Open Call for the design and construction of two public pavilions

For this year’s Biennial we are looking for two distinct pavilions, urging you to build with fire, water, earth and air - letting the world in instead of shutting it out.

Leaving behind dreams of mastery over heat, earth, air and water we follow commonly felt desires for friction and ask what designing from dependence and connection might entail. In a time of warming, droughts and technological illusions of a frictionless escape into the cloud.

Elements

Elements, the theme of Copenhagen Architecture Biennial 2027, investigates architecture as a matter of reestablishing connections to our senses and surroundings - the ground beneath our feet, the air we breathe and the materials we build with. Leaving behind dreams of mastery over heat, earth, air and water - in a time of warming, pollution, droughts and technological illusions of a frictionless escape into the cloud - we follow commonly felt desires for friction and ask what designing from dependence and connection might entail.

In 2025, the first Copenhagen Architecture Biennial took place, featuring two forward-looking and material-conscious pavilions that served as symbols and landmarks reflecting the Biennial’s Slow Down theme. The pavilions attracted more than 100,000 visitors and were featured in a wide range of the world’s most influential architecture publications.

Pavillion Husum Nord

We are proud to launch the pavilion call for Copenhagen Architecture Biennial 2027, in collaboration with “Områdefornyelsen Husum Nord”. A call for a pavilion responding to this year’s theme, Elements, while being able to function in two distinct geographical locations.

During the Biennial (9.9-15.10.2027) the pavilion will be located at Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Plads in the Cultural District of central Copenhagen. Thereafter, the pavilion will find its permanent home in the Husum Nord area, a sustainable solution that ensures locals and international guests the ability to experience the pavilion again and again.

We are seeking proposals for a pavilion that will be placed in Husum Nord following the biennial.

The pavilions must:

• The pavilion should function as an open, inviting and safe place for people of all ages to stay and gather, while providing a space for respite from the surrounding indoor and outdoor renovation works in Husum Nord
• Be constructed from recycled, regenerative and reusable materials, with a focus on circular building practices and a goal of zero waste.
• Reflect the theme of “Elements”, both conceptually and in the design.
• Be modular and demountable, allowing the structure to be assembled, disassembled, stored and transported from central Copenhagen, and subsequently reconstructed in Husum Nord.
• Pavilion dimensions: Maximum 5 × 5 metres in plan and 5 metres in height from ground level to the highest point.

Prize: 

The selected project will receive a prize of DKK 60,000.

Mobile Theatre

We are proud to launch the pavilion call for Copenhagen Architecture Biennial 2027, in collaboration with the internationally famous Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen. A special call for the transformation and modernisation of the already existing Mobile Theatre, responding to this year’s theme, Elements.

With the transformation and creation of the new Mobile Theatre Pavilion, we urge you to build with fire, water, earth and air letting the world in instead of shutting it out.

Requirements

• Accommodate cultural activities, such as concerts, speeches and theatre happenings, and function as a stage.
• Have a conceptual, beautiful and engaging appearance. It should allow for additions, signage, temporary decoration, etc. that can support individual cultural activities. Aesthetically, it should draw inspiration from the Operaen's existing stylistic and design language.
• Draw on the construction of the historic wagon and transform it using recyclable, regenerative and reusable materials that support a circular construction approach.
• Other requirements The new wagon should be conceived as a project that will benefit Christiania through a multifunctional cultural wagon that can be used for everything from a stage to a mobile wagon.
• It must be possible to lock the wagon securely, and it should therefore have folding glass doors, grilles, or another suitable solution.
• Construction During construction, emphasis will be placed on the possibility of involving residents, craftspeople and artists from Christiania, as well as the possibility of involving “Den Grønne Genbrugshal” in relation to materials.

Prize: 

The selected project will receive a prize of DKK 60,000.

Who Can Participate

Architects, designers and students (urban, landscape and building architecture).

Both interdisciplinary teams and individuals are welcome, including (but not excluded to) engineers, artists, designers, scenographers and researchers.

At least one member of every submitted proposal must be based in Denmark.

Key details and more information 

• Husum Nord Pavilion Open Call | CAFx Biennial 2027
• The Mobile Theatre Pavilion Open Call | CAFx Biennial 2027