“.Danish architectural firm EFFEKT is rewarded for their visionary sustainable architecture that harmonises people, nature, and community — integrating circular design, local materials, and regenerative landscapes to create lasting environmental and societal benefit.”
The OPAL Jury panel rewards EFFECT for the 2025 OPAL Special Award in Sustainability, one of Denmark’s most visionary architecture firms, pioneering a new era of sustainable design that seamlessly integrates people, nature, and technology. Founded on the belief that architecture should regenerate rather than consume, EFFEKT creates projects that not only minimise environmental impact but actively improve ecosystems and strengthen communities.
Their holistic approach goes far beyond energy efficiency. Each project begins with a deep understanding of local context, materials, and resources, ensuring design solutions that are both environmentally and socially responsible. EFFEKT’s work consistently demonstrates how architecture can serve as a catalyst for positive change—balancing innovation, affordability, and resilience.
Among their defining projects are the Camp Adventure Forest Tower and ReGen Villages, which embody EFFEKT’s vision for a sustainable future. The Forest Tower offers an immersive experience in nature while leaving a minimal footprint, whereas ReGen Villages explores self-sufficient communities powered by renewable energy and circular resource systems. These projects exemplify how design can inspire awareness and redefine our relationship with the natural world.
EFFEKT’s architecture is characterised by its simplicity, functionality, and warmth—crafted from natural, durable materials that age gracefully. Their focus on biophilic design and community well-being creates environments that invite interaction, reflection, and connection.
Through research, innovation, and a deep sense of responsibility, EFFEKT continues to influence the global conversation on sustainable living. Their work proves that true sustainability arises when architecture, ecology, and human experience coexist in harmony—making EFFEKT a genuine leading star in the architecture of tomorrow.
The Forest Tower — a 45-metre observation structure nestled in the forests of Zealand, Denmark — exemplifies how architecture can sensitively integrate into a natural ecosystem. Built with weathered steel and locally sourced oak, and connected by a 900-metre long elevated boardwalk, it allows visitors to meet the forest canopy without disturbing the forest floor. Its elegant hyperbolic form not only distributes structural forces efficiently, but offers a meditative ascent, merging human experience with nature. The project demonstrates how sustainable materials and context-aware design can create immersive, low-impact public architecture that fosters deep connection with the natural environment.
Naturbyen, meaning “Nature Village,” is EFFEKT’s visionary eco-community in Middelfart, Denmark, scheduled for completion around 2035. The project reimagines suburban development by transforming 45 hectares of farmland into a thriving new forest neighbourhood with around 220 wooden homes. Each residence is built from renewable, low-carbon timber and designed for disassembly, dramatically reducing embodied emissions. The surrounding forest will sequester CO₂ while enhancing biodiversity, forming a living ecosystem that matures within 15 years. Renewable energy, shared resource systems, and local materials further minimise its environmental footprint. By merging housing, reforestation, and circular design, Naturbyen sets a new standard for regenerative, community-centred urbanism, proving that sustainable living can actively restore both people’s relationship with nature and the land itself.
The new SIMAC — Svendborg International Maritime Academy – co-designed by C.F. Møller Architects in collaboration with EFFEKT — anchors the harbourfront in Svendborg, Denmark as the country’s largest maritime education institution. Completed in 2023, the 12,500 m² facility embraces a raw, modular concrete-grid structure that echoes the gritty industrial context of cranes, dockyards and shipping heritage.
Inside, a central atrium links multi-level workshop halls, auditoria and classrooms — a layout that maximises flexibility and encourages collaboration among students and staff. Exterior façades are pulled back to emphasise the structural grid, while the quay becomes an “outdoor laboratory,” seamlessly integrating academic functions with public urban space.
By re-imagining an industrial waterfront as a vibrant learning and social hub, SIMAC demonstrates how education, architecture and urban regeneration can merge in a resilient, context-aware and socially-engaging manner.
Completed in 2023 by EFFEKT in collaboration with VELUX Group and Artelia, Living Places Copenhagen is a groundbreaking prototype community that redefines sustainable housing. Consisting of seven timber-based structures — two homes and five pavilions — it achieves an exceptionally low carbon footprint of just 3.8 kg CO₂/m²/year, roughly one-third of typical Danish housing.
Every design choice is guided by a full life-cycle assessment, focusing on renewable materials, natural ventilation, and optimal daylight to ensure both environmental and human wellbeing.
The project demonstrates that low-carbon, healthy, and affordable housing is achievable today without compromising comfort or aesthetics. By prioritising circular construction and long-term adaptability, Living Places serves as a replicable model for future climate-positive neighbourhoods and a new benchmark for sustainable urban living.
