The partnership behind the development of OUH into a new urban area is seeking ideas that demonstrate how 274,000 square metres in the heart of Odense can become a green, sensory and dynamic neighbourhood combining housing, businesses, culture and urban nature. The competition is an invitation to create a strong example of future urban development in Denmark – carried out with courage and consideration for both people and the environment.
Freja Ejendomme, Realdania By & Byg and the City of Odense hereby invite you to an open ideas competition for the development of the current Odense University Hospital (OUH). The competition contributes to shaping the vision for the hospital site’s next chapter.
The ideas competition is aimed at architects and other professionals within urban development and construction; artists; recreational, associational and cultural organisations; businesses and citizens who want to contribute ambitious and innovative ideas for how the existing area may be transformed into an attractive and vibrant urban area with due consideration for the climate and resource consumption.
A historic transformation
Odense’s current hospital area is facing a historic transformation where the welfare and knowledge of the past meet the life, communities and regenerative approach to urban development of the future. Through the ideas competition, we open the door to bold visions for the site and to new directions in urban development in general. We are looking for ideas that illustrate how 274,000 square metres in the heart of Odense may become a green, sensory and dynamic urban area combining housing, businesses, culture, and urban nature – a place buzzing with life and activity from day one.
A model for future urban development
The competition is an invitation to help set the direction for a new, vibrant urban area in Odense – a strong example of how future urban development in Denmark may be carried out with courage and consideration for people as well as the environment. We dream of an area that inspires others to see the potential in what already exists and shows how transformation may generate new urban qualities. This is the first step on our journey towards making a quarter a living laboratory for exploring what future urban life might look like.
Building on the site’s strong architectural legacy – the red-brick buildings from 1912, the high hospital tower from 1967 and the patient hotel from 1997 – our ambition is to create an urban area filled with light and life even before the excavators move in, and one that keeps its pulse long after the final brick has been laid.
Ideas and new perspectives rather than finished solutions
We invite participants to submit ideas and new perspectives – not finished solutions. The contributions should inspire, challenge conventional thinking and help qualify the long development journey ahead, taking their point of departure in the existing structures, the history of the place and the partnership’s shared values.
We look forward to receiving your ideas for how to breathe new life into the area and turn it into an inspiring example of new approaches to future urban development based on the existing environment.
The partnership between Freja Ejendomme, Realdania By & Byg and the City of Odense.
February 2026
