EV charging stations are usually places to pass through, not places to stay. But what if they could become green, restorative spaces instead? In this episode, host Michael Booth talks with architect Louise Flach de Neergaard from Cobe about a new generation of charging stations designed for Clever. Using timber canopies, native planting and nature-based design, the project rethinks infrastructure as a place for pause, biodiversity and everyday wellbeing. The conversation explores how architectur...
Mar 26, 2026•28 min
Catastrophic cloudbursts are already reshaping Copenhagen. Instead of hiding the problem underground in massive pipes, what if rainwater could be used to improve everyday life in the city? In this episode, host Michael Booth meets Mette Skjold, CEO and senior partner at landscape architecture studio SLA, to explore the transformation of Bispeparken, a former stretch of anonymous lawn turned into a nature-based climate adaptation project. Designed to manage extreme rainfall, the park uses bioswal...
Feb 26, 2026•28 min
When BLOX opened in 2018, it divided opinion. Designed by OMA as the home of the Danish Architecture Center, the building was unlike anything Copenhagen had seen before, bold, complex and unapologetically different. In this episode, host Michael Booth is joined by DAC CEO Kent Martinussen for a guided tour of BLOX, as the centre prepares an anniversary exhibition marking 40 years of DAC. Together they unpack the story behind the building: the unusual architect selection process, Rem Koolhaas' vi...
Jan 29, 2026•31 min
Timber instead of tiles, curiosity instead of corridors, and a 15-metre-high atrium designed to make people feel safer, healthier and more connected. Copenhagen's Centre for Health proposes a new typology for public healthcare architecture. In this episode, Michael Booth meets architect Dorte Mandrup, widely regarded as one of Denmark's greatest living architects, to explore how a complex and often contradictory brief — openness and privacy, care and community — was translated into a warm, tacti...
Dec 25, 2025•31 min
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 Museum is almost ready. In this episode, Michael Booth meets architect Claus Pryds, who was barely out of architecture school when he unexpectedly won the competition for the country's next great museum. What followed was a marathon of design, engineering and sheer perseverance that stretched across nearly two decades. Michael and Claus dive into the...
Nov 27, 2025•33 min
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 – or are we just creating small, isolated pockets of green? In this episode, Michael Booth meets ecologist, biodiversity developer and founder of Oiko, Kristine Kjørup Rasmussen. Together they explore Copenhagen's Nordhavn district – from concrete cityscapes to wild wastelands – to see how biodiversity can be measured, protected, and even enhanced in...
Oct 29, 2025•32 min
What defines a megaproject? And why do they so often go over both budget and schedule? Denmark has earned a reputation for successfully completing large-scale construction projects – whether they are bridges, tunnels, land reclamation or offshore wind farms. The latest Danish megaproject is the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link, a record-breaking 18-kilometer tunnel currently being placed on the seabed from the island of Lolland to Northern Germany. In this episode, Michael Booth joins Professor Christian ...
Sep 25, 2025•28 min
Right now, 150 new community spaces are being built across Denmark – primarily using recycled materials – as part of an extraordinary project called Vores Sted (Our Place). Funded by the Danish philanthropic association Realdania, the project aims to reinvent the community gathering place for the 21st century. The community spaces, designed as four distinct types of pavilions, are the result of a collaboration between Danish architectural firms ReVærk, Cobe, Archival Studies, pihlmann architects...
Aug 28, 2025•33 min
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? In this episode of Let's Talk Architecture host Michael Booth meets Nikoline Dyrup, architect and founding partner of Danish architecture and design studio, Spacon. Together they visit the studio's newly opened exhibition at DAC, Meet Me Here, for a conversation about how design and architecture can shape the ways we connect. Let's Talk Architect...
Jul 31, 2025•29 min
Bjarke Ingels Group – BIG – is one of Denmark's most internationally acclaimed architecture studios, with high-profile projects across the globe. Not long ago, the firm moved into its own seven-story raw concrete-and-glass headquarters, prominently located on the harbour in Copenhagen's Nordhavn district. But what happens when a firm like BIG gets the chance to design its own headquarters? What role did sustainability play in the process, and what can the new BIG HQ tell us about the company beh...
Jun 26, 2025•39 min
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 has gone from being a city divided into halves by a four-lane main road, to one built on a human scale which is ready for the challenges of the 21st century. But how have they banished cars, how did the locals react, and what role has culture played in the transformation of Hans Christian Andersen's birthplace? These are some of the questions host M...
May 29, 2025•33 min
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 place to relax in the shadow of the opera house. It represents a radical departure from the type of parks found elsewhere in the city: this harbourfront garden is a place for the contemplation of nature, of trees and plants from around the world, of water, and of sky. It's blessedly free from programming - there are no cycle paths, no running tracks, ...
May 12, 2025•32 min
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 existing buildings? HouseEurope! is a European Citizen Initiative, aimed at making renovation the new norm in Europe. If the initiative can gather a million signatures, they can force a debate in the European Parliament and bring transformation and renovation to the top of the agenda. Enlai Hooi, Head of Innovation at Schmidt Hammer Lassen , is one ...
Mar 31, 2025•34 min
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 Denmark about to be published, we explore how policy can address major challenges—from climate change to urban revitalization. Join host Michael Booth as he speaks with Kent Martinussen, CEO of Danish Architecture Center and a member of the expert committee tasked by the Ministry of Culture with drafting the policy, and Jesper Pagh, Chief Architect of...
Feb 26, 2025•32 min
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 what does it take to design a religious space that meets the needs of the 21st century? In this episode of Let's Talk Architecture, host Michael Booth visits the striking Trekroner Church, completed in 2019 by Rørbæk og Møller Arkitekter . Booth speaks with architects Nicolai Overgaard and Irina Maksimovich about this innovative building, designed no...
