The latest edition of Dezeen Debate features BIG's design for "the world's most environmentally friendly furniture factory". Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now!
Readers are divided over a mass-timber Passivhaus factory that Danish studio BIG has constructed for outdoor furniture maker Vestre, and which it claims is the most environmentally friendly in the world.
Nestled in 300 acres of woodland near the Norwegian village of Magnor, the cross-shaped building features a green roof, solar panels and an exterior slide that leads from the building's roof to the forest floor.
Constructed mostly from wood, the building combines energy-efficient Passivhaus strategies with a streamlined, robot-assisted production line that aims to reduce energy consumption by 90 per cent compared to a conventional factory.
One commenter wondered: "Why ruin a forest to build one factory?"
Other stories in this week's newsletter include MVRDV's 600-metre-long orange walkway that bridges Rotterdam rooflines, US senator Ted Cruz's proposal of design measures to "harden schools" in the wake of the Uvalde shooting and Álvaro Siza's limestone-clad skyscraper in Manhattan.
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