Danish architect Søren Pihlmann aims to revolutionize how we build. At the Venice Biennale, he turned the Danish Pavilion into an open lab, reusing every material from its renovation. “Can buildings heal themselves?” he asks. For Pihlmann, materials are partners with stories and histories. Instead of harvesting new resources, he urges us to reuse what already exists — creating architecture that connects past, present, and future through awareness, care, and poetic reuse.
Meet iconic architect Norman Foster, who reflects on the vital role of design in shaping our future. “Cities generate wealth, innovation, and life,” he says. For Foster, a city is both its buildings and its infrastructure — the bridges, subways, harbours, and spaces that connect us. “Infrastructure is the urban glue binding it all together. Architects and designers are part of that system — and in that sense, we hold the key to the future.”
Monster sent Ishod Wair to Copenhagen, the best city in the world, to warm up the streets and canals for this year’s #CPHOPEN. One of the main reasons the skaters love Copenhagen and keep coming back is the city and its accessibility – you can go anywhere – by bike, board or boat.
“Architecture is more important than any sculpture. Houses are our real monuments,” says Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard. Influenced by Joseph Beuys and the 1960s welfare-state ideals, he sees art and architecture as tools for shaping society. His Bispebjergbakke housing project embodies this — crafted by skilled hands, built for human life and longevity. “Architecture must think long-term — like nature does.”
We went to Norway to meet Helen & Hard Architects. With a deep belief in community, sustainability, and the use of wood, they’re not just reshaping architecture — but the way we live.
“Stavanger and the west coast have shaped us,” they say. “The local culture of entrepreneurship inspires transformation and experimentation. Nature remains our greatest teacher — wood reveals its story through growth patterns and the forces that formed it.”
“The world belongs to all of us.” Cave_bureau challenges the traditional understandings of architecture, Africa and colonial structures. “We need to stop blaming. We need to stop victimising ourselves. We need to come to the table as equals, as human beings and then find a way forward.” Since its foundation in 2014, Cave_bureau has studied and analysed many of the East African cave structures that have played a significant role – both historically and architecturally.
“Transparency really interests me, particularly as a filter that doesn’t expose everything but engages you. Architect Toyo Ito describes façades as osmotic skin – something that allows the permeation of the best of both sides. A house made entirely of glass is uninteresting and makes the situation inside vulnerable.”
“A building that should address our own fragility.” Meet the renowned Danish architect Dorte Mandrup and her latest signature building right by the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland – one of the places in the world where climate change is most visible. “The Icefjord Centre is created in wood to be as sustainable as possible but also to create a contrast to the millions of years of the bedrock. It’s a small building with great symbolic meaning.”
“I enjoy making transformations. There’s a lump of clay you can start moulding.” Meet the award-winning Danish architect Dorte Mandrup who here reflects upon the nature of transforming existing spaces. “What’s vital in working with transformations is to have an understanding of parallelisms. You don’t need to change everything.”
Meet Danish architect Dorte Mandrup, a star in Scandinavian architecture for many years and who receives growing international attention. "There can be something missionary about being an architect and having the desire to change the world." This film portrait of Dorte Mandrup is a conversation that started in 2017 and lasted for four years. It opens inner and outer landscapes and has thus become a fascinating tale of the conditions and nature of architecture today.
