The 3XN GXN exhibition at the Danish Architecture Center will run until September 15.
We are almost always present in architecture. It's where we sleep, eat, work and meet; it's where we travel to and between. But how aware are we of the impact architecture has on us? On how we move, think and feel? We know that architecture has a lasting and even irreversible impact on the environment. Do we understand how these things are interrelated?
Immersive exhibition 3XN
Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj | © 3XN
(Text compiled from the author's description of the studio)
Aware: Architecture and Senses, created by Danish architecture and research studio {tag:studio} and the Danish Architecture Center, explores the connections between people and space, inviting visitors to experience and understand them for themselves.
The exhibition is composed of six installations, where the focus is not on form or function, but on the visitor's experience of the space. These experiences are the fundamental concepts of architecture: not brick, concrete or steel, but the relationship between bodies and spaces, between the atmosphere created by the environment and human emotions.
Design choices are never just aesthetic - they fundamentally affect our lives and experiences," says Kim Herforth Nielsen, founder and creative director of 3XN. Architecture shapes our behavior. Are we aware of it?
How do we see ourselves in relation to architecture? Aware exhibition in Copenhagen
Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj | © 3XN
architecture and the senses
Architecture can excite or awe, soothe or foster connection. It can be nurturing and protective - or stimulate curiosity by igniting idle senses.
Aware 's installations play with the ideas and forms that 3XN GXN explores in its work, encouraging visitors to realize and question how space can define atmosphere and shape moods. For example, the function of a staircase is to connect different levels, but its borderline nature encourages unplanned interactions. How wood and organic forms relate to our deeper nature, giving us an instinctive connection to the natural world, even as we spend more and more time indoors. How modifying established architectural patterns makes the familiar into the unfamiliar. Each space in Aware highlights and changes what we expect from architecture, giving us new insights into how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. Lighting by Jesper Kongshaug and Mesmer's soundscapes further emphasize the temporal, sensory side of the exhibition.
Light is one of the most important variables in our perception of architecture
Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj | © 3XN
a holistic understanding of architecture
Once visitors have passed through the installations, they will arrive at the exhibition's closing area: a behind-the-scenes look at some of the research, design and development that has influenced the spaces they have just left. This look at 3XN GXN's completed and ongoing work offers insight into how architects and related professionals work together to create environments that will stand the test of time and ensure the well-being of both people and the planet.
And this is crucial. By 2050, the world's population is expected to grow from eight to ten billion, 70 percent of whom will live in cities. Construction and our buildings will account for nearly 40% of annual CO₂ emissions. So we face conflicting dilemmas: how do we responsibly accommodate a growing population while knowing that our planet needs us to build less?
let's not race against time
We live in a time when expectations and demands for sustainability are increasing, and architecture is becoming a fundamental responsibility. Many people associate sustainable architecture with a certain look and a measurably low carbon footprint. But sustainability is also about the ability of architecture to survive over time, which is often at the mercy of changing tastes and perceived needs.
For spaces to last and be loved, we need to understand how we are connected to them, how they affect us and how we feel in them, says Nielsen.
Visitors have a chance to learn about some aspects of the work of architects and related professions
Photo: Rasmus Hjortshoj | © 3XN
In Denmark and throughout Scandinavia, there is a very strong sense of responsibility for the collective, says Kasper Riisholt, program manager for culture at the Danish Architecture Center. This responsibility also applies to our well-being - our society and space must nurture, support and facilitate a good quality of life for all. For architecture to have a positive impact on our well-being, we need to understand its essence: what is our relationship to architecture, what does it do for us?
