Man-made edifices, from serving as anomalous augmentations on natural land, now occupy a dominant presence in urban regions. While archaic construction was characterised by the calm integration of unprocessed materials acquired from nature and moulded by the human hand, contemporary architectural practices, with the provision of modern materials and tools, bear a ginormous mien that is designed to attract attention and occupy both visual and physical space. With time, the role of architectural constructions has evolved, from fulfilling the purpose of ornamentation and fortification within a region to behaving like an appendage that overpowers the vicinal landscape.

With verdant untamed scapes disappearing behind high-rise structures, the yearning for and demand of untempered natural landscapes is on an upward course. Although a cardinal lesson for creatives, such realisations do not often culminate into architectural constructions where the land and landscape are respected and wherein structural interventions are kept minimal. It is, hence, always a pleasant surprise when landscape and architecture projects are characterised by minimal and subtle language.

A recently completed project that yields to this description is the installation of a series of architecture pavilions within Nature Park Amager in Denmark. Undertaken by Copenhagen-based circular design practice ADEPT, with LYTT Architecture as the lead consultant, the park now houses five out of the seven visitor points proposed on site. Of the seven initially proposed pavilions, three were designed to serve as entrances from different directions and four as blue bases at the sea. While five pavilions are built, two await budgeting sanctions and other permissions.

These pavilions, namely Asger Jorns Allé or the Bird Tower, The Boardwalk, Byskoven or the City Forest, Naturcenter and Slusen, are subtly placed within the park, framing views and marking routes, whilst leaving minimal blemishes on the landscape. Each pavilion marks a view or an activity. While the 16-metre-tall Asger Jorns Allé, with its sloping roof, serves as a bird tower, The Boardwalk is a wide pathway that leads the way from the edge of the city and through the expansive landscape. Byskoven is stationed between the land and sea. Byskoven translates to City Forest, referencing the plantations that are yet to come up in the area. Naturcenter is a pavilion design that offers space for repose and Slusen; stationed on the coastal line and with a stone framed pathway leading to it, it serves as a waterfront. 

This collaborative project was guided by the desire to garner attention towards the preserved public park and the stretching coast, to improve its popularity and make it a much-frequented site by locals and visitors alike. The programming is done to double the number of visitors, while also ensuring that the development took place with respect and consideration for nature. "The visitor points emphasise qualities in the park that are already there and do so with minimal interference with the protected landscape. It has been crucial to us that the architecture is carefully integrated into nature - not only that the new buildings blend naturally into the landscape, but that the development takes place on the terms of the protected nature," architects at ADEPT share. Each pavilion also can be disassembled. 

Nature Park Amager or Naturpark Amager is located within Øresund in Denmark and is named after the Amager island, where it is located. The nature park, measuring 3,500 hectares, makes up more than one-third of the island’s total area and lies close to Copenhagen. One can experience coastal landscapes, open public spaces, magnificent wetlands, marshes, and birch forests within the park. Sitting at the brink of a metropolis—a distance of around seven kilometres from the Copenhagen city centre—the large expanse hosts a wide range of rare birds, insects and protected amphibians. It remains open to the public for a wide range of communal and individual activities such as cycling, hiking, insect safaris, birdwatching, fishing, overnight camping and bonfire events, amongst other leisurely engagements.

This recent project by ADEPT and LYTT Architecture comprises the installation of visitor points that reframe the landscape park and stage views towards the various alluring sights on the land, hence enhancing the experience of the landscape, water and biodiversity within the park. Citing the reasoning behind this project, ADEPT shares, “Because the scale is so huge, the nature park can be overwhelming for those unfamiliar with nature, so to make the area more accessible, we have developed the visitor points to be a destination in themselves, but also to guide visitors to the next landmark. In this way, visitors should venture further out into the nature park and become familiar with the great natural qualities of the area.”

The five pavilions are strategically positioned throughout the park to highlight the park's unique character and to underline certain elements, views or programs of the individual location by ‘facilitating the meeting between man and nature, built and grown, building and landscape’. With deep respect levied upon the preexisting landscape on site, the project only aims to add a subtle layer to the park, such that the resulting interventions enhance the experience for visitors without impacting the protected landscape. 

Each pavilion, construed in a unique form and in accordance with its location within the park, bears an architectural language that is congruous throughout—textured wooden structures with distinctive tall roofs and dark-burnt shingles. This also makes it easy for visitors to identify each pavilion even from a distance. Each visitor point, placed in a transition zone from the city into the park or from land to water and vice-versa, comprises both built volumes and landscape elements that levy a certain emphasis upon natural focal points and functions in the vicinity. The placement of these pavilions in a transition zone creates the unique opportunity to mark the contrast between the landscape and the surrounding city as well as between the protected landscape and sea. “Each visitor point creates unique opportunities for recreation, nature experiences, play and learning by breaking down the large scale of the landscape into human scale activities and narratives,” reads an excerpt from the press release.  Further, the pavilions are complemented by a system of ‘tracks’ or boardwalks that highlight routes within the park. Marked with signages, they enhance the accessibility of different zones within the park and facilitate ease in wayfinding.

This intervention at Naturpark Amager, hence, exemplifies the methods of envisioning atypically formed functional constructions within a verdant landscape that do not disturb the land and its natural components.

Project Details

Name: Naturpark Amager
Location: Naturpark Amager, Denmark
Client: Municipalities of Copenhagen, Taarnby and Dragoer; the Danish Nature Agency, By & Havn
Lead consultant / landscape architect: LYTT Architecture
Building architect: ADEPT
Collaborators: SYSTRA Danmark, BARK Raadgivning, JAC Studios
Area: 35 kilometres square
Year of Completion: 2024