Suburbs of the Future / 2013

While working at Gottlieb Paludan Architects I took part in the competition to design a new future suburb, and the proposal was selected as the final winner.

In the project people will quite literally grow their neighborhoods because without their enthusiasm and commitment, suburbs will wither and die. Everything they grow must be eatable, and the focus must be on community, neighborliness and the natural environment. People “dig” their city, they care about it and they want it to grow. They cultivate these ideas in their minds and their activities, giving a new focus to the core values of community, cooperation and countryside.

The project describes a modern area of suburban cultivation, called The Growth Zone, as a new residential quarter in the Danish city of Nykøbing Falster. The twin islands of Lolland and Falster have a proud history as Denmark’s pantry, and the project draws the cultivation of home-grown edibles right into the heart of the urban area, creating a new kind of suburb based on the region’s own authentic past. The Growth Zone creates the overall identity of a growing suburb: a place that combines the culture, activities and communal aspects of urban living with the peace, agricultural self-sufficiency and recreational opportunities of the countryside.

The new Growth Quarter, built on the disused industrial grounds of the once-thriving sugar factories, will be transformed into a unique residential area with sustainable living and urban-farming spaces. The distinctive characters of the future suburb springs from the turf where past and present meet: industrial buildings, structures and materials from bygone days are paired with high-tech energy-saving installations, complemented with the physical and emotional qualities of the area’s green elements. The new living areas are structured around the everyday urban spaces, and the holistic thinking behind sustainable living revolves around the inhabitants’ daily activities. In short: living sustainably should be simple, enjoyable and enriching. It is here – in new ways of life that integrate cultivation with habitation and comradeship in new urban settings – that we envision the suburbanites of the future.

Additional information about the project can be found here.