Rasmus Hjortshoj
The Forest Tower
Path
The Forest Tower is a 45-metre-tall sculptural observation platform stretching over the treetops and overlooking the local landscape near the city of Næstved.
Cities and towns
National parks
UNESCO sites
UNESCO global geoparks
Main roads
Airports
Cruise ports
Case
Infrastructure
Walking path
Grass
Trees / Forest
Monumental attraction
The Forest Tower is the flagship of the privately operated theme park Camp Adventure, specialising in outdoor activities and facilitated nature experiences. The mission of the entrepreneurial agent is, in their own words, ‘to provide people with an experience of the beauty of nature by staging nature in new ways and making it accessible’. Private forests are, according to general rules, publicly accessible in Denmark – so the business model for Camp Adventure has been to provide exclusive access to an outstanding experience and staging of nature through different kinds of design interventions in the local landscape.
Nature theme park
Despite its apparent simplicity, the slender hourglass-shaped tower with a spiralling stairway reaching high over the treetops at Gisselfeld Monastery Forests is a very advanced design solution representing one of the most spectacular viewing platforms in Denmark. At the same time a dramaturgic staging of nature and a monument in itself. The tower’s expressive cylindrical construction is connected to a 900-metre boardwalk meandering through the privately operated park featuring several outdoor activities, shelters, and cafés. Within the first year of its opening, the Forest Tower has become a tourist hotspot attracting people from around the world. A similar strategy has also been implemented elsewhere in Denmark, for instance in Nørreskoven near Vejle.
Key facts
- Location
Gisselfeld Monastery Forests near the city of Næstved
- GPS points
N55° 15’11.57’’ E11° 58’37.23’’
- Protection Framework
Private ownership
- Estimated number of visitors
Over 300,000 since 2019
- High season
- Low season
- Project Owner
Private - Camp Adventure
- Designer
Designed by EFFEKT Architects in collaboration with ARUP
- Year of construction
2019
- Materials
Steel, concrete and timber
- Grants
The Forest Tower has won several architecture awards and was nominated for the EU Architecture Award, the Mies van der Rohe Award, in 2022