DTU 313 Climate Challenge Laboratory

B313 supports DTU’s ambition to lead the sustainable transition by actively working with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The building is also certified to DGNB Gold. The landscape project incorporates a strong biodiversity strategy and rainwater management. We have studied how existing biodiverse areas can be preserved and how current species can be given even better conditions.

Like a diorama, researchers and students can look out onto a small forest in the inner courtyard. A total of 160 trees are planted: 25 multi-stemmed and 145 standard trees. During rain, the diorama shifts from forest to wetland. Permeable surfaces in an organic pattern slow down the rainwater and ensure infiltration.

Edge zones between the building and the road are designed as swales that collect rainwater from road, façade, and roof. Here, the water is retained and slowly infiltrates. In dry weather, the swale appears as a meadow with blue flowers and tall grass.

With its green planted façade, the building almost grows out of the swale. The lowest level of the façade consists of moist areas with a permanent pond and very wet soil, where larger flowers and shrubs grow. The middle levels are drier, evoking a coastal/steppe environment. Larger stones create shifting patterns of sun and shade. Bare soil and gravel provide insects with places to burrow in the sunlit slope. At the top, biotopes of shrubs and smaller trees are planted. The soil is inoculated with forest floor material from DTU’s existing peripheral woodland to introduce decomposers and bacteria.

Nature is even brought inside the building. Trees placed in glass cylinders grow upward, forming a living canopy with their crowns.