Copenhagen Architecture Biennial 2025

By Tina Kristensen
18.09.2025

Today, Thursday 18 September, Denmark's very first architecture biennial, Copenhagen Architecture Biennial, officially kicks off and the next month is dedicated to architecture. Until 19 October, the biennial offers more than 250 architecture events in Copenhagen and the surrounding area.

Under the theme 'Slow Down', you can delve into everything from exhibitions, various pavilions and film screenings to talks, open houses and walks. Below are seven highlights from the Biennale's impressive program.

Barn Again, rendering. Tom Svilans & THISS STUDIO.

Slow Pavilions
We need to build more sustainably and you will find some good suggestions on how to do this among the winners of the Biennale's pavilion competition. A jury of Danish and international experts has selected the winners, who have created very different pavilions that address how we can build sustainably in the future. The task was to build pavilions that do away with the idea of ​​tearing down and building new. Among several hundred international proposals, Slaatto Morsbøl and Tom Svilans x THISS Studio are the winners of 'Slow Pavilions', which the competition has been named in line with the overall theme 'Slow Down'. The two pavilions 'Inside Out, Downside Up' by Slaatto Morsbøl and 'Barn Again' by Tom Svilans & THISS Studio can be experienced at Søren Kierkegaard Plads.

Studio Tideland & Emma Rishøj.

Slow Down Exhibition
At Halmtorvet 27 and Form/design Center in Malmö, you can experience the group exhibition 'Slow Down' until October 19th, where a curated group of exhibitors illuminate the theme in different ways.
"Here, rainwater harvesting becomes a public ritual, the architecture a documentary mapping, and the landscape a pre-architectural form of habitation. The exhibition has been created in a regional curatorial collaboration between Copenhagen Architecture Biennial and Form/Design Center in Malmö and is shown in parallel at both locations," the description says. 

At Halmtorvet, every Thursday during the biennial, with a specialty beer in hand, you can delve into the exhibition's themes with the exhibiting artists at the 'Thursday Bar'.

Søren Pihlmann, Make Material Matter. Press photo.

Film program
The biennial features a wide range of relevant films and opens with nothing less than a world premiere. Danish architect Søren Pihlmann, who is also the man behind this year's Danish Pavillion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, wants to revolutionize the way we build.
“Louisiana Channel has followed Pihlmann for three years, compiling a portrait of one of the most interesting figures on the global architecture scene right now. He sees an inherent quality and beauty in existing materials and wants to explore alternative methods to the traditional practice of tearing down, throwing away and building new.”
At the Copenhagen Architecture Biennial on September 18, we can experience the world premiere of 'Make Materials Matter', which examines Pihlmann's approach in his own words and through some of his most significant projects, including the aforementioned project at the Biennale Architettura 2025 in Venice.

Press photo: Copenhagen Architecture Biennial.

Research from the Royal Danish Academy for your morning coffee
It is always interesting to hear what is happening in new research. During the biennial, you can come to the 'Slow Mornings' coffee every week at CAFx at Halmtorvet 27 and hear about the latest research in the field of architecture with researchers from the Royal Academy. Here you can, among other things, immerse yourself in the rhythms of water in a VR experience and a slow narrative or, with Copenhagen in 2050 as a case study, hear about how adaptations of the built environment can contribute to reducing the risk of mosquito-borne diseases and promote health-promoting urban landscapes in a future where infectious mosquitoes spread across large parts of Europe. 

Press photo: Copenhagen Architecture Biennial

City walks
No architecture biennial would be complete without city walks. And here you have a wide range to choose from. For example, take a tour with Juul Frost Arkitekter and ReVærk, who will guide you through the value chain for clay soil, or take part in a 'Walk and Talk' through Bispebjerg Hospital with Arne Høi and Louise Grønlund from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The latter focuses on Bispebjerg Hospital's place in architectural history, as well as the different window types and the healing qualities of daylight. Or how about a 'City Growth Walk', a guided tour of urban development in Hedehusene? There is a good range of topics.

The chapel. Frederiksberg Hospital. Photo: Laura Stamer

Open house
It's no secret that there are many architectural gems hidden around the city that are not always publicly accessible. But then it's good that you can take advantage of the biennial's many open house events to get an exclusive look at selected architecture. There are a wealth of options here. From beautiful hidden courtyards, overwhelming church rooms, roof terraces and towers with unparalleled views to the Medical Museion, Frederiksberg Courthouse and the Royal Collection of Casts. 

Photo: Sophie Dupont

More pavilions - and performances
It is not just the two previously mentioned 'Slow Pavilions' that adorn the urban space during the biennial. In fact, there are several pavilions to be found around the city. At the Royal Danish Academy you can experience the two pavilions, the Daylight Pavilion and the Clay Pavilion. In the Garden of Decay on Refshaleøen, visitors can help turn a garden into a place for active research, and at Frederiksberg Hospital you can experience a transformed chapel and an old kiosk that becomes an exhibition space. And then there is Textile Topography, where a pavilion of textile waste is an outdoor pavilion and workshop area dedicated to the recycling of textile waste. This can be found in an empty parking lot in Jernbanebyen

With the Slow Down theme as the focal point, you can experience the internationally renowned percussionist Ying-Hsueh Chen giving special concerts in Brønshøj Water Tower and at the Cold War Museum Stevnsfort, or you can find peace with artist Sophie Dupont, who does a breathing performance at the Town Hall Square from sunrise to sunset.

"We stop, we linger, we let go. We fall out of rhythm, but instead of catching up, we hang on to listen to what arises in the silence," says the curatorial statement, sent by chief curator Josephine Michau and the CAFx Team, and it must be said that it promises to be a magnificent biennial that illuminates the theme in a nuanced and relevant way. So here is a warm invitation to explore the Copenhagen Architecture Biennial's cornucopia of a program.