We pause, we dwell, we let go. We miss a beat, but instead of rushing to catch up, we linger to listen to what emerges in the silence. Some might insist: “Move fast and break things.”𓆙 But we counter: “Move slow and mend systems.”
Slow Down, the theme of Copenhagen Architecture Biennale 2025, investigates architecture as matters of time and means of slowing down overheated sites, cities, and societies.𓆀 Cooling in the shadows of the great acceleration—a century of an unprecedented upsurge in population, global GDP, energy use and use of natural resources—we set out to imagine what a great deceleration of the global system might look like, feel like, and sound like.
We know slowing down means things last longer. We know slowing down means less waste, more repair and maintenance. We know slowing down could mean smaller and deeper worlds.𓆆 But might slowing down not also mean a new understanding of the slow—observing glacial movements, the gradual growth of plants, and the expansive stretches of cosmic time? Might slowing down not also mean reclaiming the power over our powers, carving out new intervals that can separate reflexes from reflections, and absence from presence?𓃦
For what if societies really prioritized investments in deep contemplation rather than quick consumption? And what, if businesses and states truly redefined their criteria for success in terms of long-term ecological and social impact instead of short-term profit? Responsible for 37% of the world’s CO2 emissions, 30% of the world’s waste production, and nearly 30% of the global biodiversity loss, the construction sector will undoubtedly be an important part in the great dizzying deceleration that lies ahead.𓆦
The architecture of the 21st century will be an architecture of the slow. For it’s really not about whether we slow down, nor if we need to.𓄆 It’s about how slowness will arrive—softly, like the hush of falling snow, or violently, like a system collapsing under its own weight? Will it be forced upon us—a necessary halting of gears, long grinding—or will it be a choice, a deliberate unspooling of pace, rhythm, and time? In the end, what matters is the shape the slowness will take, and what will emerge—or diminish—in its wake.
We are Copenhagen Architecture Biennial, a testing ground for new ideas and actions in architecture and spatial design. Founded in 2024 by Copenhagen Architecture Forum (CAFx) and led by Josephine Michau, Curator of the Danish Pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia 2023, our biennial takes over from the previous annual festival format— Copenhagen Architecture Festival, established in 2014. Our biennial features a broad public program that spans various media and institutional spaces, including Assemble!, a two-day professional event exploring the structural challenges in today’s building sector and the cracks through which new opportunities might seep into the future.
We bend, stretch, and morph concepts into actionable plans. Our role in the architectural sphere is to connect people, test ideas, and share knowledge across social, professional, cultural, and methodological boundaries. From exhibitions and symposia to guided tours and social events, we create breaks in the inertia of the mundane, within which professionals and the broader public can begin to explore new routes and roles for architecture in the long term.
We believe that deep change in architecture demands radical collaboration—a persistent, challenging, ethical practice that forces us to rethink our place within the planet’s chaotic social and ecological systems. This transformation calls for everyone’s voice—not just the architects—but an informed and engaged public that needs new collective infrastructures for gathering, dialogue, and experimentation in order to come into being. We believe that everyone should understand that architecture is something far stranger than we often admit. It’s not just about designing cities and buildings; it’s about altering habits, headspace and our interactions with the web of life we both inhabit and rely on.
Our Biennale is organized by Copenhagen Architecture Forum—an organization dedicated to a year-round architectural program. To resist the gravitational pull of the fleeting and the spectacular that define contemporary event culture, this biennale builds on the Forum's continuous exploration of architectural issues throughout the year. Copenhagen Architecture Forum’s commitment to an annual program provides a consistent foundation that supports sustained local impact, transforming the biennale into a more grounded and lasting initiative rather than a brief event that flashes into existence only to dissolve into obscurity.