THE FOREST TOWER

National Geographic has visited Camp Adventure to film the Forest Tower from above.

Experience the suction in your stomach. Over the architecture of the Forest Tower, the South Zealand nature and the magnificent view from the top of the Forest Tower high above the crowns of the trees. Because here – in the middle of Gisselfeld's forests – you get a sensual experience, from the first time you see the 45 meter high tower, until you stand at the top of the lookout tower and look out over the South Zealand landscape. At 45 metres, the Forest Tower is the highest observation tower Zealand and the whole of Scandinavia has to offer. The experience already starts at the old water mill, when you first step onto the 3,2 kilometer long raised footpath, which meanders through the forest, around the trees and over the streams, until the Skovtårnet suddenly fades into view between the trees. Then the ascent begins, and for each time you have walked one round in one of the 12 circles towards the top, you will discover that the nature around you changes along with the architecture. Up, up, up until you reach the center of the lookout tower, where the hourglass structure is strung together so tightly that you can touch three beech trees growing in the center of the Forest Tower. Finally, you step out onto the viewing platform 140 meters above sea level with a view of forest and fields, and where on a clear day you can see all the way to Copenhagen and Malmö, more than 50 kilometers away. There is no mistaking the feeling in the stomach.

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The 45 meter high Forest Tower was designed by EFFEKT with an ambition to create an aesthetically beautiful building and a unique experience with nature in focus. The iconic architecture of the Forest Tower is inextricably linked to the hourglass shape, which is drawn from a cylindrical shape, where the bottom and top are maximized, while the middle is laced into a so-called hyperboloid shape. This narrowing in the middle of the construction is important for the experience in Forest Tower, as you get very close to three beautiful beech trees, which grow in the middle of the structure. The rotation, which is felt in the vertical corten steel tubes, is created by the vertical steel tubes rotating 120 degrees. As you move up through the tower, you also experience that the distance between the ramps changes until you reach the viewing platform 140 meters above sea level, where you have a 360 degree view of the landscape. The main construction is made of maintenance-free corten steel, and the ramp is made of local South Zealand oak from Bregentved Estate and Gisselfeld Monastery. All wood is PEFC certified.

The Forest Tower has won several architecture awards and has been nominated for the EU Architecture Award, the Mies van der Rohe Award, in 2022.