EFFEKT designs Denmark’s new Forest Tower


Danish architecture collective, EFFEKT Architects, has designed a new iconic observation tower in the heart of the historic Gisselfeld Klosters Forest.


The largest climbing park in Denmark, Camp Adventure, has recently unveiled its new, highly-anticipated observation tower. At 45 metres tall, the Forest Tower will act as the centrepiece for visitors’ unique park experiences, offering a new perspective on the boreal forest around them. The iconic tower is the first of its kind in Scandinavia and has been designed by architectural collaborative, EFFEKT.

Working across architecture and urbanism, EFFEKT was founded by Tue Foged and Sinus Lynge in 2007, with the aim of using architecture to create a lasting social, economic and environmental impact. The new experience at Camp Adventure is a perfect example of this; EFFEKT has developed a 900-metre elevated boardwalk that zig-zags between the trees, culminating with access to the Forest Tower and its 650-metre long spiralling ramp, which leads to breath-taking views of the surrounding landscape.

The Forest Tower has been constructed using weathered steel and locally sourced oak wood, allowing it to blend in with the historic Gisselfeld Klosters Forest that surrounds it. Characterised by rolling hills, streams, lakes, wetlands and meadows, Gisselfeld Klosters Forest is a glacial woodland where Camp Adventure is based; something that EFFEKT remained conscious of when designing the Forest Tower.

Using the forest as inspiration, the team built the elevated boardwalk to make sure the landscape would be accessible to all visitors, without disrupting the natural environment and the species that live within it. The spiralling ramp that leads to the observation deck also benefits from a hyperbolic shape; though there is a fixed gradient, the geometry and spacing of the ramp changes depending on the curvature.

“Nature provides the real experience. We just made it more accessible and offered a series of new and alternate perspectives,” says Tue Foged, partner at EFFEKT Architects. “The tower is shaped to enhance the experience of the visitor, shunning the typical cylindrical shape in favour of a curved profile with a slender waist and enlarged base and crown. This allows for better contact to the forest canopy moving up through the tower.”

Before completion, the Forest Tower was the winner of a host of design awards including a German Design Council Award (winner of Best of Best in the Concept category), a 2017 ICONIC Award (Winner of the Visionary Architecture category) and South Coast Denmark's Best Tourism Initiative in 2018. On its first day of business, the step-free observation tower welcomed over 2,500 visitors.








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