41 episodes

Join the Danish Architecture Center as we chat with some of the world’s leading architects, designers, planners, and engineers about their work and ideas. Let’s Talk Architecture introduces you to the creative and innovative minds behind the future of our buildings and cities. Let’s Talk Architecture introduces you to the creative and innovative minds behind the future of our buildings and cities. Get to know the creative and innovative minds that shapes Danish architecture.

Author and journalist, Michael Booth, is not an architect, but he is curious about cities, and how they are built. In this podcast he ventures out into the city with architects, planners, and urban developers, while he asks them about the agendas, that shapes their projects and our built environment. They talk about everything from the aesthetics of the climate change, modernist masterpieces, extensive retail planning, rethinking of materials, sensuous architecture, transformation of existing buildings, the shaping of new architects, and much much more.

Generous funding is provided by Realdania and the Danish Industry Foundation. Learn more at dac.dk/en/podcast

Let's Talk Architecture Danish Architecture Center – DAC

    • Arts
    • 4.0 • 9 Ratings

Join the Danish Architecture Center as we chat with some of the world’s leading architects, designers, planners, and engineers about their work and ideas. Let’s Talk Architecture introduces you to the creative and innovative minds behind the future of our buildings and cities. Let’s Talk Architecture introduces you to the creative and innovative minds behind the future of our buildings and cities. Get to know the creative and innovative minds that shapes Danish architecture.

Author and journalist, Michael Booth, is not an architect, but he is curious about cities, and how they are built. In this podcast he ventures out into the city with architects, planners, and urban developers, while he asks them about the agendas, that shapes their projects and our built environment. They talk about everything from the aesthetics of the climate change, modernist masterpieces, extensive retail planning, rethinking of materials, sensuous architecture, transformation of existing buildings, the shaping of new architects, and much much more.

Generous funding is provided by Realdania and the Danish Industry Foundation. Learn more at dac.dk/en/podcast

    What comes after concrete?

    What comes after concrete?

    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 materials themselves? 

    In this episode, Michael Booth visits Denmark’s first bio-based construction marketplace, Havnens Hænder (“The Harbour Hands”), to understand the impact of introducing biomaterials. Two of Havnens Hænder’s three founders, Magnus Henriques and Mikkel Damgaard Nielsen, introduces Booth to innovative building materials such as hempcrete, cork, and mycelium, and together they dive into the greatest obstacles and potentials, when it comes to working for a greener building industry. 

    Let’s Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center, with sound edits by Munck Studios. 

    • 32 min
    How to measure the unmeasurable qualities of urban space

    How to measure the unmeasurable qualities of urban space

    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 arranging experimental workshops, the project uses art as a method of measuring some of the factors, we would normally find unmeasurable: The aesthetic, historical and sense-evoking traits of a place.  

    The project is part of Desire – an Irresistible Circular Society, a contribution to EU’s New European Bauhaus initiative, launched in 2020 to create sustainable, inclusive, and attractive solutions for city planning and construction. In line with the EU initiative, the project in Herlev aims to gain a different (and maybe even deeper) understanding of the site before it is developed – the idea being, that a green transition of the construction industry and its conventions requires unconventional new approaches.  

    But what kind of value can artists bring to the building site, normally characterized by hardcore calculations, strict timelines, and excel sheet-loving construction managers? And how do you take care of the existing qualities of a place while transforming it? 

    Take a listen to this episode of Let’s Talk Architecture, where host Michael Booth meets Madeleine Kate McGowan, artist, speculative designer, and artistic leader at NXT.
    Let’s Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center, with sound edits by Munch Studio.

    • 32 min
    How to transform buildings with no waste

    How to transform buildings with no waste

    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 Copenhagen. Here, a former office for a Danish fur company is being transformed into a diverse cultural center, with the use of the materials already at hand at the site. In the episode Søren Pihlmann explains the ideas behind his hardcore approach to the reuse of on-site materials, and reveals why, to him, this approach is about more than sustainability, but also holds potential for a new aesthetic. 

    Let’s Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center, with sound edits by Munch Studio.

    • 32 min
    How to build high-quality housing on the road to reduction

    How to build high-quality housing on the road to reduction

    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 projects, Living Places eschews costly, high-tech solutions, focusing instead on what can be done right now, for a relatively low investment. But what will it take to change our mindsets when it comes to housing?
    In this episode of Let’s Talk Architecture, Michael Booth meets Sinus Lynge, co-founder and Creative Director of EFFEKT Architects. Together they visit Living Places and discuss the future of low-emission, high-quality housing.
    Let's Talk Architecture is a podcast produced by Danish Architecture Center, with sound edits by Munck Studio.

    • 32 min
    Sydney Opera House 50 years: How to make art out of compromises

    Sydney Opera House 50 years: How to make art out of compromises

    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 interdisciplinary collaborations, and the controversies and compromises, that led to Utzon leaving the project before it was finished.

    In this episode of Let’s Talk Architecture, Director of Exhibitions at Utzon Center, Line Nørskov Davenport, takes us through the myths, the facts, and the truly remarkable story behind the opera house’s difficult birth, and talks about what we can learn from the process. Host is Michael Booth.

    Let’s Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center, with sound edits by Munck Studio.

    • 30 min
    How architecture can drive social change

    How architecture can drive social change

    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, safe, and diverse neighborhoods. But can the built environment affect the social issues of a place? And how do the changes affect the residents of the area?
    These are some of the questions Michael Booth raises in this episode of Let's Talk Architecture, as he joins Marie Stender, anthropologist, and senior researcher at Aalborg University, for a walk in Mjølnerparken, a social housing area in Copenhagen, that is affected by the new law to prevent parallel societies. 
    Let's Talk Architecture is a podcast produced by the Danish Architecture Center, with sound edits by Munck Studio.

    • 33 min

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9 Ratings

9 Ratings

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