Dezeen School Shows: a centre in Mérida, Mexico, with social housing and a shaded football pitch is among the projects from the Royal Danish Academy.
Also featured is a knitted wool pavilion that creates interconnected microclimates and a gamified mobile app design to reduce food waste.
Royal Danish Academy
Course: Design and Architecture
School statement:
"This year, more than 250 students graduated from the Royal Danish Academy. Their projects – created by architects and designers – are presented at the graduation exhibition New Design and Architecture.
"Looking across the different master's programmes, we see a clear and shared ambition: a desire to explore challenges rooted in real-world contexts and to actively contribute ideas on how solutions might be approached.
"In both design and architecture, transformation and a genuine sense of care are ever-present.
"The 10 projects presented here point toward new pathways for more sustainable development. Together, they demonstrate how architecture and design can serve as powerful drivers of meaningful societal change.
"At the Royal Danish Academy, we unite three fields of knowledge: academic research, artistic research and professional practice as three different ways to discover, invent and create.
"At our historic campus at the harbour side in Copenhagen, Denmark, students gain hands-on experience in our workshops, develop a strong academic foundation and have the opportunity to test their ideas in close collaboration with others."
This is my last resort: A series of interventions in an Austrian alpine town by Viktoria Kurstak and Anneke Gerdes
"This project addressed the changing needs of a fragile alpine territory shaken by climate change: the town of Neustift im Stubaital, in the alpine region of Austria, where a stream flows from the mountains, through the valley and into the town.
"Two graduates, Viktoria Kurstak and Anneke Gerdes, propose three interventions that work as acupuncture points along the stream, and thus water becomes the element that shapes their programs.
"In the project, water is understood as a medium that structures encounters, collective use and the relationship between mountains, the valley and its inhabitants.
"One intervention combines a sauna, a bathroom and a changing room organised around a trough that collects mountain water. The water can be used as a cooling basin after sauna sessions."
Students: Viktoria Kurstak and Anneke Gerdes
Course: Spatial Design - Architecture, Design and Interiors
Email: v.kurstak[at]outlook.at and anneke.gerdes[at]posteo.de
Exploring wool's hygromorphic qualities for passive climate control by Karoline Frederikke Hyveled-Nielsen
"A knitted wool structure becomes an architectural pavilion in Karoline Hyveled-Nielsen's project Meet… A Hygromorph!
"A hygromorph is a material or object that passively changes its shape in response to environmental humidity. Karoline has investigated the inherent qualities of wool as a natural temperature-regulating material that changes in different environmental conditions.
"Through an iterative process, machine-knit wool structures were tested in order to investigate how different structures, compositions and materials responded to changing environmental conditions. Thus, exploring a passive approach to environmental control.
"The architectural proposal is designed as a sequence of interconnected microclimates that gradually transform environmental conditions and sensory perception."
Student: Karoline Frederikke Hyveled-Nielsen
Course: Computation in Architecture
Email: hyveled[at]hotmail.com
Personal and collective narratives in a menswear collection by David Siersted Poulsen
"The Square explores how knowledge, skills and cultural values are passed from generation to generation.
"The project is rooted in Danish textile and pattern-cutting traditions and examines how historical knowledge can inform contemporary design.
"The square functions not only as a geometric form but also as a cultural metaphor. As well as an alternative form of construction, it refers to convention, standardisation and established ideas of masculinity.
"Through this lens, the project considers how clothing can carry both personal and collective narratives, connecting past and present through material practice.
"Shape forms the foundation of the collection, all based on zero-waste construction principles. The principles reinterpreted through contemporary pattern cutting, textile manipulation, print and handicraft techniques."
Student: David Siersted Poulsen
Course: Fashion, Clothing and Textiles – New Landscapes for Change
Email: david[at]siersted.world
Architecture as a mediator between military expansion and local needs in Greenland by Klara Dalgaard Reetz and Sarah Kirke Strand Andersen
"The project takes its point of departure in Nuuk, where military facilities are expanding while the city is facing rapid growth and a severe housing shortage.
"Through fieldwork, interviews and strategic planning, the project investigates how architecture can mediate between military and local needs and the Arctic landscape.
"The result is a strategic development framework for Siorarsiorfik – a new urban area where military and civilian functions are planned together from the beginning.
"As Danish architects, Klara and Sarah did not want to define the final design themselves but propose zoning strategies and design principles as a foundation for further work involving local designs and plans."
Students: Klara Dalgaard Reetz and Sarah Kirke Strand Andersen
Course: Strategic Design and Entrepreneurship – Architecture, Design and Business
Email: klaradreetz[at]gmail.com and sarah.strand.a[at]gmail.com
Chill Kitty gamifies the contents of your fridge by Yuhan XIA
"Chill Kitty is a gamified mobile app that helps young adults manage fridge ingredients through storage guidance, expiry reminders and friendly interactions with a cat character.
