Kløverbakken in Odder, Denmark is ‘Årets Bæredygtige Træbyggeri’

The new Kløverbakken cohousing community in Odder, Denmark, caters for all ages. The development is a mix of six different housing types for singles, families with children and seniors. Here, the philosophy is that everyone adds value to the community, and that diversity fosters understanding, responsible conduct and a sense of togetherness.

The choice of materials plays a major role in the project, and this is the reason why Kløverbakken has now been named sustainable wood building of the year for 2022. The award was presented for the first time this year at the Build in Wood conference, which took place on 23 and 24 May 2023 in Copenhagen.  

In addition to its community focus, Kløverbakken is distinguished by the many initiatives that enhance its sustainability profile. The development has a very low climate footprint per resident: only 7.3 kg CO₂e/m²/year. By comparison, in the new climate standards, the threshold value defined for new developments of more than 1,000 square metres is 12 kg CO²e/m₂/year.

The client and contractor was Thybo, while Tegnestuen Arken acted as project architect and consulting engineer.

Panel of judges: An incredibly fascinating project

All the houses at Kløverbakken are built from wood, and Troldtekt acoustic panels – in which wood is also a key raw material – contribute to a healthy indoor climate with good acoustics in both the living rooms and bathrooms.

Head of secretariat at Træ i Byggeriet, Lauritz Rasmussen, who was also on the panel, cites the following reasons why the award went to Kløverbakken:

“The Kløverbakken cohousing community is an incredibly fascinating project, and not just in the eyes of someone who loves wood. The people behind the project have worked on building this little village in close collaboration with the future residents, who have had a strong influence on the choice of materials, design and planting.

“The result is 58 homes built of wood, and of a significantly smaller size than the national average, which also reduces the carbon footprint per resident. The residents have access to social meeting places in the form of a community facility and an orangery, while the planting consists of local species to promote local biodiversity.

You can read more about the use of wood as a building material in our theme here

See more photos from the project here