Let's Talk Architecture
Episodes
Reframing the Periphery
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a national art museum moves beyond the capital, and into a small coastal village? In this episode, host Michael Booth meets ar...
Using Nature to Recharge Infrastructure?
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
EV charging stations are usually places to pass through, not places to stay. But what if they could become green, restorative spaces instead? In thi...
Reinventing the Energy Landscape
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Catastrophic cloudbursts are already reshaping Copenhagen. Instead of hiding the problem underground in massive pipes, what if rainwater could be use...
BLOX Unpacked
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
When BLOX opened in 2018, it divided opinion. Designed by OMA as the home of the Danish Architecture Center, the building was unlike anything Copenha...
Can Architecture Heal Us?
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Timber instead of tiles, curiosity instead of corridors, and a 15-metre-high atrium designed to make people feel safer, healthier and more connec...
Building a Mega-Museum
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Eighteen years, a 14-metre-deep crater, a rebuilt brick façade, and a glass dome set to redefine Copenhagen's skyline Denmark's new Natural History ...
Why biodiversity Matters and how to get more
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Can architecture help us create a future where both humans and nature can thrive? And is it possible to truly strengthen biodiversity in big cities –...
How to build a megaproject: The Fermern Belt Link
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What defines a megaproject? And why do they so often go over both budget and schedule? Denmark has earned a reputation for successfully complet...
Can design strengthen community?
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Right now, 150 new community spaces are being built across Denmark – primarily using recycled materials – as part of an extraordinary project cal...
Designing for presence in a digital age
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Has presence become a luxury in the digital age? And do we lose contact with the world around us when so much of our lives unfold in front of a screen...
BIG HQ: When architects design for themselves
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bjarke Ingels Group – BIG – is one of Denmark's most internationally acclaimed architecture studios, with high-profile projects across the globe....
Make Odense great again
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you want to see the impact that bold, brave, progressive urban planning can have on a city, go visit Odense, Denmark's third largest city. Odense ...
A New Park is Born
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's not every day a new park opens in the centre of a capital city, and this one is extra special. Copenhagen's new Opera Park is not just a nice pla...
How to make renovation the new norm
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What will it take to break the harmful cycle of demolition and new construction, when it's still cheaper to build from scratch than to transform our ...
New policy, better cities?
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What role does architecture policy play in shaping our cities and everyday lives? With a white paper on the future of architecture and planning in De...
Designing a 21st century church
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Danes are among the least religious people in the world, with only 2.4% attending church weekly. So why are new churches still being built? And w...
How to design for rising sea levels
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Danish harbour town of Svendborg, like many cities, has faced severe storm surges and pluvial flooding in recent years. How can towns like Svendb...
How cloudbursts define the future of our cities
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Catastrophic floods in recent years have highlighted the urgent water-related impacts of climate change, pushing it to the top of the global agenda. ...
What's it like to live in a high-rise?
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mette Mechlenborg, senior researcher at Aalborg University, is the co-author of a new study on life in Danish high-rise residential buildings—the f...
Why cultural heritage is more than good architecture
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do we decide which buildings are worth preserving? And will the climate crisis reshape our answer to this question? In this episode of Let's ...
How architecture can improve life quality of hospitalized children
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How can architecture transform the experience of healthcare for children? Can design elements like colors, materials, shapes, and daylight even help ...
How to make good business within the planetary boundaries
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How can you create more sustainable, affordable, and inclusive housing if you also happen to live in a capitalist society? And can you even exploit t...
How the 15 minutes city became a measure for urban quality
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The term '15 Minutes City' was coined in 2016 to describe a locally oriented urban design strategy. Shops, healthcare, education, work, and entertain...
How rebuilding war-torn areas can accelerate the sustainable transition
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ukraine has seen many of its cities and towns destroyed. One day they will hopefully be rebuilt - with great costs and a large climate footprint as ...
What comes after concrete?
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Concrete and steel. We know that both of these mainstream building materials come with a massive CO2 cost, and that we need to find alternatives. One...
How to measure the unmeasurable qualities of urban space
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Herlev, a suburb of Copenhagen, the site of a former asphalt factory is being transformed into a new housing area. At first glance, this is a buil...
How to transform buildings with no waste
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Søren Pihlmann, founder of pihlmann architects, is among the hottest up-and-coming names in Danish architecture right now. Known for his ambitious a...
How to build high-quality housing on the road to reduction
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Living Places is an experimental village in Copenhagen that challenges the way we build and live today. Initiated by VELUX and built in partnership wi...
Sydney Opera House 50 years: How to make art out of compromises
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is the price to be paid for being an uncompromising architect? And is the uncompromising approach to architecture a thing of the past? In 2023 th...
How architecture can drive social change
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do you address the issues related to disadvantaged public housing areas, often affected by high unemployment, crime, and other challenges? The que...
Why waste cannot go to waste in the building industry
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One way the built environment can mitigate its massive negative climate impact is by focusing architecture on reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and r...
How experimenting can foster sustainable living
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cities are attracting more and more people, but finding an affordable home can become a struggle – especially for students making the move. In Copen...
The secrets behind producing great architects
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What are the secrets behind producing great architects? This question becomes increasingly difficult to answer simply as the world becomes ever more c...
How inclusive design can increase learning
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can 'inclusivity' as a design principle bring about new forms to our learning environments? In this episode of 'Let's talk architecture' our guest exp...
