People are at the center of all our work. We strive to create experiential architecture that fosters social interaction and enriches the daily lives of those who use our buildings. With attitude, empathy, and thoroughness, our architects make a meaningful difference by creating spaces that support community and learning.
Sustainability is a core ambition in our design approach. We aim to create adaptable architecture that evolves with users’ needs. This involves developing innovative solutions with responsible resource use, cultural awareness, and functionality rooted in users’ experiences.
Co-creation and dialogue
Every project is developed through dialogue with users, clients, and collaborators. This ongoing exchange ensures valuable input, integrated design, and architectural quality. User involvement strengthens our design solutions, creating ownership and identity closely tied to the physical spaces. Through this process, architecture becomes a social space that reflects and supports local communities.
Three premises for our architecture
Our design work is guided by three fundamental premises:
CULTURE – The human context, demographics, local roots, and building traditions in which we work. We focus on user values and the identity-building communities our buildings support.
RESOURCE – The materials, processes, and economy of our projects. We view buildings as material depots, borrowing resources temporarily. We minimize environmental impact by preserving material value, integrating building operations early, and maintaining our sustainability ambitions throughout.
FUNCTION – The requirements, flow, and user experience of each building. We design based on users’ knowledge of their needs and evaluate post-occupancy to ensure the building fulfills its intended function and vision.
Ambitions at CCO Architects
We define and pursue sustainability goals in every project, ensuring aesthetics and environmental responsibility are closely linked. In 2022, we introduced a climate policy guiding both our projects and company operations, outlining our efforts to reduce CO₂ and promote a climate-friendly building culture.
Sustainability is integrated into our design process and connected to culture, resource, and function. We combine social inclusion with environmental responsibility, optimizing both human and ecological outcomes. In addition to following certification systems like DGNB and industry standards, we use a screening method based on the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Each project is assessed against the 169 sub-goals to identify targeted sustainability initiatives.
We work with design strategies focused on:
- Transformation of existing buildings
- Resource mapping
- Reuse, and minimum demolition
- Circular economy and minimized resource consumption
- Flexibility in new construction, allowing for future adaptation and changes
- Resilience of building structures and load-bearing parts
- Design for separation, where visible joints and clean material fractions enable reuse
- Modular construction with a focus on minimal waste from the construction phase
- Minimization of layers in buildings to reduce CO2e emissions
- Reduction of joints, adhesives, and paint to create a good indoor climate with minimal off-gassing
- Universal Design as a strategy to ensure inclusion
- Analysis of culture and context to ensure the building meets users’ real needs
- Co-creation and dialogue-based design
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC)
In our processes, we work with resource mappings and life cycle assessments (LCA). We do this to qualify our solutions. We share our calculations and analyses with everyone interested. We do this to increase society’s collective knowledge and basis for working even more targeted with CO2e reduction.
We work purposefully with sustainability ambitions in our company’s operations. To maintain our sustainability ambitions in practice, we are a member of the UN Global Compact, and every year we document our work in our CSR report. Read our latest CSR report here.