Lendager Group envisions a sustainable permaculture farm for Stedsans, a local food academy founded by Mette Helbæk and Flemming Hansen. The couple has recently decided to move their location from the heart of Copenhagen to follow their dreams of combing wild nature and forest farming to Southern Sweden and to create a food laboratory obtained from available local sources in the wild woods of Sweden - it will act as a "sufficient lab of tomorrow where nothing goes to waste."

Called Stedsans in the Woods, the 800-square-metre complex will feature a restaurant, cabins and a permaculture farm in a forest. Located in Bohult, Sweden, the proposed restaurant will use readily available materials in the area around Stedsans in the Woods. Visitors will occupy the floor of the woods as a playground where old waste wood, rammed earth, old barns, abandoned glass from industrial greenhouses are upcycled to build the sustainable permaculture farm of tomorrow.

"The Third Space" will be in the heart of Stedsans in the Woods and will be located to the South and with a rich view of the lake. The bearing structure of the Third Space is two old wooden ladders harvested from Slöinge, Sweden. 

The ladders will be installed on top of a terrain – of concrete and big rocks on the ground. The entire construction will be packed in an off-the-shelf greenhouse system. 

"The restaurant will be in the Third Space, where guests can follow the process in the semi-outdoor kitchen where food is cooked over fire. Beautiful plates served in nice surroundings are essential. But the flow of good energy, and all processes before plating are equally important. The life in the soil, the right varietes/species," said Lendager Group.

"If you want it fresher, you need to eat directly from the plant. The good atmosphere in the kitchen, the relationships, vitality, hospitality, the passion for good taste. Most ingredients come directly from the forest or the farm, and are often picked or harvested minutes before they end up on the plate. Living fish come directly from local lakes."

The complex consists of a series of mobile cabins with an extensive focus on creating a place for people to unplug from the pulsating city life. 14 wooden cabins will be spread over the area. 

Each cabin has a unique location in the landscape, providing the guests with means for indulgence in the rich scenery of the woods. Some will have lake view, some will be floating, some will be isolated in the woods and some will hang between the trees.

With a point of the departure in the idea of ‘giving more than we take’, different sustainability measures will be implemented to create a farm where materials, life quality, biodiversity, energy and water are guiding star concepts. A building-integrated greenhouse shell will contribute to extending the season, bringing the outdoors indoors. 

The wooden structures of old barns from the surrounding area will be reused as the load bearing structure in the Third Space. The inner walls will be made out of rammed earth from the site, while the outer ones will be built from stones and boulders uncovered during the excavation and clearing of the land. 

These concepts make it possible for Stedsans in the Woods to become the self-sufficient lab of tomorrow where all resources are cared for with respect for the nature that make for the location. Together, the guiding principles generate an urban symbiosis for the family inhabiting the home and the guests embarking on a journey in the deep woods of Sweden.

Stedsans in the Woods is still underway and wooden cabins and a glass restaurant are expected to open in spring of  2018, according to Stedsans' plans. Stedsans in the Woods will not be only a catalyst for its close environment, but also it will be a guiding star of their business.

Project Facts

Name: Stedsans in the Woods

Location: Bohult, Sweden

Architect(s): Lendager Group

Size: 800m2

Partner: Stedsans in the Woods

Customer: Stedsans in the Woods

Status: In progress

Partner in charge: Anders Lendager

Project leader: Simon Kjems-Møller

Employees: Jørn Kiesslinger, Maja Horvat, Noemie Jeanne Vetterli, Sophie Daugaard Andersen

All images © Lendager Group

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