New Exhibition at Danish Architecture Center: Age of Nature

The exhibition is open from October 6, 2025, to May 17, 2026.  

Inside the exhibition space, the public is confronted with radical visions for the future: How can we reimagine our world? A tower of live mushrooms rises like a vertical field, freeing up land for wilderness. Facades become miniature ecosystems with habitats for birds and insects. And on the brink of climate collapse, film producer Liam Young’s work The Great Endeavor presents a vision for a planetary workforce: a billion people building their way out of the crisis by removing CO₂ from Earth’s atmosphere. A dream so other-worldly it could be sci-fi, and yet achievable using technologies we already have.  

The Danes are embracing nature like never before, sleeping in woodland shelters, ice swimming, and trail walking to restore balance and connectedness. But will we make space for nature when the crunch comes? Denmark is one of the most farmed countries in the world, with only 0.7% wilderness remaining in its total land mass. Meanwhile demand is increasing for land for green energy, urban development and climate infrastructure.  

Kent Martinussen, architect and CEO of Danish Architecture Center, says:  

“Nature is the foundation of our existence, but it’s under unprecedented pressure. For centuries, we’ve been shaping landscapes in our quest for security and prosperity, forgetting that we're part of nature ourselves. There are no quick fixes for the imbalance we’ve created. With Age of Nature we aim to show how architecture can be part of nature’s cycle and foster a new balance between humankind and other species.” 

Architecture Interacting with Nature 

Age of Nature presents trail-blazing projects by Danish and international architects, scientists and artists exploring how we can build with, not against, nature.  

Four themes showcase widely differing perspectives on the future that present dilemmas and point to new directions for architecture: Can we build cities for greater species diversity? Can we give up space for more wilderness by radically rethinking how we produce food, for example? Can technology be harnessed to heal nature, and how much do we stand to gain from setting aside some of our architectural traditions and learning from nature itself? 

The examples include Dutch Studio Ossidiana’s floating islands, where humans, animals and plants co-exist. In Biogenic Building, the CITA (Center for IT and Architecture) research team shows how eelgrass and bark are woven into structural components that biodegrade as organic materials, demonstrating an architecture designed to decay not endure.  

This theme also presents a model of Bas Smets’ project at Notre Dame where nature’s processes are utilized in creating cooling microclimates in central Paris, demonstrating how nature itself holds solutions to future challenges. 

In an interactive test developed in collaboration with CONCITO, visitors can decide which of three visionary land-use plans for Denmark they would opt for. 

The exhibition is supplemented by short videos in which six experts offer their take on the themes – from Carsten Rahbek, who researches biodiversity, and Eline Lorenzen, who works with evolution, to architect Flemming Rafn, artist Jonas Colling Larsen, theologian and bioethicist Mickey Gjerris, and biologist and biodiversity developer Kristine Kjørup Rasmussen. 

A Sensory Journey Through Architecture and Nature 

The exhibition begins in an AI-generated forest – a man-made naturescape reflecting our longing for what we are losing. From here, a timeline takes visitors through Earth’s evolution – reaching back 3.5 billion years. Over the past 200 years, however, a dramatic shift has occurred: Earth’s population expands from one to eight billion, while wildlife populations are halved and more than 70 percent of biodiversity vanishes. Scientists term this the Holocene extinction Whereas asteroids and ice ages once impacted life on Earth, change is now caused by the human way of life. 

A luminous neon track guides the public onwards. En route, visitors are confronted with the installation entitled Lung Trees presenting living trees inside plastic tents, connected to oxygen machines and artificial lighting. Here the plants are on life support as a powerful portrayal of the fragile balance between man-made systems and nature’s life force. 

The exhibition zooms in underfoot on the contents of transparent cylinders revealing soil layers from urban areas, provincial housing estates, fields, forests and peatlands, offering insight into the diversity that is otherwise hidden from view. 

Next-Generation Nature’s Future 

The next generation is invited to explore ideas for a healthy co-existence of humankind and nature. Children and their families can explore the exhibition’s early-learner track to delve into nature’s secrets. Here they can breathe with the trees in a sensory installation, unleash their imagination, draw a wild animal and build a home for it. Young visitors can also find inspiration for their own experiments in the installation Wildlife looking for shelter. 

With Age of Nature, Danish Architecture Center invites the public to join the discourse on how we can learn from nature and create architecture in which both humans and other species have a place.  

For more information, see www.dac.dk/age-of-nature 

Acknowledgments 
The exhibition is funded by the philanthropic society Realdania and the foundations Augustinus Fonden and Knud Højgaards Fond. 

Exhibition sponsor: Exponent  

Special thanks to all our partners who contributed to the exhibition: 

Artelia – Bureau Bas Smets – Camilla Suleima – Carsten Rahbek – CLOUDII – Chair for Biohybrid Architecture – CITA (Centre for Information Technology and Architecture) – Concito – Ea Baaner – Eline Lorenzen – Flemming Rafn – Georg Jagunov – Helene Søndergaard Jensen – Jacob Bach Riis – Jonas Colling Larsen – Karoline Frederikke Hyveled-Nielsen – Kathrine Andersen Mølby – Kristine Kjørup Rasmussen – Lasse Antoni Carlsen – Laurits Evald Thingholm – Liam Young – Malmos – Marcelo Rosenbaum – Masha Sheludiakova – Mia Fryk Holm – Mickey Gjerris – Nixiwaka Biraci Yawanawa – Rasmus Fenger Dreye – Rias – Rune Bosse – Slaatto Morsbøl – Studio Coquille – Studio Ossidiana – Third Nature – Utzon Center   

About Danish Architecture Center 
Danish Architecture Center is an international cultural attraction that creates engaging events and sparks debate about architecture and design. Experience exhibitions, tours and events, shop design products, and enjoy spectacular views of Copenhagen from the café’s large rooftop terraces. DAC engages people in architecture – to drive change.  

Its financial foundation is a public private partnership between the Danish government, represented by the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs; the Ministry of Culture; and the Ministry of Transport; and the philanthropic society Realdania. 

HM The King is patron of Danish Architecture Center.