Harbour Farm 2.0

Harbour Farm is a highly ambitious port regeneration project. It aims to transform polluted waters and under-employed dock sides into urban fish farms, where seafood can be bred, harvested and served on site in top class restaurants.

Alongside the farm and food functions there are also plans for recreational activities such as kayaking and swimming and allotment units for individual fish farming. The fully organic, sustainable systems put in place will include a water monitoring laboratory, turbines for generating energy, and a natural waste system that will fertilize local rooftop crops, which then complete the cycle by turning up alongside the homegrown fish, oyster, clams and mussels on the restaurant plates.

“What if the oysters you ordered came straight out of the Copenhagen Harbour and onto your plate...in a matter of minutes?”

This idea became the subject of investigation at EFFEKT, compelling the design team to examine the feasibility and opportunity of the ‘Harbour Farm’ with regard to the immediate community and the city as a whole.

Extending the legacy of the renowned Danish harbour water, the project aims to accelerate the regeneration of Copenhagen Harbour by transforming disused docks into seafood farms. The concept argues that produce will be grown, harvested and served on-site via sustainable and organic production cycles, adding a new dimension in the notion of ‘eating fresh’.

The design is strategically divided in three sections. Below surface, a series of 6x6m allotment units are fixed in modular grid forming a dense field of mussels, oysters, sea weed and other compatible sea-life. Above surface, high-end restaurants are grouped with education facilities and outdoor markets to form a body of co-dependent elements responsible for the distribution of food and knowledge to the end user. Occupying the surface is the platform; arguably the most important element.  The platform transcends its conventional function as an idle dock by becoming the connective tissue between above and below surface.  It acts both as the logistical nucleus - mediating between production and consumption - and as the structural system of harbour farm.

Implemented in the project are a number of sustainable systems that facilitate the day-to-day activities. This includes a water-monitoring laboratory, tidal /geothermal energy plant and a natural waste system that collectively highlight the sustainable nature of the project.

The true value of this project lies in its ability to simplify a hyper-stratified distribution and consumption process into one location, through the daily act of eating. It is this value that - maybe one day - will extend the Harbour Farm to harbours across the world.