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Dezeen Debate features a Passivhaus furniture factory by BIG

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?"

MVRDV's 600-metre-long orange walkway between Rotterdam roofs features in Dezeen Debate newsletter
MVRDV creates 600-metre-long orange walkway that bridges Rotterdam roofs

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.

Dezeen Debate

Dezeen Debate is a curated newsletter sent every Thursday containing highlights from Dezeen. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to Dezeen Agenda, which is sent every Tuesday and contains a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, as well as Dezeen Daily, our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours.