Projects
Enterprise
From pilot project to investable social model
ILC has been developed based on concrete experiences with people, communities, nature, construction and practical work.
An important starting point was the work with aquaponics at Østagergård. Here, sustainable food production, social employment and meaningful everyday communities were thought together in practice. The project showed that there is great potential in creating places where people not only live, but also participate, contribute and become an active part of a community.
The experiences from Østagergård became an important basis for the further development of ILC. They showed that social value is not only created through support and offers, but also through responsibility, relationships, practical tasks and the feeling of being needed by others.
The past 12+ months of work with ILC have therefore been about lifting the project from idea and pilot level to a comprehensive model that can be built, financed and operated on a larger scale.
In this phase, the focus has been on investigating how ILC can be developed as a new type of housing and living community, where social sustainability, nature, construction, operation and economy are interconnected. It has not only been about describing a vision, but also about making the model concrete enough so that it can be professionally assessed by municipalities, foundations, investors and other long-term partners.
Together with external advisors, work has been done to structure the project, qualify the prerequisites and develop an economic model that shows how ILC can function in practice. The work has included, among other things, investment needs, operating economics, organization, scalability and the possibilities for a long-term return.
The result is that ILC can today be described as a comprehensive development project with an investment framework of around 1 billion kroner.
This is an important step because ILC should not only be a social project or a housing project. ILC must be an economically sustainable social model, where long-term investors — including pension funds — can see a realistic return, while the project creates measurable social value.
The model is based on a double bottom line:
• a long-term economic return
• a clear social and societal impact
ILC must show that it is possible to build and run communities where people, nature and the economy support each other. Where housing is not just about square meters, but about quality of life, belonging, participation and everyday communities.
The ambition is to create places where young people, the elderly, people with special needs, people with social challenges and ordinary families can live side by side. Not as separate groups, but as part of the same community.
Therefore, ILC is also about rethinking the way we build and organize local communities. It is about creating frameworks where people can contribute in different ways, and where social efforts are not sidelined by everyday life, but are a natural part of it.
The last 12+ months of work have therefore been crucial. This has moved ILC from being a strong idea with concrete pilot experiences to a model that can be presented to municipalities, foundations, pension funds and investors as a serious proposal for the inclusive living and living communities of the future. ILC is thus not just a vision of better housing. It is a proposal for how we can create new communities where social responsibility, sustainability and economic realism go hand in hand.
Aquaponics
Building new Social Economic Enterprise in 2022 - We are collaborating with DTU Aqua, Egmont Højskolen, Østagergård and Akvaponisk Have - in part funded through CoroLab in Roskilde with EU funding.
The main principle of aquaponics is very simple and mirrors nature. Fish are grown in tanks and nutrient-rich water from these tanks is pumped into hydroponic beds where vegetables, herbs, flowers and other crops absorb the nutrients for growth and purify the culture water, which is returned to the fish rearing tanks. Although the fish are living in a tank, in essence they are being raised in a river where their waste products are swept away and replaced with clean water. The plants are grown in water containing high levels of oxygen and nutrients – everything they need – without the problems associated with soils, such as weeds, soil diseases, pests and other toxicant issues and an often-experienced lack of oxygen or moisture. Plants remove only the water they need for growth.
Aquaponics is a clean aquaculture production technology system where fish waste is used as nutrients for growing vegetables. This technology can also create incentives for environmental compliance by increasing fish production and providing food security, while radically reducing water consumption, reducing nutrient discharge and providing independence from external climatic phenomena.
- Water reuse in the aquaponic system is more than 95%.
- Vegetables grow 30-50% faster than in soil.
- Greenhouse provides 12 mths continued production.
- Aquaponic grown vegetables have higher quality and longer shelf-life than vegetables grown in soil.
Aquaponic plant production beds can be layered vertically, allowing for minimal m2 use and maximum m3 volume growth indoors.
This project will establish three operational aquaponic systems. One for R&D at DTU SkyLab in Lyngby, one new system at ØAG and one new system at Egmont Højskolens new farm.
Our overall long term research aim is to establish:
1) Optimal setup for the danish climate and environment – mainly temperatures / lighting / nutrition.
2) Produce optimisation for the purpose of return on investment.
3) Social integration meaning allowing for optimal setup for operation by people with different abilities.
4) A for profit Social Economic Commercial Business model to form part of the ILC-Model.