How AI changes architecture as we know it
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
These days artificial intelligence (AI) is in the spotlight – from fearsome warnings about societal impacts presented by leading figures in the tech...
How the rising sea levels call for new ways to imagine the future cities
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The UN General Secretary proclaims the climate change consequences will be of 'biblical proportions'. But what will that feel like in the cities we kn...
Where to find ugly architecture in the World Capital of Architecture?
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 2023 Copenhagen is named the World Capital of Architecture by UNESCO due to the city's livability and architecture which is renowned and praised by...
How to protect a livable city against disasters
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
No one knows what the future brings, so how can architects make sure their design is resilient tomorrow as well as today? Resilience is a hot topic in...
How office design impacts the way your brain works
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How does the design of your office impact the way you work? In many ways our working and learning environments can be improved if you ask research and...
How scarce resources shape architecture
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
By the hour we grow more aware that our planet's resources are scarce, and that we urgently must shift from an exploitative to a regenerative architec...
How cities adapt to the changing climate
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How can our cities handle the extreme weather the future brings? Architecture plays an important role in making our cities livable even in extreme wea...
How partnerships became essential in architecture
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How many organizations are involved in the construction of our cities? It takes a village, and no man is an island. So, how do we build partnerships o...
Why retail is key in catalyzing urban identity
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Can urban life be planned and programmed, or will it pop up by itself? At BRIQ Group, a Copenhagen-based design agency, they use careful retail planni...
How to keep the expanding city at eye level
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Aarhus, the second city of Denmark, is growing. Developing new areas rapidly, opening the harbor front, investing in infrastructure projects and cultu...
How city design shapes your eating habits
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Does the surrounding architecture make your food choices for you? In a way, if you ask CEO and founding partner at Gehl Architects, Helle Søholt and ...
How Danish architecture became world famous
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Arne Jacobsen Radisson SAS Royal Hotel was shockingly new for the Copenhageners when it was finished in 1960. It kickstarted a discussion about wh...
Why a good city for kids is a city for everyone
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Copenhagen was broke. In the 1990's families moved out of the city when they got the chance. This is not the case today, as the city has managed to fl...
Why architecture cannot speak for itself
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Architecture can sweep us away, but communication about architecture is a different story. And a problem if you ask Josefine Lykke Jensen, architect, ...
How The Future is Democratic Architecture not Starchitecture
07 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Vandkunsten Architects is a studio that was born in opposition to the existing paradigms in architecture back in 1971. They wanted to build for people...
How architecture is the interplay between form and life
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jan Gehl is one of the most important Danish architects of the past half century. He has had a great impact on the way we design our cities today –...
How to change the conversation at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter is one of Denmark's most celebrated and forward-thinking architect studios. On the occation of the well-acclaimed Dani...
Using waste as an architectural resource
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lendager Group is leading the conversation in Denmark around architectural upcycling – the practice of creating a product of higher value than the o...
How architecture shapes behavior
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Danish architect Kasper Guldager Jensen, co-owner of 3XN and founder of GXN – a research practice within the larger firm – chats with DAC's Jen ...
Hoard anything you can't download: Douglas Coupland with Bjarke Ingels
23 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Canadian artist and author Douglas Coupland's slogans for the 21st century take on a new relevance in the era of COVID-19. Just before the virus pause...
When the present and future melt together: Douglas Coupland
23 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"I think we are stuck with permanent acceleration fatigue." Canadian author and artist Douglas Coupland joined DAC's CEO Kent Martinussen for a though...
Our planet's future and the drivers of change: Arup's Chris Luebkeman
11 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What will our world look like in 2075? How will we solve our planet's biggest energy, waste, climate change, water, demographic, urbanization, or pove...
Time as a resource: Anupamu Kundoo
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Indian architect Anupamu Kundoo's buildings often use very traditional and sustainable materials but used in surprising and experimental ways. Kundoo ...
Racing to finish Sagrada Familia: Arup's Tristram Carfrae
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do you finish one of the world's most famous unfinished buildings? Without a set of original plans, a group of engineers and craftsmen are using n...
Life on our planet not centered around us: Bruce Mau
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Everything we are doing right now, we don't know how to do. That's the magical thing about design." Designer Bruce Mau joined DAC's Jen Masengarb to ...
DAC's home in a transparent BLOX: OMA's Ellen van Loon
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For OMA partner architect Ellen van Loon, a building's spatial form and the relationship between interior and exterior has always been of great fascin...
Architecture on Mars?: BIG's Jakob Lange with Tor Nørretranders
03 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bjarke Ingels Group has been working with the Dubai Future Foundation to imagine a 2117 city on Mars. BIG Partner Jakob Lange and popular science auth...
The business of architecture: BIG's Sheela Søgaard
06 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sheela Søgaard, Partner and CEO at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) isn't an architect, but her leadership has been critical to the firm's rapid global grow...
Giving form to the future: Bjarke Ingels
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, the founding partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has been disrupting the architecture world for the past 20 years. As...
Restless at heart: Dorte Mandrup
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Being restless and pushing boundaries has always been part of Danish architect Dorte Mandrup's way of life. Her collection of projects on UNESCO World...
The Architecture City: BLOX in Copenhagen
18 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The design of radical buildings in historic cities often stirs up debate. Are we afraid of architectural change? Do we eventually come to love these b...