HOW | HOUSE OF WATER

TREDJE NATUR designs a collaborative platform presenting new solutions to future water challenges. House of Water displays the most advanced technologies from over 60 companies in the water sector, in a hybrid landscape that merges water, technology, and architecture. The house highlights Denmark’s position as a globally recognized water-hub, and creates a shared public space, bringing the community together around new knowledge, technologies, and solutions.

“Water is essential for all living things – even in the city! By making and integrating the city’s water solutions in our strategies, we create both magical experiences and a variety of pragmatic potentials. Utilizing water creates potential for meeting places that are rich in experience to strengthen the cohesion and thus the sustainability of the city.”
– Flemming Rafn Thomsen, Founding Partner in TREDJE NATUR

– China is faced with some enormous challenges, which we in Denmark are experienced with. We are in fact among the World’s best to come up with solutions that can minimize water loss or clean polluted water. China is investing on a scale that is almost unimaginable. They have an ambition to invest one billion Danish kroner in water technology every single day and Danish companies should profit the most from this. – Kirsten Brosbøl, Environmental Minister.

A THOUSAND WAYS TO GET WET
AN URBAN WATER LANDSCAPE
House of Water offers a thousand ways to get wet, and a thousand tales of water in the city. House of Water is a place to meet, a place to explore, and a place to create new knowledge. The house creates an inviting landscape, where the unique Danish understanding of technology is demonstrated to visitors encountering water in various forms. Port of Copenhagen is world renowned for its clean water, so the house’s curved surface provides generous access to the sea. The main freshwater reservoir collects rainwater, which is heated by waste heat, allowing the House of Water to support a year round bathing season. The house’s surface is covered with active limestone that cleans rainwater naturally. Thereby, the house is participating in making Copenhagen a more natural, healthy, and sustainable city.

ROOM 1 – LOBBY
The lobby is the public gathering place in the heart of the House of Water. The descent is via the central circular ramp in the middle of the house. Excess rain water from the reservoir creates a cascading water curtain that fills the lobby floor with a thin film of water. Curious visitors are invited to ‘walk on water ‘ in a kaleidoscopic compartment that provides access to the house’s many levels. It also offers visitors a steamy soup kitchen serving urban farmed oysters, fish, and seaweed from the harbor.

ROOM 2 – WATER RESOURCES
Providing enough fresh water for a growing population and increasing industrial production, is a critical issue in many countries. Climate change is affecting global rainfall patterns and water distribution. Since there is approximately 100 times more groundwater on Earth than fresh surface water, it makes sense to utilize groundwater as a source of water. In many parts of the world, especially in arid or seasonally dry regions, groundwater can provide a stable and sustainable source of high quality water. Actually, some countries still rely on witch doctors to find water. Denmark utilizes new airborne technology to locate groundwater from the sky.

ROOM 3 – URBAN WATER
Cities are growing. Today’s urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, by which time three out of five people will live in cities. Added to this, many cities face additional pressures of rising sea levels and extreme weather events, bringing with them the risk of flooding and droughts. In dry periods temperatures may rise even further, due to the urban heat island effect. The integration of water solutions with urban development is a way to reintroduce water as an asset in urban living. By working with natures principles, Denmark brings inspiring water experiences to the city as we climate adapt the urban fabric.

ROOM 4 – INDUSTRIAL WATER EFFICIENCY
The availability of water will be a critical issue in the future, and the cost of water will rise. With higher living standards and a global population predicted to reach 9 billion people in the next few decades, the demand for water will increase significantly. The House of Water aims to make indirect water use visible. Nearly three-quarters of total water consumption in the world relates to the consumption of food and drink, and the United Nations has estimated that before 2030, water consumption will rise by 30 percent. Therefore, the water footprint of food products will garner more attention from consumers, and become more present on political agendas in the near future.

ROOM 5 – WATER SUPPLY
Copenhagen has very little water loss, but in many countries a mind-blowing percentage of fresh water is lost on its way to the consumers. Globally, this loss amounts to a magnitude of 25 to 50 percent of the total distributed water. For the water utilities facing an increased demand for water, an important gap to close is the considerable difference between the amount of produced and distributed water, and the volumes billed to the consumers. This difference is known as Non-Revenue Water (NRW) or urban water losses. The causes are inaccurate billing and metering systems, deteriorating water distribution infrastructure with high levels of leakages, too high water pressure, reservoir overflow, flushings, and illegal connections.

ROOM 6 – WASTE WATER
By controlling the waste water, we can restore the city’s harbor water and create new urban aqua farms of oysters and fish. Treating waste water is energy intensive, but waste water is an energy resource on its own. Strict environmental regulations have forced companies in Denmark to think differently and develop new water efficient technologies. An outstanding example is in the primary production of salmon, a fish highly valued in many countries. Intensive recirculation technology in salmon farms, means that salmon are now reared using only 250 liter of water per kilo of fish with a minimum of wastewater. This compares with 50,000 liter per kilo with traditional circulation technology, which often pollutes the surrounding water. This salmon breeding technology is now used in Chile, Canada, and Russia and will shortly be used in the Gobi desert in northwestern China, close to Mongolia, where it rains only 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) per year.

ROOM 7 – WATER TECHNOLOGY
The House of Water showcases the normally hidden technologies in a fairytale-like setting – bringing back the magical fascination of cutting edge technology. For decades, Danish food and beverage industries have shown their skills in developing new products and increasing production, despite facing rising water rates and stricter disposal regulations. The demand for water in urban water supply varies widely throughout the day and even over the course of the week. One of many positive results is the ability to control water supply pumps, thus reducing water leakages.