How cloudbursts define the future of our cities
Let's Talk Architecture
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, host Michael Booth meets Rikke Juul Gram, creative director and partner at the...
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What's it like to live in a high-rise?
Let's Talk Architecture
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 Architecture, host Michael Booth meets Mette at Nordbro in Nørrebro, one of the...
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Why cultural heritage is more than good architecture
Let's Talk Architecture
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 , 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 become the future of urban development? Let's Talk Architecture is a podcast by the with sound edits by...
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How architecture can improve life quality of hospitalized children
Let's Talk Architecture
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 can these elements enhance patient well-being and improve the hospital...
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How to make good business within the planetary boundaries
Let's Talk Architecture
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? 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. The aim of taking care of the building throughout its entire lifespan, rather than...
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How the 15 minutes city became a measure for urban quality
Let's Talk Architecture
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 benefits of this model? How can it help reduce the cities' carbon footprint? And...
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How rebuilding war-torn areas can accelerate the sustainable transition
Let's Talk Architecture
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, (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 disaster struck parts of the world show a way forward to a more sustainable form of construction? And how do you...
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What comes after concrete?
Let's Talk Architecture
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...
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How to measure the unmeasurable qualities of urban space
Let's Talk Architecture
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 , 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...
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How to transform buildings with no waste
Let's Talk Architecture
Søren Pihlmann, founder of , 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,...
info_outlineHow can our cities handle the extreme weather the future brings? Architecture plays an important role in making our cities livable even in extreme weather conditions. As the future will bring turbulent weather of differing characters, the solutions too are diverse. In this episode of Let's talk architecture, you can hear about some of the manifold approaches to adapting the city to the dramatically changing climate and weather: Greening of buildings and flood protection of the city.
Paolo Russo from the Italian architect studio Stefano Boerri Architetti, tells us about forest-covered high-rise buildings in the middle of Milan, a concept they are bringing around the world. Other approaches are presented by Ole Schrøder from the Danish studio TREDJE NATUR, who is behind several climate adaptation projects that helps Copenhagen to better cope with large bodies of water. They have specialized in making public spaces with respect for the urban life and cultural heritage.
Michael Booth is the host of Let’s Talk Architecture, a Danish Architecture Center podcast. You can hear previous episodes here. This episode is organized in collaboration with UIA2023CPH, and Creative Denmark and produced by Muck Studios.