Ego to Eco at

 The Exhibition

Ego to Eco is a collection of urban and architectural concepts that in their individual context, answer the question

The collection of projects all address themes of community, diversity and regeneration of natural systems.
At their individual scale they demonstrate strategies that can help us combat climate change.

At the bottom of this page you can explore a digital twin of the exhibition as originally displayed at the Arsenale in Venice.

Trees and seedlings

The Scots Pine (Pinus Sylvestris) is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia, ranging from Western Europe to Eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains and Anatolia, and north to well inside the Arctic Circle in Fennoscandia. In the north of its range, it occurs from sea level to 1,000 m, while in the south of its range it is a mountain tree, growing at 1,200–2,600 m altitude. It is readily identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orange-red bark. The species is mainly found on poorer, sandy soils, rocky outcrops, peat bogs or close to the forest limit.  

The European larch (Larix decidua) is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains as well as the Pyrenees, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania. It is widely naturalized in Scandinavia. Its life span has been confirmed to be close to 1000 years (with claims of up to 2000 years) but is more often around 200 years. It is very cold tolerant, able to survive winter temperatures down to at least -50 °C, and is among the tree line trees in the Alps, reaching 2400 m altitude, though most abundant from 1000–2000 m. 

The Norway spruce (Picea abies) is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It has a wide distribution for it being planted for its wood, and is the species used as the main Christmas tree in several countries around the world. Norway can grow fast when young, up to 1 m per year for the first 25 years under good conditions and mature trees can reach heights of 35-55m tall. 

The GrowTable

 
The GrowTable contains 1.200 tree seedlings, that will grow larger during the exhibition.


The base conceals a tank containing 500 liters of nutrient-infused water that will daily flood the table to irrigate the seedlings at their roots.


Throughout the exhibition the trees will grow to a height of approximately 50-60 centimeters, completely overtaking the architecture displayed.

When the exhibition is over, the seedlings will be planted out as a temporary urban forestation project at BoligLaboratiet in Jernbanebyen in Copenhagen.


BoligLaboratoriet is the full-scale pilot of the Build For Life / Living Places that will be exhibited throughout the UIA World Congress of Architects in Copenhagen in 2023.

The Projects

Living Places will showcase a 1:1 solution, that lower carbon emissions on residential new-build and provide healthy homes and communities at scale. The project will demonstrate that by using existing technologies and materials, we can achieve better and more healthy homes for people and planet.

Ideated and continuously developed by VELUX, EFFEKT and MOE, Living Places envision an open-source development model that enables a holistic approach to sustainable construction by evaluating the entire lifecycle. Living places is a regenerative approach for our future built environment, the concept aims at creating sustainable communities and built environment through affordable, socially-oriented designs and new housing models, healthy indoor climates and the use of low-impact materials.

Harbour Farm proposes to regenerate urban waterfronts by transforming disused docks into seafood farms through sustainable, organic production cycles.

The Forest Tower is a unique experiential destination that makes the forest accessible to everyone without disrupting the natural environment.

Forest Village [Naturbyen] is a model for self-sufficient communities that feed and power themselves using local renewable resources.

Urban Villages is a vision for livable, sustainable and affordable homes. It proposes a new way of designing, building and financing urban communities.

The Nature Center in Hareskov is an outdoor learning facility that uses the forest as a means to reconnect children with nature through education and play.

Digital Twin

Click ‘Play’ on the image below to explore the installation as it was displayed at the Arsenale at the Venice Biennale.