A78 Arkitekter: Five decades of people-centred design

By Signe Hansen | Photos: A78 Arkitekter

Founded in Southern Jutland in 1978, A78 Arkitekter has decades to refine its approach – starting with what is already there and complementing that with pragmatism and beauty. From renovations and restorations to new homes, business and tourism, the studio favours local materials, people-centred design, and sound sustainability – the kind that looks to nature, short supply chains and long lifespans, rather than quick fixes.

Like its team members, A78’s history is disarmingly down-to-earth. The name was chosen for a good place in the phone book – a pragmatic approach to client service that still permeates the studio. “We’ve always worked in that space between architecture and budget – getting the buildability, the numbers and the design to add up,” says Thorkild Hansen, partner and director. Over nearly five decades, the studio has tackled a broad sweep of work – housing and one-off homes, logistics and offices, restorations and transformations – for private clients, housing associations and developers across Denmark. “We don’t just draw,” Hansen adds. “We stay with the build.”

Recent years have brought steady growth and a wider footprint, with roots in Aabenraa and an office in Aarhus. The practice remains small enough to be personal — a team of roughly a dozen architects and building constructors — and broad enough to handle complex briefs across renovations, new build, business and tourism.

A78 Arkitekter: Five decades of people-centred design

Bricks, history and a Michelin neighbour

Two recent projects sit within walking distance of each other on the Flensburg Fjord: a newly built yoga studio and the careful renovation of Pearl by Paul Proffitt, a restaurant that has since earned a Michelin star.

The yoga studio pairs a modest, secondary-building typology with a refined material language. “It’s a good fusion of something existing and something new. We chose a local brick, Petersen Tegl, so the new volume speaks to the old house without shouting,” explains Hansen. “The design follows the architecture it sits beside: a former merchant’s villa on the coast, so we looked at how outbuildings have historically appeared in this coastal setting. It’s historically anchored, but never pastiche – you’re in no doubt it’s an addition, quietly contemporary and restrained in form and material.”

Michelin star restaurant Pearl by Paul Proffitt, with its carefully restored exterior and a renewed terrace facing the fjord.

Inside the restaurant, guests are met by a number of bespoke interior moments: bar, wine room, and a concealed door framing arrival.

Indeed, the building beautifully demonstrates some of the core values of A78: start with what stands, choose local materials, create a building that belongs in its environment, and let colour, texture and subtle design features give the building its own unique DNA.

The Pearl restaurant also aptly illustrates this ethos. As the old villa housing the restaurant is worthy of preservation, A78 focused on highlighting and renewing the existing exterior characteristics with a renewed facade and roof, and a larger terrace and outside dining area. Meanwhile, on the inside, craft and atmosphere are in focus with bespoke interior moments – a bar, a wine room, even a concealed door that turns arrival into a small performance.

Yoga studio – a quiet brick annexe, tuned to the proportions of the historic villa.

A78 Arkitekter: Five decades of people-centred design

Tiny houses among the trees

A78’s work also stretches into the landscape. In the woods behind the fjord, the team is developing small cabins as part of a planned gourmet route along the popular Gendarmstien. The aim is to solve a practical problem for places like Pearl, which has no accommodation for guests, and to create an extra experience with a hiking route that offers beautiful scenery and day-walks between unique culinary experiences and an equally unique type of accommodation.

“The idea is that you walk 25–30 kilometres, have your bag carried like on the Camino [de Santiago], eat really well, and step straight into a quiet, nature-first overnight,” says Hansen and adds: “We’re working with sustainable materials, and the aim is to place the units lightly in the forest.” The cabins answer a practical need – overnight stays near the restaurant – and a broader ambition to bring architecture and nature closer together without overbuilding.

Because the cabins will be placed within areas of coastal protection and preserved forest, the studio is working within the national pilot for coastal projects.

Five decades of designing for people

Five decades on, A78 still balances the same three levers: pragmatism, respect for the existing environment – whether built or natural – and subtle aesthetic signatures. The phone book practicality remains – budget discipline, buildability, and local roots – and so does the appetite to try new forms, whether that is a discreet brick annex or a treetop cabin on a forest edge.

A78 Arkitekter Five decades of people-centred design