Living Places Copenhagen
Living Places, ideated and developed by VELUX in partnership with EFFEKT and Artelia, goes beyond the discourse about building more sustainably by showcasing seven full-scale prototypes that demonstrate the project’s principles in action.
By prioritizing health, community, simplicity, adaptability, and scalability, Living Places aims to create affordable, accessible, and healthy homes for both people and planet.
People & Planet Methodology
The methodology behind Living Places is dual-faceted, focusing on both people and the planet. The “people” aspect prioritizes healthy building principles, ensuring that indoor environments promote physical and mental well-being. This includes optimizing daylight, air quality, thermal comfort, acoustics, and connections to nature.
The “planet” aspect employs Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to minimize environmental impacts throughout a building’s life cycle, from construction to disassembly.
Scalability and Adaptability
The scalability of Living Places is ensured through replicating the core elements of the concept; while adapting to the context, customs and regulations of the site they are on to create a sense of ownership and collaboration with the local community. Thus, enabling it to seamlessly fit into the existing urban fabric and allowing the concept to expand or adapt, based on what is needed. Living Places can exist in both urban and suburban environments, as well as new built or adaptive use.
By creating homes that can evolve with their occupants’ needs, Living Places ensures long-term sustainability and relevance. This flexibility is achieved through a modular building system that allows for easy upgrades, repairs, and customization. Both homes are prefabricated wooden structures, one being constructed out of CLT, while the other is a timber built.
Designing for Disassembly
It is not only the assembly that is simplified, but also the disassembly. A crucial part of the concept for Living Places is its design for disassembly, allowing both the timber and CLT houses to be taken apart, rebuilt, and reused again. By designing for disassembly, it allows for each element to be swapped as needed and prolongs the life span of a building.
Environmental and Social Impact
As for the environmental impact, the project has achieved a nearly 3 times reduction in CO2 emissions compared to average Danish single-family houses, with result of 3.85 kg CO2 eq per m² per year. Additionally, the focus on healthy indoor environments has earned the project a best-in-class indoor climate rating. Beyond environmental benefits, Living Places fosters a sense of community through shared spaces and resources, enhancing social cohesion and well-being.
The results of Living Places show that it is possible to build better for both the environment and people with what we have available today, by using readily available materials and technologies.
