Camp Adventure Forest Tower

The observation Tower is located in the preserved forest of Gisselfeld Klosters Skove, one hour south of Copenhagen, Denmark. The forest is graced with several natural biotopes such as lakes, creeks and wetlands. The idea was to make the forest accessible to everyone without disrupting the natural environment, an habitat to a wide variety of species. For this reason, the broadwalk is elevated from the ground – encouraging the visitors to remain on the dedicated path, with minimum impact on the forest floor. The tower is constructed from weathered steel and locally sourced oak, to blend in subtly with the surrounding natural context. The route through the trees passes gently and sensitively through different varieties of forest and culminates with the tower and observation deck located 45 meters above the ground with spectacular 360-degrees panoramic views over the surroundings.

The client desired to enhance the features of Camp Adventure an existing outdoor adventure sports facility that included treetop climbing and aerial zip lines and to create an accessible destination for a meaningful immersive experience in nature. With the aim of building a wheelchairaccessible observation deck at an elevation of 45 meters, the starting point of the design was the exploration of a geometric shape that could support a continuous ramp with a comfortable gradient: the cylinder. The hyperbolic geometry of the tower is then shaped to enhance the visitor experience, shunning the cylindrical shape in favour of a curved profile with a slender waist and enlarged base and crown. By doing so, the stability of the tower is increased, the top deck observation deck area is maximized, and in the midsection the contact to the forest canopy is enhanced. While keeping a comfortable fixed gradient, the geometry and spacing of the ramp fluctuates according to the changing curvature. The ramp therefore becomes a sculptural element that makes the journey to the top a unique experience of shifting intimacy while offering stepfree access to all visitors.

The iconic 45-m-high structure is made of weathering steel, which was both an aesthetic choice - in order to blend the structure subtly with the surrounding natural context – as well as a practical one: Corten steel ages beautifully and is very resistant to the weather elements, eliminating the need of intrusive and expensive maintenance such as recurrent paint-coating interventions over the years. The 900-m seamless elevated boardwalk is constructed from locally sourced and PEFC-certified oak. The position of the Tower and the boardwalk within the forest was carefully determined with the intention of minimizing the disturbance of the natural environment: the route through the trees passes gently and sensitively through different varieties of forest, while the Tower is located in the youngest part of the forest, upon an existing natural clearing, in order to minimize tree-removal for the construction. Detailed construction design and planning helped reducing the construction costs and time, resulting in a construction period of only 11 months, from ground breaking to opening day.