When Aarhus University starts work on a new passage under Nørrebrogade this autumn, unfortunately four oak trees in the University Park will have to be felled. We want to find a new use for the trees so that they will live on at the university in another form. Calling all bright ideas!

2020.09.21 | Signe Opstrup

Visualisation of the upcoming entrance to the northern passage under Nørrebrogade. Made by C. F. Møller.

In 2022, a new passage will open under Nørrebrogade, which will bring the University Park and the University City closer together.

Work on the passage will begin this autumn. While every possible effort is being made not to disturb the environs and the existing planting, four of the large oak trees next to the University Park entrance of the passage will have to be felled. And since the trees can’t be preserved, the idea is to reuse them in a sustainable way.

“We would like to see these trees live on at the university in some form or another. So we’ve started a Facebook competition where we ask students and employees to contribute good proposals on how we can reuse these old trees in the best possible way. For example, using the trunks in our biodiverse garden AU Garden, or as tables and benches in the University Park,” said Charlotte Lyngholm Bom, programme director for the university’s physical campus development.

Initially, they had hoped to find a solution that would allow them to save the trees, but this wasn’t possible, she explained:

“Together with experts in this area, we explored whether we could dig up the trees, store them and then replant them again in eighteen months, when the passage is finished. But because of their intertwined roots and their age, it’s very unlikely that they would survive.”

So instead the working committee decided, after consultation with the architectural firm C.F. Møller, that 4-6 sizeable new oak trees will be planted when construction is finished.

If you have a good idea about how the trees can be reused, please send an email to Sustainability@au.dk, or write a comment in the FB group,#AU Sustainability, which is a Facebook group for all AU employees and students with an interest in sustainability. Five gift cards worth DKK 100 each for Clever Coffee in The Kitchen are up for grabs.

Further information

If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact programme director, Charlotte Lyngholm Bom at cl@au.dk.