House of Water | TREDJE NATUR

Architecture, Landscape, Landscape & Urban planning

TREDJE NATUR designs a collaborative platform presenting new solutions to future water challenges. House of Water displays the most advanced technologies from over 60 companies in the water sector, in a hybrid landscape that merges water, technology, and architecture. The house highlights Denmark’s position as a globally recognized water-hub, and creates a shared public space, bringing the community together around new knowledge, technologies, and solutions.

– China is faced with some enormous challenges, which we in Denmark are experienced with. We are in fact among the World’s best to come up with solutions that can minimize water loss or clean polluted water. China is investing on a scale that is almost unimaginable. They have an ambition to invest one billion Danish kroner in water technology every single day and Danish companies should profit the most from this. – Kirsten Brosbøl, Environmental Minister.

courtesy of tredje natur

House of Water is a visionary idea for a new water attraction potentially located in the Copenhagen harbor, helping to brand Denmark in relation to water. The House of Water combines typologies of Danish landscapes with Danish water technology. A series of exhibitions focusing not only on technology, but the importance that water plays in our lives, creates a learning landscape through sensory phenomena. The House of Water aspires to bridge the gap between understanding nature and the Danish solutions that can help to better manage our resources.

In 2050 the Earth’s population is expected to grow to over 9 billion people. This leads to additional resource requirements, among others, in relation to safe drinking water, food, and waste. At the same time, it will lead to more urbanization and urban sprawl. In this new paradigm, urban architecture mobilizes new types of communities in recreation and resource awareness. House of Water is a suggestion for a holistic building that connects the public with new solutions and basic knowledge of how everyday life is associated with global urbanization challenges.

courtesy of tredje natur

“Water is essential for all living things – even in the city! By making and integrating the city’s water solutions in our strategies, we create both magical experiences and a variety of pragmatic potentials. Utilizing water creates potential for meeting places that are rich in experience to strengthen the cohesion and thus the sustainability of the city.”
– Flemming Rafn Thomsen, Founding Partner in TREDJE NATUR

SEVEN MEETING PLACES
Water is essential for all life. Based on an interpretation of Danish landscapes, TREDJE NATUR creates an inviting waterscape. That we sense we remember. Therefore, the phenomena of nature and Danish geological history inspire the presentation of information and knowledge about water.

TREDJE NATUR proposes a landscape wrapped around a central water reservoir – symbolizing a drop of fresh water in a sea of salt – thereby making visible how clean water is both a scarce and valuable resource.

A landscape of seven unique meeting venues folds around the reservoir. Here, curious people meet and create new shared knowledge through their encounters with water and architecture. In effect, the water industry becomes the driver for ‘green’ and ‘blue’ change. The Copenhagen harbor baths and the North Sea’s endless dune landscapes. Denmark’s Northern Zealand dead-ice landscape, Amager Fælled’s wetlands, and Møn’s cliffs of limestone. The seven locations in the House of Water are composed as part weather phenomenon and part landscape typologies. This creates a number of richly experiential showrooms where the technologies of tomorrow are demonstrated.

A THOUSAND WAYS TO GET WET
AN URBAN WATER LANDSCAPE
House of Water offers a thousand ways to get wet, and a thousand tales of water in the city. House of Water is a place to meet, a place to explore, and a place to create new knowledge. The house creates an inviting landscape, where the unique Danish understanding of technology is demonstrated to visitors encountering water in various forms. Port of Copenhagen is world renowned for its clean water, so the house’s curved surface provides generous access to the sea. The main freshwater reservoir collects rainwater, which is heated by waste heat, allowing the House of Water to support a year round bathing season. The house’s surface is covered with active limestone that cleans rainwater naturally. Thereby, the house is participating in making Copenhagen a more natural, healthy, and sustainable city.

courtesy of tredje natur

Project info:
Architecture: TREDJE NATUR
Location: Denmark
Responsible Partners: Ole Schrøder and Flemming Rafn Thomsen
Design Team: Johan Kure, Christian Kuczynski, Sofie Mandrup Andreassen, Anna Sissela Michalsdotter, Bartosz Swiniarski, Manabu Yamaya, Mónica Galiana, Jakub Włodarczyk, Joan Melgaard Rasmussen, Agnete Schimmell Raakjær
Client: Pia Klee v. DWF, Rethink Water, State of Green
Collaborators: Lifted, We Love People
Project period: 2012 – 2014
Type: Building hybrid
Type: Commission