EXPLORING THE FIVE SISTERS 19 SILO COMPLEX, 25 fantastic industries PORT OF SEe WWW.25FANTASTISKE.DK is dotted with silos, especially the harbours. The silos heralded a new era for the city and its harbour. But „the sisters“ also represent an important change in how goods were handled. Before the silos were built, grain was stored at the lofts of merchant houses, loose, in traditional warehouses or in sacks. Now the grain was sailed right to the silo, where new machines sucked it up, and the work at the port changed character from physical to mechanical.

fold here 19 // the five sisters SILO COMPLEX, PORT OF AARHUS

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The Five Sisters ÅRHUS HAVN Port of Aarhus ’Mellemarmen’ (middle quay) by Sydhavnsgade

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Dutch-style warehouse Modern era RELATED SITES: The silo complex popularly known as „The Five Sisters“, „The Five Sisters“ stand on marshy ground. What at the time together with the low-rise warehouse on the middle quay was the biggest silo complex in Scandinavia, had to be built on in the Port of Aarhus, was built in 1927 by a feed and grain 1,200 piles, each 14 m in length. Construction of the „sisters“ Viborgvej 2 cooperative, Jysk Andels Foderstofforretning. Designed by was therefore a feat of engineering akin to the Chicago high- 8000 Århus C the engineer Jørgen Christensen, the complex is likely to have rises, which were raised over the swamps on a similar pile www.dengamleby.dk been inspired by Oslo Havnelager, a lavish Oslo silo from 1920. foundation, and which had ushered in the modern era in the The architectural details are attributed to the Aarhus architect late 1800s. Hjalmar Kjær. The stylistic blend of historical references and feats of engineering add to the interest of this monument. New technology These waterfront silos are evocative of old merchant houses, The concrete silo was a high-tech successor to the provincial which is no coincidence, since Kjær wanted these modern grain warehouse. The silos that made their appearance in structures to blend in with the 1,000-year-old market town Denmark from the 1870s, and from around 1900 they were of Aarhus. From a distance, the complex is reminiscent of constructed out of reinforced concrete. The silos saved space, 17th-century Dutch warehouses. time and hard manual labour. From the outset, „The Five Sisters“ could take 12,000 m3 of oilseed cakes and 13,800 The complex m3 of grain. Vertical storage of grain meant efficient use of The silo complex was the first major industrial plant in Aarhus industrial sites as compared with loft storage, where grain to be built in reinforced concrete. It came to symbolise the could only be kept in a thin layer owing to the risk of spontane- modern era and later became a source of inspiration for ous combustion. The Five Sisters’ huge suction elevators could functionalist architecture. The complex is white-washed with suck up 120 tons of grain an hour. Each silo is tapered at the pitched roofs. Five bays of four vertical window sections reflect bottom like a funnel to a tapping system. This allows grain to the five silos to the rear. The 33 metre-tall, vertical silos were be emptied from the silo directly into a lorry trailer, ship’s hold designed for storing grain and other types of animal feed. or goods wagons.