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Akvariet

A new cultural gathering place for gastronomy, wellbeing, learning and community.

Under development.

The Akvariet building with its seahorse tower

A New Chapter for a Historic Landmark

For generations, the former Danish National Aquarium was a place of discovery and shared experiences. Closed since 2012, the building and its surroundings have deteriorated. Fournais aims to give the site new life as an open destination for culture, community, wellbeing and gastronomy in a greener, car-free Charlottenlund Palace Park.

The project is in development and dialogue with authorities and stakeholders.

Historic black-and-white photo of the former Danish National Aquarium building

A Place for People

Akvariet will become a living gathering place with experiences and activities throughout the year.

Culture & Ideas

Akvariet will host talks, exhibitions and cultural events, creating a meeting place for all ages to explore culture, science and nature.

Rendering of the new Akvariet building with people on the terrace

Health & Movement

Spaces for movement, reflection and time in nature will support physical and mental wellbeing.

The seahorse relief on the white tower of Akvariet

Food & Gastronomy

The restaurant will follow Fournais’ soil-to-table philosophy, connecting seasonal ingredients and responsible choices with the landscape they come from.

Hands plating food into bowls

Community & Experiences

Akvariet will be an open and welcoming gathering place for local residents, families and visitors. Through shared experiences, events and year-round activities, it will bring new life to the area and create stronger connections between people, place and community.

Sunlight falling through the trees

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A Letter from Our Founder

Kim Fournais, founder of Fournais

For most of my life, I have been driven by curiosity.
Curiosity about people, business, nature and how things work – but perhaps even more importantly, how they could work better.

Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to build successful businesses. Success, however, has a way of changing the questions you ask yourself. At some point, it is no longer about what else you can build. It becomes about what you want to leave behind.

That question became the beginning of Fournais.

Not because I wanted to create another company, but because I wanted to create places that demonstrate a different way forward. Places where nature, business and people are no longer seen as separate, but as parts of the same living system.
For too long, we have accepted the idea that protecting nature requires sacrifice – that responsibility comes at the expense of comfort, beauty or quality of life. I have never believed that. I believe the opposite.

When we work with nature instead of against it, everything becomes stronger.

Healthier landscapes produce healthier food. Thriving ecosystems create resilient communities. Beautiful places inspire people to care for them. Responsible businesses can restore far more than they consume.

When I first came to Vejrø, it was a forgotten island. The buildings were deteriorating, nature had been neglected and opportunities had disappeared. It reminded me that decline is rarely inevitable – it is simply the result of countless decisions made over time. If that is true, then regeneration is also a decision. One made every single day.

Today, Vejrø tells a different story. Not because the work is finished, but because every year the island becomes healthier, richer and more alive than the year before. To me, that is the true meaning of regeneration. Not perfection, but continuous improvement.

That philosophy now guides everything we do at Fournais. Whether we restore landscapes in Denmark, cultivate ancient olive groves in Mallorca, develop renewable energy systems, create places for hospitality and wellbeing, or establish environments where knowledge can be tested and shared, I do not see separate businesses. I see one connected ecosystem, where soil, water, energy, food, biodiversity, human health and knowledge constantly influence one another.

Nature has always understood this. Perhaps it is time that we do too.

Fournais exists to explore what becomes possible when we stop treating nature as a resource and begin recognising it as the system that sustains us. Not through theories or promises, but through real places that people can experience. Places where ideas become landscapes. Where agriculture restores biodiversity. Where energy creates resilience. Where hospitality contributes to wellbeing. And where every project becomes an opportunity to learn, improve and inspire others.

My hope has never been to build something extraordinary for ourselves. It has always been to build something meaningful that others can learn from.

If Fournais can help demonstrate that healthier ecosystems, stronger communities and better businesses are not competing ambitions, but outcomes of the same well-designed system, then we have achieved something worthwhile.

Because I believe the future is not something we inherit.
It is something we cultivate.

Kim Fournais
Founder, Fournais