Copenhagen Architecture Biennial Announces 2027 Theme

The Copenhagen Architecture Forum has officially announced the return of the Copenhagen Architecture Biennial for its second edition, scheduled to run from September 9 to October 15, 2027. The upcoming biennial will center on the theme of “Elements.” This core concept marks a significant thematic evolution from the inaugural event’s call to “Slow Down,” redirecting the focus toward a profound engagement with the fundamental physical forces that architecture has historically attempted to control, but must now learn to integrate and inhabit. This shift directly challenges one of the most enduring promises of the modern era.

Challenging the Modernist Promise of Separation

For the past century, the dominant narrative of modern progress has been built upon the promise of transcending material limitations. The prevailing belief suggested that technological advancement would steadily liberate human existence from the constraints of climate, geography, biology, and resource scarcity. Architecture has historically played a central role in validating this narrative, effectively insulating daily life from environmental extremes. It has provided warm floors, dry walls, purified air, and hot showers, enabling the seamless operation of the global knowledge economy within highly controlled indoor environments.

However, the contemporary reality has rendered these promises increasingly difficult to sustain. The very environmental conditions that modern design sought to relegate to the background are now reasserting themselves with unprecedented urgency. Modern societies are currently confronting rising global temperatures, heavily polluted air, rising water levels, depleted soils, and severe ecological pressures on the landscapes that sustain human life. Beyond the logistical impossibility of maintaining total insulation, the desire for complete independence from the natural world has itself been called into question. A completely frictionless, isolated existence is no longer viewed as an ideal or sustainable future.

The “Elements” theme emerges directly from this double rupture of ecological reality and human aspiration. What was once suppressed by technological barriers is returning not only as a source of anxiety but also as an object of human desire. This tension is visible in the contrast between destructive wildfires and the popularity of cold plunges, between depleted agricultural soils and the practice of forest bathing, and between polluted atmospheric air and the physical fatigue induced by digital screens. Consequently, the biennial seeks to address how architecture, urban planning, and design can move beyond mere protection from natural forces to actively building and living in collaboration with them. The event will examine critical questions regarding equity and vulnerability: Who receives protection, and who remains exposed to environmental hazards? What structures do we choose to maintain, and what are we willing to let fail? Furthermore, the programming will explore the new forms of collective life, daily habits, rituals, and practices of care that can develop from this elemental integration.

Designing from a Position of Dependence

Josephine Michau, the Director of the Copenhagen Architecture Biennial and a member of the Curatorial Collective, emphasized this philosophical shift in her curatorial statement. Michau noted that for many decades, the architectural profession has operated under the promise of absolute mastery over heat, earth, air, and water. Through the “Elements” theme, the biennial poses a fundamental question: what happens when designers abandon the pretense of control and instead begin designing from a position of ecological dependence? According to Michau, the structures that will best serve human communities in the future are not those designed to completely shut out the natural world, but rather those that allow occupants to actively experience and connect with it.

An Open Call for Element Pavilions

Building upon the critical success of the “Slow Pavilions” featured during the inaugural biennial, the organizers have launched an international open call for the 2027 edition. This call invites professional architects, designers, and academic researchers to propose innovative pavilion designs to be installed in the heart of Copenhagen. These temporary structures must respond directly to the overarching theme of “Elements.” Detailed guidelines regarding eligibility criteria, submission timelines, and the application process are available through the official Copenhagen Architecture Forum channels.

A Diverse City-Wide Program

The 2027 biennial program will be distributed across Copenhagen’s Cultural District and more than 60 distinct venues throughout the city, with comprehensive scheduling details to be released in the coming months. A central component of the program will be a series of four headline exhibitions, each dedicated to one of the four traditional elements: fire, earth, air, and water. These exhibitions will investigate how contemporary architecture harnesses, is shaped by, and remains fundamentally dependent on these elemental forces. The curated displays will bring together a diverse range of international and Danish architectural practices, visual artists, and scientific researchers.

The Return of the Assemble! Symposium

The biennial’s professional symposium, titled “Assemble!”, will also return for the 2027 edition with a heightened focus on policy and systemic change. The symposium will serve as a platform for architects, urban planners, and policymakers to critically address the regulatory, legal, and legislative frameworks that currently govern urban construction, resource extraction, and material consumption. Expanding upon the first edition’s advocacy for legislative reform, Assemble! 2027 will conduct multiple specialized symposia to analyze what elemental dependence means for planning law, building codes, and standard industry practices. Tickets for the symposium are scheduled to go on sale in the Spring of 2027.

Additional details regarding the participating architectural practices, the selected winners of the pavilion open call, the keynote speakers for the Assemble! symposium, and the complete schedule of public events will be officially announced in the lead-up to the biennial’s opening in September 2027. Interested participants and attendees can access the full Curatorial Statement and register for regular updates through the biennial’s official platform.