Olympic Pavilion Denmark

Olympic Design for Disassembly

What if a chair was made from waste plastic (both industrial and ocean waste), and the chair could be both a dinning and lounge chair, and stacked becomes a shelve and a facade system.

Imagine 2.500 chairs ironically put together creating a pavilion for 9 weeks at the Olympics and then become disassembled and reused as chairs before again becoming an exhibition pavilion at the world’s largest design fair in Milan.

About

The pavilion won the Danish Design Award 2021. The jury said: “It is more than a building, it is an ecosystem and a very powerful showcase of Danish design today. It shows that this iconic piece of Danish design – a chair – can be so much more. It addresses a fundamental problem with major events – waste – and rethinks how a pavilion is used and financed while still maintaining a high aesthetic quality. It is almost Olympic in its iconic and monumental design.”

Due to Corona the pavilion never made it to Tokyo. But the concept proved its modular and mobile qualities at the Milan Design Week 2021. The Denmark Pavilion Milan was built of more than 700 chairs. The chairs are made of ocean- and industrial waste plastic. The floor of the pavilion was made of recycled wood, and the roof shingles were made of waste plastic in a refugee camp in Uganda. The pavilion is now being design for next exiting venue please follow us at our instagram.

Sustainable Impact

CLIENT IMPACT

  • Designed for disassembly and reassembly
  • Economical savings on materials 60-80 % per installation
  • Providing ‘Visit Denmark’ a precedent and knowledge on how to create sustainable pavilions
  • Positioning the client with ministers, mayors and business leaders on the international stage for circular economy

SOCIAL IMPACT

  • Creating a circular plastic recycling company in a Ugandan refugee camp together with Care DK and Danida
  • Creating the concept ‘School of Hope’ that distributes knowledge about how to design and build circular

INNOVATION IMPACT

  • Plastic innovation from Carlsberg waste keg to a circular material
  • Creating a multi-functional chair and building element
  • Circular roof tile developed in Uganda Refugee camp

RESOURCE IMPACT

  • 83% CO2 saving on the first-time use of the chairs. Second-time use and onwards gives a 100% CO2 saving compared to using virgin resources. The materials include sustainable recycled sourced wood and upcycled plastic roof tiles

AWARD IMPACT

  • Winner of Danish Design Award 2021. “It addresses the fundamental problem with major events of waste and rethinks how a pavilion is used while still maintaining a high aesthetic quality” – the jury
  • Finalist at RO Guiltless Plastic 2021

COMMUNICATION IMPACT

  • Royal visit from the Crown Princess Mary and covered internationally in Domus, Detail, Wallpaper, Le Monde, DK TV2, Corriere Della Sera, La Repubblica, Dezeen, ArchDaily and Politiken
  • Estimated value €250,000

‘It is more than a building, it is an ecosystem and a very powerful showcase of Danish design today. It shows that this iconic piece of Danish design – a chair – can be so much more. It addresses a fundamental problem with major events – waste – and rethinks how a pavilion is used and financed while still maintaining a high aesthetic quality. It is almost Olympic in its iconic and monumental design.’

The jury

Danish Design Award 2021

‘83% CO2 saving on the first-time use of the chairs. Second-time use and onwards gives a 100% CO2 saving compared to using virgin resources. The materials include sustainable recycled sourced wood and upcycled plastic rooftiles.’

Sustainable Impact

Resource

‘Creating a circular plastic recycling company in a Ugandan refugee camp together with Care DK and Danida.’

Sustainable Impact

Social

  • OL_Opstalt2
  • OL_Snit
  • OL_Plan
  • OL_Opstalt1

Location

Tokyo, Japan
Milano, Italy

Clients

Visit Denmark

Partners

Realdania
Visit Denmark
BRIQ
Structured Environment
MOE
Dansk Arkitektur Center

Year

2021