In spring 2012 PB43’s concert and cultural hall BYGN 5 opened its doors to an artistical and musical playground approved to 499 guests. Entrepreneur Mads Ellebæk Petersen was the initiator of BYGN 5 and coordinated it together with event maker Kasper B. Müller and Steen Andersen for 3 years until PB43 had to move to Nord Havn in 2015. BYGN 5 held various of events such as music and art festivals, clubbing, street markets, exhibitions, performances, food events, workshops, public meetings, and much more. The events were held either by PB43’s users, or external partners or in cooperation between internal and external event makers, both national and international.
The concept behind BYGN 5 was that you should pay what you could manage, having the ones with a large budget support those with a low or non-existing budget, her by supporting the creative growth layer, and those with a good idea but less money to realize the project on marked terms.
The renovation and the technical process of getting the old paint production building approved by the authorities was made possible by thinking out of the box and the work of volunteers, sponsors, donors, and funding from the Local Counsel who recognized that the neighborhood, as well as Copenhagen, need an alternative event and culture place that challenged the usual boundaries of cultural production. Especially there were many expensive technical challenges such as fire approval, security, cleaning up of the pollution from the building’s former use as a paint factory, and ventilation of the halls that were solved by using alternative solutions and being very patient towards the legal and administrative process with the authorities.
Photos by: Vlad Kamenskyy, Maria Dembek, Flora Tosti, Anders Find, Lee Martin & Yann Houlberg, Bo Eggert Dahl, Steen Andersen and more.