"It encourages users to build better food management habits and reduce everyday food waste.
"The idea came when Yuhan Xia had to live and cook independently for herself. She struggled with food management and found that many young adults had the same issues. They lacked basic food storage knowledge.
"Chill Kitty is organised around five core top-level functions, and together, they support food input, fridge management, gamified guidance, storage learning and personal data tracking."
Student: Yuhan XIA
Course: Visual Game and Media Design
Email: yuhan9xia[at]gmail.com
Follow the sound of yellow – a school accessible for children with blindness gain by Emilie Kjærgaard Hauge and Jeppe Chorchendorff Vinholt Johansen
"This project explores how gain blindness can inform design aesthetically, sensorially and culturally for both blind and non-blind people.
"Emilie Hauge and Jeppe Johansen propose a transformation of a public school in Copenhagen, investigating how architecture can move beyond a purely visual understanding of space.
"By engaging perspectives from the blind community, the project aims to create richer and more accessible environments.
"The process shifted from designing dramatic sensory spaces to focusing on everyday architecture and diverse spatial experiences.
"This resulted in a tactile masterplan with guiding routes and touch-based visualisations, making the school more inclusive and accessible for all."
Students: Emilie Kjærgaard Hauge and Jeppe Chorchendorff Vinholt Johansen
Course: Urbanism and Societal Change
Email: hauge.emilie[at]gmail.com and jeppecvj[at]gmail.com
Imagining a furniture industry without the use of virgin materials by Bruno Sven Levin Oberdoerfer
"At Hand explores how the furniture industry can operate without virgin materials. Bruno Oberdoerfer creates furniture from reclaimed pine from demolished mink farms – wood that would otherwise be burned – letting material properties guide the design.
"Working from a material-first approach, the project challenges conventional production by focusing on strength, workability and consistency rather than origin.
"Bruno applies principles of Design for Disassembly, using only mechanical fasteners so pieces can be easily assembled, taken apart and repaired with standard tools.
"The result is a table and chair set shaped by the material's constraints, demonstrating a more resource-conscious and adaptable approach to furniture design."
Student: Bruno Sven Levin Oberdoerfer
Course: Furniture Design – Products, Materials and Contexts
Email: bruno.oberdoerfer[at]gmail.com
The City and the Cityless: A spatial Reimagination of the Danish Asylum System by Clara Elvira Wanscher Böll
"Clara Böll's project uses architecture as a research tool to explore the spatial, social and political dimensions of Denmark's asylum system. It proposes an asylum centre in Copenhagen's Meatpacking District, aiming to spark public debate.
"The project asks how architecture can foster new forms of neighbourliness and what happens when integration replaces separation.
"Based on research into both the national system and local context, it identifies gaps in the urban fabric and reimagines them as integrated asylum spaces.
"By embedding asylum within everyday city life, the project challenges existing structures and carries a clear political ambition: to make the asylum system visible and shared."
Student: Clara Elvira Wanscher Böll
Course: Political Architecture: Critical Sustainability
Email: claraboell[at]gmail.com
Visualising Pain Experiences by Louise Borch Struckmann
"This project explores how chronic pain can be expressed through visual design. Pain is subjective and difficult to describe, often reduced to numbers in clinical settings.
"The project proposes a visual system where pain is communicated through abstract, dynamic forms rather than words alone.
"Using organic shapes and movement, patients can externalise and reflect on how pain changes over time. These visualisations serve as shared reference points in dialogue with clinicians.
"Rather than measuring pain, the project makes lived experiences visible. An interactive tool allows pain to be mapped across different parameters, generating unique visual representations and supporting a more nuanced understanding."
Student: Louise Borch Struckmann
Course: Graphic Communication Design
Email: louise[at]struckmannstudio.dk
A shaded football pitch creates affordable housing by Tómas Viðar Árnason
"Parque Emancipación explores how social housing and sports facilities can coexist on dense urban sites. In Mérida, Mexico, where the city is rapidly expanding and public spaces are under pressure, Tómas Áranson proposes building above an existing football pitch.
"The project provides shaded sports facilities while introducing affordable housing, addressing both heat and urban density. Developed through field studies, it focuses on enhancing everyday use of the site.
"By adding shade, community functions, green areas and housing, the proposal preserves vital local infrastructure while offering an alternative to urban sprawl and the loss of public space."
Student: Tómas Viðar Árnason
Course: Architecture and Extreme Environments
Email: tomasvidar[at]gmail.com
Partnership content
This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the Royal Danish Academy. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.