Danish Architecture Center (DAC): Rethinking our place in nature

By Danish Architecture Center

As cities grow and the demand for space reshapes our landscapes, nature is pushed to the edges. What would it mean to design a future where both could flourish together?

Denmark is one of the world’s most heavily cultivated countries; only small pockets of wild nature remain. Meanwhile, demand for land is rising – for energy, housing, and infrastructure. How should we shape our landscapes when every piece of land is in demand? Should we pause construction and return areas to the wild, or build denser cities to protect what lies beyond?

With cities spreading and landscapes constantly shifting, the boundary between people and the natural world is becoming ever more blurred. Age of Nature, a new exhibition at the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) in Copenhagen, invites us to imagine futures where architecture becomes a meeting ground – a place where humans and nature live side by side.

Amsterdam Allegories by Studio Ossidiana. Photo: Kyoungtae Kim.

Photo: Anders Sune Berg

Danish Architecture Center (DAC): Rethinking our place in nature

Photo: Anders Sune Berg

The exhibition suggests that such questions need more than technical answers. They call for a new way of seeing – a recognition that we are not separate from nature, but part of it. To protect biodiversity, we may need to view nature not only as a resource, but as a partner and a value in itself.

Photo: Anders Sune Berg

Visitors will encounter works that give shape to these ideas. Danish artist Rune Bosse’s Lung Trees are wrapped in plastic and kept alive by light and machines – a haunting image of a world where ecosystems can no longer breathe without our help. Studio Ossidiana presents Amsterdam Allegories, a vision of 21 floating islands where humans, plants, and animals share space, each island a small universe of life.

With poetic installations and bold visions, Age of Nature invites us to imagine how architecture might help us, not just to survive alongside nature but to truly live within it.

Danish artist Rune Bosse’s Lung Trees. Photo courtesy David Stjernholm

Photo: Anders Sune Berg

Age of Nature
6 October 2025 – 17 May 2026
Danish Architecture Center (DAC), Bryghuspladsen 10, Copenhagen
Opening hours: 10am to 6pm daily, Mondays and Thursdays until 9pm.

Web: www.dac.dk

Danish Architecture Center (DAC) is located by the waterfront in Copenhagen’s Cultural District – at the very heart of the city. Exhibitions at DAC celebrate the history of Danish architecture and high light ideas, trends, and visions shaping a sustainable future. DAC engages people in architecture – to create change.

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