Biodiversity Crisis Is Nothing to Celebrate

When the municipality of Morsø set out to create a new ticketed attraction and experience celebrating nature's generosity and life along the fjord, they were about to shape an identity and community at the waterfront of the town of Nykøbing. Group NAO was invited to test the mission and core narrative of the new attraction, along with the business foundation for OPHAV, a vibrant house envisioned to blend exhibitions, food culture, learning, and celebration of everyday life along the fjord under one roof.

First, Group NAO looked at the concept itself: Is the core narrative and reason-to-go appealing, unique, and truthful? After engaging with more than 20 stakeholders and voices in the local community, Group NAO presented a very different mission for OPHAV than the original one. Many stakeholders and experts noted that Denmark's largest fjord, Limfjorden, is suffering from a severe biodiversity crisis due to decades of overfishing of shellfish and intensive farming. So, rather than a celebration of nature's beauty and generosity when the Fjord is almost dead, the vision should be turned around into an ambition to establish Denmark's most ambitious laboratory for rewilding and restoration of life and biodiversity in the fjord - all live and interactive for the audience. In effect, this radically changed both the core story and the reason to exist of the new experience center. The result is a flexible, future-proof setup designed as a house that feeds curiosity, creates jobs, and brings people together, year-round and across generations.