Let's Talk Architecture

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 at Sunhill 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, tactile and quietly radical public building.  Together they discuss the centre's boomerang-shaped footprint, full timber construction and soaring atrium, and how architecture can gently nudge behaviour, foster wellbeing and create spaces that feel inclusive without feeling exposed.  Guest:  Dorte Mandrup, Arkitekt, Dorte Mandrup A/S  Host: Michael Booth  Let's Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center. Sound edits by Munck Studios.

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 wild story behind the museum: the setbacks, the breakthroughs, the impossible holes in the ground — and the thrill of watching a once-in-a-lifetime project finally rise to the surface. Opening in 2027, the museum will feature new worlds dedicated to Danish nature and Greenland and rumoured to have everything from dinosaurs to a Blue Whale skeleton.  Guest: Claus Pryds Host:  Michael Booth  Let's Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center. Sound edits by Munck Studios. 

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 the midst of urban development.  Guest: Kristine Kjørup Rasmussen, ecologist and founder of Oiko  Host: Michael Booth  Let's Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center. Sound edits by Munck Studios. 

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 Langhoff Thuesen of Denmark's Technical University on a visit to the construction site of the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link. Together they explore the impressive scale of the project and discuss the future of megaprojects in light of growing sustainability demands.   Let's Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center. Sound edits by Munck Studios. 

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, Rumgehør og Studio XYZ. In this episode our host Michael Booth, takes a trip to the southern Jutland town of Tønder with ReVærk's founding partner, Simeon Østerlund Bamford, to visit one of the new pavilions - and to discover the surprising source of the materials used to build it.  Guest: Simeon Østerlund Bamford, Partner ReVærk Host: Michael Booth Let's Talk Architecture is a podcast by Danish Architecture Center. Sound edits by Munck Studios.