Jan 23, 2025•30 min
The Danish harbour town of Svendborg, like many cities, has faced severe storm surges and pluvial flooding in recent years. How can towns like Svendborg adapt to the increasing threat of flooding caused by climate change? And could learning to live with regular, controlled flooding – rather than fighting it – be the answer? This is part two of Let's Talk Architecture's deep dive into how Danish architects and planners are addressing the water-related challenges of climate change. In this episode...
Dec 12, 2024•31 min
Catastrophic floods in recent years have highlighted the urgent water-related impacts of climate change, pushing it to the top of the global agenda. While much attention has been paid to rising temperatures, flooding poses an immediate and critical threat to millions worldwide. So, how do we design urban spaces to handle increasing volumes of water? Can we learn to work with nature rather than against it, and even enhance urban life in the process? In this episode of Let's Talk Architecture, hos...
Nov 14, 2024•31 min
Mette Mechlenborg, senior researcher at Aalborg University, is the co-author of a new study on life in Danish high-rise residential buildings—the first of its kind in over fifty years. This long gap is partly due to Denmark's historical reluctance to embrace high-rise living, especially for families. However, the landscape is shifting, with several tall towers now rising near Copenhagen's city center and more on the way. So, what has changed since the last study? In this episode of Let's Talk Ar...
Oct 10, 2024•33 min
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 Talk Architecture, host Michael Booth joins Kristoffer Lindhardt Weiss, CEO of The Danish Architectural Press , for an architectural tour of Copenhagen - from the iconic yet controversial Palads Cinema to Arne Jacobsen's Modernist SAS Royal Hotel. Together they explore the landscape of architectural preservation, and ask: Could sustainable preservation ...
Sep 26, 2024•32 min
How can architecture transform the experience of healthcare for children? Can design elements like colors, materials, shapes, and daylight even help improve the young patients' lives? Denmark is about to get its first purpose-built children's hospital, Børneriget, which is scheduled to open in 2026 in central Copenhagen. Børneriget aims to redefine pediatric healthcare with its unique "finger plan" layout, focusing on creating a welcoming and safe environment through thoughtful design. But how c...
Aug 06, 2024•34 min
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 the capitalist system to create a better world? Home.Earth might have an answer. As a new and rather radical real estate company, Home.Earth is doing things differently: The company not only builds low-emission, high-quality housing – they also take care of finding tenants, manage the properties afterwards and give tenants a share of their profit. Th...
Jul 04, 2024•32 min
The term '15 Minutes City' was coined in 2016 to describe a locally oriented urban design strategy. Shops, healthcare, education, work, and entertainment – all should be accessible within a 15 minutes' walk or bike ride from your home. The aim is to create a people-centered urban development that decentralizes to create more lively local neighborhoods. The concept is already being implemented in cities across the world – from Paris, Madrid, and Copenhagen to Shanghai and Bogotá. But what are the...
Jun 12, 2024•30 min
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 a result. But what are the alternatives? Danish NGO, Arkitekter Uden Grænser (Architects Without Borders), is already working on a solution: With the pilot project Build-back-green a sustainable building system using biogenic materials - straw, clay, and timber – is introduced in the Ukrainian city of Voznesensk. Can rebuilding in war-torn or disaste...
Apr 30, 2024•26 min
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 way forward is the reintroduction of traditional materials and invention of new bio-based materials. But the implementation of the new materials requires large and challenging changes for the entire building industry. What will it take to kickstart these massive changes? And what happens when starting at a more tangible level: With the building mat...
Feb 21, 2024•32 min
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 building site like many others, dominated by cranes, concrete and safety helmets. But in fact, a pilot project out of the ordinary is taking place here. Leaded by innovation agency NXT , the project invites artists to analyze the site that is being transformed. By interacting with the local biodiversity, diving into the landscape's history, and arrangin...
Jan 25, 2024•33 min
Søren Pihlmann, founder of pihlmann architects , is among the hottest up-and-coming names in Danish architecture right now. Known for his ambitious approach to transformations, Søren Pihlmann insists on reusing as much of the existing buildings as possible - from plumbing to concrete beams - and adapting them for the new purpose of the building. In this episode, host Michael Booth visits Søren Pihlmann at the building site of one of his most radical projects yet: Thoravej 29 in north-west Copenh...
Dec 14, 2023•32 min
Living Places is an experimental village in Copenhagen that challenges the way we build and live today. Initiated by VELUX and built in partnership with EFFEKT Architects and Artelia , the temporary village's low emission homes suggest a whole new way of thinking about a series of urgent matters: From environmental footprint to indoor climate, biodiversity, affordability, and community building. As a case study for the Reduction Roadmap project, a plan to reduce the CO2 emission of new housing p...
Nov 16, 2023•33 min
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 the Sydney Opera House can celebrate its 50th anniversary. The building was designed by the then unknown Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, and it has become a milestone in modern architecture. But the Sydney Opera House also represents an often-seen story of the complexities and challenges of large and innovative building projects: A story of interdiscip...
Oct 23, 2023•31 min
How do you address the issues related to disadvantaged public housing areas, often affected by high unemployment, crime, and other challenges? The question is common to many cities across Europe. In Denmark the government is combining social and architectural interventions in the most troubled areas: With the 'parallel society law', up to 60% of existing residents are evicted, and entire housing blocks are being renovated and improved. The aim is to convert troubled housing areas into attractive...
Oct 03, 2023•34 min
One way the built environment can mitigate its massive negative climate impact is by focusing architecture on reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling elements. Essentially building within a circular economy framework. However, many central players in the building industry are reluctant to change their approach to materials usage. So, what is preventing us from building a circular society? In this live episode of Let's Talk Architecture, Michael Booth sits down in a cross-cultural convers...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 9 min
