Grønttorvets common dining house is essentially a large multifunctional room, a common living room in which to meet and get to know people living in and vising the area around the table or through a variety of community activities based in the house. The house is built reusing materials from the old vegetable market, linking the new area to the history of the site. A large portion of the elements are previous PCB contaminated concrete cleaned up and used one-to-one in the new building. Next to the dining house is a large orangery, which provide the kitchen with a year-round supply of fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables. As a self-sufficient community center and public kitchen the house raises awareness on the effect of our daily choices, the seasons and the natural cycles.

A common dining house where excess materials moves from one system to another, thus eliminating the idea of waste. The dining house builds on the “Eat Your Park” concept and becomes largely self-sufficient thanks to the orangery. Nature and agriculture are invited inside. In this way the building gives back some of the green area it takes from the park. The common dining house becomes a place, where the indoors and outdoors are not mutually exclusive, but rather work in synergy for the well-being of the entire community. There is increasing interest in locally grown produce, allotment gardening and food sharing. In this regard the dining house offers a unique opportunity to eat locally grown vegetables during the daily communal meals, which the residents themselves may have helped produce and prepare.