It all begins with an idea 💡

CPH Village was founded on a loft in Refshaleøen, Copenhagen. Our vision was to build a business that solved societal problems. The idea was to activate idle land in cities with flexible buildings, adding affordable and ressource light housing, while creating value for society and our business.

Prototype #01 🏕️

Show it, don't tell it. Our method to achieve our goals was to apply a start up iterative mindset, failing, learning, improving etc. Our prototype #01 was a small beacon of sustainable construction built from upcycled and organic materials. The prototype helped shape the public understanding, showing flexible buildings could be of high quality.

Changing the law 👩‍🎓

Our business model was not legal… so we created an alliance of heavy hitting stakeholders and organizations who all had an interest in increasing the supply of more affordable and ressource light housing. With their help we changed the Danish zoning law making it possible to create student homes everywhere in cities. With the legal framework in place, we could bring our business idea to market. Let’s go!

First village complete 🏊‍♂️

The first Village for 164 students was built in upcycled shipping containers seafront on Refshaleøen, Copenhagen. We unfolded our live simply concept - living community based in compact private rooms with attractive shared spaces. The Village won building of the year in the Municipality of Copenhagen in 2019.

Second village completed 🌲

At the time of completion this was the largest wooden residential project completed in Copenhagen. It’s still one of the buildings with lowest CO2 foot print in DK. Using a science based method we designed the village with increased biodiversity in mind. We now monitor progress making sure flora and fauna will be richer after we established the village than before.

Outsider no more? 🤷🏽

In 2022 we won the prestigious “Bygherreprisen”; The award was given to us because of our data-driven and iterative approach to construction and real estate with a stringent focus on absolute sustainability. It was a special moment for us as it was handed to us from industry leaders and symbolized that we had moved from being total outsiders to frontrunners in the sector.

Third Village completed ❤️

In our first downtown project, 88 villagers are living in Amagerbro a stone's throw from the University of Copenhagen. This project was in three stories and also the first time we divided the functions of our community spaces into separate rooms. The project has lately transformed with a new greenhouse based on input from villagers. In Village #3 we launched our neighbor co-design method “Open Call”, trying to create a village with maximum value for neighbors and future residents.

Fourth Village completed 😎

This was the first time we built a massive project. 350 students living in the trendy neighborhood of Nørrebro, Copenhagen. The project is the biggest housing project in Denmark using screw foundations. In Nørrebro we also made an Open Call and included the neighbors before construction. We learned that the kids in the area are missing soccer fields, therefore we have designed our parking area with the dual purpose of a soccer field and parking lot.

The Biowall invented 🔥

Since our first prototype #01 we worked toward implementing a full biowall without mineral wool insulation and plastic vapor barriers. In 2023 we passed the EU firetest and can now build with this solution.

Village Østerbro completed. This design is denser, has a lower a CO2 footprint of 5 kg co2 / m2 / year and is made more future proof with a design that can go from 20m2 student housing to 80 m2 all purpose housing.