Dyssekilde EcoVillage, Torup, Denmark.

Dyssekilde is an attractive community of idiosyncratic houses in central Denmark, who have had a long and arduous journey from conception to realisation. The original proposal in the mid 1980s was for 100 houses built in clusters of 10 – 15, each cluster having a common house, and with a large central common house for the whole community. However due to various setbacks and lack of numbers in the development stage, houses have been built over time rather than all at once as envisaged, resulting in less cohesion and some clusters being more spread out than expected. An area was set aside for a common house in each cluster, but these have not been built.

















The community now consists of 50 houses in 6 clusters. Each cluster has its own meetings to decide such things as the planting plan for that area, and some clusters are more cohesive than others. They have a full meeting of all residents every 3 months. For many years they used the old farmhouse building as their main common house, but eventually sold it to a school they developed, retaining one gathering room for use of the community as well as the whole nearby village.

A large new common house was completed only one year ago, with dining/meeting room, kitchen, laundry, guest rooms, children's room and office, (almost exactly the same facilities as the Earthsong common house), but this was so long in coming that it has the feel of an underutilised resource. Common dinners are held only once a week.

There is still room for 3 more houses, but the community is planning a series of vision meetings over the next 3 – 4 months to get a direction for the future. They may decide to keep the house plots as open space, being directly to the south of the common house. Another idea is to build a health centre, with sauna and rooms for health therapists.

Dyssekilde has won many awards for their ecological housing. They treat all wastewater on site, have a wind generator and extensive vegetable gardens. A small shop and cafe at the site entrance sell products made within the site, and many small businesses run from homes. They have plenty of land to increase their production, and though the establishment has been gradual, it feels like it will continue to develop over time.