Sustainable Housing
YOUR HOME
New sustainable designs - some © Copyright AKT - Atelier Kristoffer Tejlgaard www.atelierkristoffertejlgaard.com
Social Integration
NBMC & Integrated Living Culture
NATURE BODY MIND COMMUNITY
ViNatur – strategic partner, culture developer and method carrier
“life on purpose” is not only a physical housing and production project. It is developed as a
living culture and a regenerative worldview where nature, people, production,
community and way of life are integrated into one coherent whole. Here, the NBMC
method (Nature–Body–Mind–Community) becomes the central philosophical, cultural
and practical foundation of the entire project.
ViNatur is the strategic partner and carrier of the human, social and cultural dimension
of the project, ensuring that the vision becomes more than architecture and sustainable
technology — but a truly integrated living community.
NBMC is fundamentally about restoring the connection between people, the body,
nature, community and purpose. The method is based on the understanding that
human well-being, health, social capacity and sustainability cannot be separated from
the environments and communities we live in. Therefore, NBMC is not an additional
service within the project — but the lifestyle and culture that shapes how people live,
work, meet, produce and grow together.
NBMC becomes the guiding structure on three levels:
the personal, the cultural between people, and the surrounding environment.
NBMC integrated into personal development
All professional functions working with people in the project — including therapists,
coaches, educators, facilitators, social workers, healthcare professionals and community
leaders — will be trained in the NBMC method through ViNatur. In this way, NBMC
becomes a shared practice and professional culture.
The NBMC education ensures shared competencies within:
• Nature-based therapy and health promotion
• Embodiment, body awareness, nervous system regulation and stress understanding
• Group processes and community building
• Regenerative culture and human well-being
• Nature-based leadership and facilitation
• Existential and purpose-driven development
NBMC as an integrated culture
The project is developed as an “Integrated Living Culture,” where NBMC becomes a
practical way of life and a shared cultural framework.
Social integration is a key principle, meaning among other things:
• Nature is not seen as a recreational backdrop, but as an active contributor to human
well-being and development.
• Communities are designed around human needs for belonging, meaning and
participation.
• Production, food, energy, learning and social life are connected through regenerative
systems.
• People experience themselves as valuable participants in a living community.
• Everyday life is organized around presence, participation, sensory awareness, rhythm
and purpose.
• NBMC should therefore be felt in the atmosphere, relationships, decisions and physical
surroundings of the project.
NBMC integrated into working life
NBMC is not only present in therapeutic or social activities. The method is integrated
directly into production, working life and the daily rhythm of the community.
Production should not only create economic value, but also human dignity,
participation, social integration, learning, identity, purpose and connection to nature.
Work with food production, cultivation, nature restoration, energy, kitchens, workshops
and shared functions is designed as meaningful spaces for participation, where people
experience themselves as part of a larger living ecosystem.
This includes:
• Production connected to the rhythms of nature
• Sensory and aesthetic working and living environments
• Regenerative learning environments
• Nature-based restorative spaces integrated into everyday life
NBMC integrated into architecture and surroundings
NBMC becomes an active design parameter in the physical planning and architecture
of the project.
Knowledge about sustainable design, operations and production is
integrated into the framework. The environment should support:
• Calmness and nervous system regulation
• Natural encounters between people
• Contact with light, air, seasons and landscape
• Sensory and aesthetic experiences
• Safety and belonging
• Movement and participation
• Access to nature and regenerative environments
This means the surroundings should not only be sustainable, but also therapeutic,
human-centered and life-supportive.
NBMC is therefore integrated into:
• Landscape design
• Shared spaces
• Production environments
• Pathways and movement systems
• Light and materials
• Social transition spaces
• Quiet zones and nature zones
• Learning and reflection spaces
• Housing forms and community structures
ViNatur’s role in the project
NBMC serves as the unifying method and cultural foundation that connects the project’s
framework, communities, therapy, education and regenerative way of life.
ViNatur facilitates collaboration between architects, foundations, strategic partners and
the social and therapeutic functions of the project, ensuring that it develops as one
integrated culture rather than separate functions.
NBMC becomes the shared method and culture connecting people, nature, production
and community in one unified vision of a meaningful and regenerative life.
ViNatur contributes expertise in nature-based health promotion, community building
and regenerative organizational development. With experience in training more than
6,000 professionals, we create frameworks for well-being, meaningful communities and
healthy environments with space for diversity
