Make Materials Matter

Another clichéd cinematic portrait of an architect? Not this time! Admittedly, we can’t escape the talking heads and the bon mots delivered by the protagonist to the camera, but people like this are truly worth listening to, especially with the beautiful Danish landscapes as a backdrop. Søren Pihlmann embodies an approach to design and construction – or rather, redevelopment – that is, fortunately, becoming increasingly popular within the architectural community. He respects materials, the surroundings, context and history, and collaborates with specialists not only in design but also in social research, art and geology. As curator of the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2025, he decided to go back to basics. Now we can see how he did it and why the transformation he has undertaken is so significant.

The documentary by Marc-Christoph Wagner and Simon Weyhe invites reflection on actions that not only fuel the climate crisis but also ignore the value, beauty and potential of what already exists. It forms part of the global discussion on resource consumption, sustainable development and the challenges facing architects and the entire construction industry. We see how recycling and reuse not only allow us to preserve material that is still usable, but also to create entirely new, attractive structures and details.

We are presenting this exhibition in collaboration with Saint-Gobain Poland.