
A series of three walls (wind barrier, rammed earth heat store and timber insulated) act as a guide for both people and product through the scheme, functioning as a spine for the various processes of living, growing, distilling and enjoying.
The Marl Distillery includes a copper-clad tower providing views across to the neighbouring island of Fanø, while acting as a waymarker in the flat Danish landscape. Vernacular thatch is used on the roof of the distillery building, supported by an exposed timber structure, allowing the weaving of different materials to echo the journey taken by both people and the production of akvavit.
