A
School for Traditional Craftsmanship in Hareskoven
Name
Ditte Gyldendal Amby
Education degree
Kandidat
Fagfelt
Architecture
Institute
Architecture and Culture
Program
Art and Architecture
Year
2026
The project is a craft school embedded in the live role-playing community. It creates a space where participants design and build temporary structures as part of shared narratives. The school supports collaborative making, material awareness, and learning through play, using role-play as a framework for hands-on craft practice.
The school in the forest
The project is a school that, during weekdays when the area is otherwise unoccupied, accommodates students who work on traditional crafts. These crafts support their learning about heritage and tradition while also contributing to the live-action role-playing (LARP) environment.
The school's educational concept is based on students learning craftsmanship each semester through hands-on work on pavilions and other structures that give back to the activities taking place on weekends.
Each semester introduces a new theme inspired by the fantasy world that serves as the foundation and inspiration for the students’ work throughout the term.
The school functions as a workplace during the week and as a stage for weekend activities. In addition, the LARP community is encouraged to use the workshop facilities for weekend workshops, such as shield-making or banner-making workshops.
The school is not an isolated institution but an active and integrated part of the LARP town.
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The LARP community
The project originates from Rollespilshytten, a unique LARP community site located on the edge of Hareskoven. The photographs on this website were taken during a cold January visit, while observing one of the role-playing events held there.
At the heart of the site stands a former Scout cabin belonging to Brøndbyvester Parish. Built in 1955, the cabin played an important role in the development of Danish role-playing culture, as it was used by Scout groups throughout the 1990s when some of the first large-scale overnight LARP events in Hareskoven took place.
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In 2017, the property was put up for sale. Through a collaboration between Landsforeningen Bifrost, Rollespilsforeningen Hareskoven, Realdania, and the Social Services Administration of the Municipality of Copenhagen, the Copenhagen-based association Rollespilsfabrikken secured the funding needed to purchase the site and transform it into a dedicated LARP environment.
Today, the cabin and its surroundings serve as a vibrant hub for role-playing activities, bringing together community, creativity, craftsmanship, and storytelling.
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The proposal
The proposal explores the school as a collection of smaller structures distributed throughout the site rather than as a single building. Like satellites, these structures anchor themselves within the existing environment, creating a closer relationship with the surrounding buildings and strengthening the sense of community already present on the site.
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The architectural language draws inspiration from both historical longhouses and the ceremonial halls often depicted in fantasy settings. These references informed the scale, form, and atmosphere of the buildings while remaining grounded in the practical needs of the school.
The integration of the school into this environment was guided by the ambition to contribute positively to the existing LARP community. This meant working with building volumes that respond both to the circular and almost ritualistic character of the site, as well as to the scale and atmospheric qualities already established by Rollespilshytten.
The school is therefore introduced as four distinct buildings:
- The Mead Hall
- The Forge
- The Tower
- The Workshop
The Mead Hall
The Mead Hall is the social heart of the site. Open throughout the week, it provides a shared gathering space for students and the wider community.
Its circular form draws inspiration from ritual landscapes, Norse Hørg sites, and the prehistoric monuments found throughout Hareskoven. The entrance tower marks the building as an important communal space.
The Forge
The Forge houses specialised craft activities and can be opened for supervised workshops. During LARP events, it primarily functions as part of the scenography.
Its architecture is inspired by the symbolic role of fire, industry, and craftsmanship in fantasy worlds, expressed through the prominent chimneys rising above the roofline.
The Tower
The Tower acts as a landmark and point of orientation. Visible across the site, it strengthens the identity of the area and symbolizes the connection between the school and the LARP community.
The Workshop
The Workshop occupies a prominent position within the site's circular composition. During the week, it is used for teaching woodworking, wood carving, and timber construction, with the surrounding lawn extending the workspace during the summer months.
On weekends, the building can host community workshops focused on crafting props, shields, swords, and lightweight structures for LARP activities.
The building shares the circular geometry found in the Mead Hall, organised around a central space. As woodworking forms the foundation of the school's craft education, the architecture emphasizes the importance of timber as both a building material and a defining element of the surrounding forest landscape.
The Process
Freehand sketching has been a central part of this project from the earliest investigations to the final architectural proposals. Drawing by hand became a way of exploring ideas, testing spatial relationships, and developing forms before they were translated into digital models. The sketches allowed for a more intuitive and iterative design process, where concepts could be quickly explored, challenged, and refined. Rather than serving only as representations of finished ideas, the drawings became an active tool for thinking, discovery, and architectural development throughout the project.
The Royal Danish Academy supports the Sustainable Development Goals
Since 2017 the Royal Danish Academy has worked with the Sustainable Development Goals. This is reflected in our research, our teaching and in our students’ projects. This project relates to the following UN goal(-s)
