Karise Permatopia Denmark

A holistic and visionary project

by Mikkel Klinge

Karise Permatopia is making a mutually beneficial connection between housing, farming and the production of renewable energy, with closed resource cycles, to make a self-sufficient, environmentally sustainable community with low living costs.

Karise Permatopia will have the best of private ownership, cohousing, rental housing, communes, ecovillages, community supported agriculture, professional ecological farming, permaculture and business networks, that are connected in a holistic and well-planned visionary project, for the mutual benefit of its inhabitants and the natural systems.

The old farm is the natural meeting place for Karise Permatopia. The building is being renovated as a common house, laundry and farm office. In the long term, it will also have office space, meeting rooms, guest rooms, play areas, a café, farm shop and workshops. There will be a car share system, with electric cars charged with cheap electricity from the onsite windmill.

Housing ownership can vary between cohousing, self-ownership and renting, on commonly owned land. The village is organized in eight housing clusters with 90 houses. There are five housing types, ranging from small two-room flats to the largest six-room apartments. The common house, farm, infrastructure and car share system will be organized as four separate entities, where all households own a share.

Karise Permatopia is being developed by experts in close dialogue with future inhabitants and households on a waiting list. Participation creates a feeling of ownership and social connection before people move in. Since mid-2014 there have been several workshops for the members’ association. There are groups of members working on housing, the central heating system, the common house, the many aspects of the farm, social organization, learning and teaching, decision-making processes, welcoming new members, internal communication and coordination. In 2017, their focus is on renovating the common house, trying out various decision-making processes, and finalising the social organization of the project.

House Arkitekter from Copenhagen, with project leader Søren Olsen, are the project’s architects, and responsible for coordinating the layout design and housing.

Housing

The modern ecological terrace houses have a combination of plentiful daylight, good spaces both indoors and outdoors, a healthy indoor climate, environmentally friendly materials, low energy use, low maintenance, long life, and because of a rational planning and building process, low prices.

All the houses have the same structure and materials. The basic module is a two-storey space with a mezzanine floor that has a bedroom/living room facing a common courtyard, with an open plan to the kitchen/living room. Under the mezzanine, there is an entrance with a bathroom. The houses are made of wood with prefabricated bathrooms, wall elements, floors and roof elements. Houses have a moisture diffusive outer wall and roof, and nontoxic healthy building materials. The interior is plasterboard painted with natural paints, oiled birch parquet floors and sound insulation with wood cement panels. Outer walls are prefabricated elements insulated with wood wool mats and paper granulate, and clad with spruce panelling treated with linseed oil. To save money there are standard prefabricated doors and windows.

The houses are low energy standard, with plenty of daylight, that comply with 2020 Danish building standards. All rooms have floor heating and mechanical ventilation with a heat exchanger. Windows are three-layer energy glass, with 395 and 495 mm insulation in walls and roofs. Roofs have roofing paper that allows collection and use of rainwater.

Infrastructure

The technical infrastructure is based on sustainable, well-tested and low maintenance technology, and will provide all necessary services for two-thirds of the normal price, apart from imported drinking water from the local waterworks. Rainwater will be collected from the roofs, filtered and used for clothes washing, toilets and irrigation.

All houses have separation toilets that reduce water use, and wastewater goes to a closed system using willows. Urine from the separation toilets, composted willow, and organic kitchen waste are manure for the farm. This means that the farm will not need any additional animal manure or other forms of fertilizer. Waste separation, composting and recycling will reduce the need for renovation.

Karise Permatopia has a central heating system for space heating and hot water with 9,000 m of earth pipes, and heat pumps run on electricity from a 47m high wind generator. A central hot water storage has enough capacity to deliver space heating also in periods with no wind. Electricity comes from the same onsite wind generator, and the need for electricity is reduced with energy efficient lighting, equipment and household appliances. Common facilities, for example, communal meals and laundry, will further reduce energy use. There is a rapid internet connection, IP phones, and TV via fiberoptics.

Community-supported permaculture farm

The farm will be run by ecological farmers well versed in permaculture, with a few hours work a week from the residents. This will allow people to be self-sufficient in sustainable food for about half the normal price.

There will be a large variety of fruits and vegetables produced on about 8 ha (20 ac), with 1,500 m² (16,150 ft²) of greenhouses and a heated greenhouse (bio shelter) for seedlings. After about three years, there should be a surplus of fruit and vegetables that can either be exchanged or sold. The greenhouse has waste heat from the central heating system and compost, and uses the CO₂ from the composting process to increase plant growth. The farming process will be free of fossil fuels, and run on electric machines that allow for an intensive, high yield production.

Orchards will provide almost all the needed fruits, nuts and berries. A flock of 225 hens will give a surplus of eggs that can be sold in the farm shop, and 500 chickens and a few pigs will cover some of the need for meat. The animals will be an integral part of the farm management, with mobile hen tractors that help reduce pests, provide manure and till the soil.

Location: Karise south, one hour south of Copenhagen. Walking distance to Karise Station and town with local services.

Established: In autumn 2017, the first people move in and the common house will be finished. Farming starts in 2018.

Area: 4.7 ha (11.6 ac) for housing, 24.3 ha (60 ac) farmland and small ponds, with 12 ha (30 ac) forest, 10.8 ha (26.7 ac) arable land, and 1.5 ha (3.7 ac) communal farm, and gardens.

Population: About 140 adults and 60 children when fully developed.

Housing: 90 houses. Mixed ownership. 90 terrace houses in eight clusters, of which 44 are for rent, 23 cohousing and 23 self-ownership. Ca. 40% of the housing is for families, 30% middle aged, 20% young people and 10% retired.

Communal buildings: The old farmhouse will be a common house, laundry and farm office. In the long term also office space, meeting rooms, guest rooms, play area, café, farm shop and workshops. Car share system.