We are a nature-based design studio.
We design places for life.
All life.
We help people, cities, and nature
We design cities, public space, and nature on all scales: From city-wide masterplans to neighborhood pocket parks. From national biodiversity strategies to local citizens’ engagement processes. Our work helps people, cities, businesses, governments – and nature itself.
Our design approach
We believe in a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to making livable and sustainable places. We combine deep anthropological knowledge and rigorous biological research with award-winning design expertise and high artistic ambitions.
As our client, we bring you along on our journey and invite you to join our mission, challenge our thinking, and expand our horizons. Together we learn, together we grow, and together we create the best possible projects.
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Our vision, mission & values
Our vision is to change the world through nature-based design solutions and enhance the quality of life in communities and the public realm.
Our mission is to deliver world-class and pioneering nature-based design solutions to the benefit of our clients, our end-users, and nature itself.
We are a learning and sharing organization, working in interdisciplinary teams to provide all-inclusive solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
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We help solve today's biggest challenges
Our projects are never isolated masterpieces. Instead, they form a continuous ambition to solve some of the biggest challenges facing our Earth today: From climate crisis and biological mass extinction to social inequality and the growing gap between humans and nature.
Explore our solutions to seven global challenges
We are a sharing and learning organization
Sharing knowledge and innovation is central to us. Only in co-creation with clients, stakeholders, and citizens can we design the best possible places for life.
We initiate and engage in research projects from internal white papers to external collaborations with universities, NGOs, businesses, and intergovernmental agencies. We apply the latest research in all our projects to create state-of-the-art design solutions.
Explore our research and development
Why Darkness Matters: Acknowledging the Rhythms of Nature
When did you last see a starry night sky? For city-dwellers, this experience may feel like a distant memory. Our extensive use of artificial light has turned ‘darkness’ into a diminishing phenomenon – not only affecting stargazers but also the health of humans, wildlife, and trees. As Pernille Bech-Larsen, lighting designer at SLA, will unfold, we have plenty of good reasons to let a little more darkness into our cities.
The Values of Nature:
A Need for a New Driver of Urban Development
Imagine your quality of life being just as dependent on urban development as on social media. What would that lead to? The answer to that question depends on the drivers of urban development.
Our economies, livelihoods, and well-being all depend on our most precious asset: Nature
These were the opening lines of Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s report “The Economics of Biodiversity” and were also at the center of the conversation our CEO, Mette Skjold, had with Dasgupta at the UIA World Congress of Architects CPH 2023.
They agreed that we, as humans, depend on nature – not only as a source of resources and wealth but also as the foundation for our physical and mental well-being. We are not separate from nature. We are nature.
Fundamentals
Come explore the fundamentals of our office together with us.
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Atmosphere
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Sound
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Essay: The Bark Room
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Roots
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Sakuteiki
– The Book of Garden
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Mist
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White
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