Tomsgårdsvej —
The Courtyard of the Future

How do we secure Copenhagen’s courtyards against cloudbursts while making them greener, more sustainable, and more livable? This was among the challenges driving Tomsgårdsvej – Courtyard of the Future, a new innovative climate adaptation project in Copenhagen’s North-West quarter.

The project demonstrates a number of the possibilities that nature-based climate adaptation and upcycling of locally sourced materials provide. In addition to cloudburst protection, the noise-plagued courtyard at Tomsgårdsvej has been given a new soundscape, two multi-functional rammed earth walls, and space for much more life – both the residents’, the birds’, and the insects’.

Coming cloudbursts will be delayed and handled in two depressions that form part of an undulating, biodiverse courtyard. Here, children and adults can explore the 450-meter-long adventure path and on the route find ‘the forest playground,’ hammocks, a large orangery, and a completely new type of water staircase that uses circulated rainwater to mitigate the area’s massive traffic noise with the sound of trickling water.

The unhealthy pest of traffic noise has been measurably reduced by our design for Tomsgårdsvej. Both before and after the courtyard transformation, FORCE Technology conducted a ‘soundscape report’. The reports show that, while the severe traffic noise surrounding the Copenhagen courtyard is at the same level as in 2019 (approximately 50 dB), the experienced soundscape is now ‘significantly improved’. The causes, enhanced in the report, are the new natural soundscape design in combination with a ‘calm and oasis-like visual environment.’ The report hence points to the fact that urban noise regulation is also a visual and phenomenological discipline.

The courtyard’s new plantings and wetlands are designed to strengthen the local biodiversity. During the climate adaptation, we planted 195 new trees and shrubs and introduced 92 new plant species. Even before the new courtyard was inaugurated, our biodiversity survey showed that 20 different insects had found their way to the new city nature.

SLA’s lighting design is made to consider both the natural sleep rhythm of birds and people’s access to the starry sky. By lighting at two different heights and wavelengths, the design minimizes the negative effects on biodiversity — and has a positive effect on the sleeping rhythm of the residents.

In the new courtyard at Tomsgårdsvej, upcycling, natural materials, and recycling go hand in hand with a story of the local geology.

Central to the new design are the two winding moraine walls of rammed earth. By building the 83 and 53-meter-long walls of clay rather than concrete, approx. 156 tons of concrete has been saved. Functionally, the walls are part of the rainwater management and tie the three-meter terrain drop together while dividing the large courtyard space into smaller social areas.

The courtyard’s steep terrain dates back to the last ice age that formed a moraine edge here. In precisely the same location, the rammed earth walls now stand, as interpretations of the original edge, in a modern urban landscape.

Low-carbon constructions are repeated throughout the project. A new orangery has been built from recycled bricks and upcycled windows from the housing association’s last window replacement. All of the courtyard’s new sheds and board fences are made with recycled wood and are carried out by the circular design and construction company Næste. The rammed earth walls are built by ‘Egen Vinding & Datter’ and the upcycled orangery by ‘Logik & Co’.

In this way, The Courtyard of the Future at Tomsgårdsvej demonstrates how re- and upcycling can also strengthen the identity of a place and how new nature, new sounds, and rammed earth can form the framework for a new type of climate adaptation.