What Is Architecture?
Bring your class on the city walk What Is Architecture? at the Danish Architecture Center, where students in grades 0–6 explore the city’s materials, shapes, spaces, and sounds—with the senses in focus.
What is architecture? On a walk around Slotsholmen, you’ll get tools to understand—and put words to—the architecture you encounter in everyday life.
Using your own senses, you’ll experience how architecture affects us—from the materials buildings are made of to their scale and quirky details. You’ll wear a small mirror on your nose, listen to the city’s sounds, and touch surfaces ranging from old stone walls to modern buildings. You’ll explore how materials like stone, metal, and glass can create different atmospheres and feelings.
Along the way, we’ll look at how architecture can tell stories while also shaping the settings of our lives today. You’ll gain tools to describe buildings’ shapes, functions, and colors—and discover how these elements work together to create urban spaces and buildings that are both beautiful and functional.
The focus is on your own experiences and on developing language to reflect on architecture. You’ll be challenged to see the city in new ways and explore for yourself what architecture is—and how it shapes both our surroundings and our lives.
For school classes: Practical details
Location: The walk starts and ends at the Danish Architecture Center. The route is approximately 1 km (0.6 miles). Please note that the entire program takes place outdoors, so dress for the weather.
Duration: 1.5 hours
Grade level: Grades 0–6
Price: DKK 775
Language: Danish and English
During the program, we work with
- Materials, scale, and space: You explore materials like stone, metal, and glass—and experience how building size and scale affect your senses and understanding of space.
- Shapes, symmetry, and color: You identify geometric principles, symmetry, and color in buildings and public spaces, and reflect on how these elements shape architecture’s aesthetics and expression.
- Space and sound: You explore the city’s acoustics and learn how different sounds and moods are created in architectural spaces.
- Embodied learning: You actively use your bodies and senses to experience and understand architecture.
- Language for architecture: You practice putting your experiences into words and develop precise language to reflect on architecture’s core elements.
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