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About architecture education in Kalundborg
We are in the midst of a global climate, biodiversity, and resource crisis that calls for a radical green transition of our societies. As a future architect, you will play a crucial role in this transformation. At the architecture education in Kalundborg, we explore how a critical, artistic, and scientifically grounded practice can offer possible answers to how we shape and develop our cities, landscapes, buildings, and materials so that they become sustainable, attractive, functional, and inclusive.
The location in Kalundborg is a major asset, as it enables very direct engagement with the city itself and opens up a yet-to-be fully defined, experimental, and innovative study and research environment in collaboration with the city, other educational institutions, industry, and public authorities. Kalundborg is simultaneously rural, urban, and global, offering architecture students a unique opportunity to use the place as a living laboratory.
Kalundborg is also an international BIO Hub, and as a student in the architecture education in Kalundborg, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with industry, other educational programmes, and internationally recognised researchers in the development of new bio-based materials and products.
The architecture education in Kalundborg combines strong local anchoring with a global outlook in teaching, research, and artistic development. Two internationally recognised professors are affiliated with the education and have already established close collaborations with leading international environments in education and research.
One of the advantages of being a small, newly established education is the opportunity to influence and rethink the education. As an architecture student in Kalundborg, you will experience close collaboration and strong exchange between the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes.
There are a number of shared activities and an exchange of teaching staff between the two programmes, and the Bachelor’s project in the third year will be supervised by teachers from both the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes. This means that you are introduced to the Master’s programme already during your Bachelor’s studies.
To provide students with broader academic orientation, the Master’s programme in Kalundborg has a slightly broader academic profile than the Master’s programmes in Copenhagen, which are typically highly specialised.
The architecture education in Kalundborg
The architecture programme in Kalundborg is equivalent to the architecture programmes in Aarhus and Copenhagen. The programme meets all the same national and international requirements.
The first cohort of the master’s programme will begin in 2026, and from 2027 it is expected that there will be approximately 90 bachelor’s students and 60 master’s students enrolled in the programme in Kalundborg.
After completing the Bachelor’s programme in Kalundborg, you are guaranteed admission to the Master’s programme in Architecture in Kalundborg. You do not have a guaranteed right of admission to the Master’s programme in Architecture in Copenhagen or at the Aarhus School of Architecture.
The Royal Danish Academy in Kalundborg
The architecture education in Kalundborg is an independent education but is anchored at the Royal Danish Academy. It is also part of the Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape in Copenhagen, where there is close collaboration on the development of teaching across programmes, as well as on research and artistic development.
When you study in Kalundborg, your everyday life and studies take place there: this is where you have your desk, where teaching is conducted, where our workshop facilities are located, and where your fellow students are. This is where you belong throughout the five years of study.
At the same time, the education has a concrete affiliation with the Royal Danish Academy and with the architecture education in Copenhagen.
The architecture education in Kalundborg shares administration and management with the rest of the Royal Danish Academy. This means that services such as the library, student administration, and IT helpdesk serve campuses in Bornholm, Kalundborg, Esplanaden, and Holmen. As a result, staff from the library, student guidance, and IT regularly visit Kalundborg and are available to assist students.
The architecture education in Kalundborg is governed by the same rules and frameworks for teaching as the architecture education in Copenhagen. There are shared teaching components at the Bachelor’s level, and throughout your education you will experience teachers from Copenhagen teaching in Kalundborg, as well as regular joint lectures or events with students from Copenhagen.
The education in Kalundborg is part of the Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape, ensuring that teaching is based on relevant and up-to-date research.
You may participate in open lectures and other voluntary activities in Copenhagen, but you cannot use the workshops or participate in regular teaching there.
The education in Kalundborg participates on equal terms in the Royal Danish Academy’s councils, committees, and boards. As a student in Kalundborg, you may therefore engage in all of the Academy’s democratic bodies and help influence the overall development of the Royal Danish Academy.
Knowledge Base and Study Formats
Knowledge Base and Study Formats
The architecture education is based on knowledge from three areas: professional practice, research, and artistic development. Teaching is project- and problem-oriented and takes place both individually and in groups.
As a student, you have your own desk, and we place great emphasis on active participation and a strong study environment. Teaching methods are diverse and include workshop experiments, 1:1 construction, critiques and reviews where projects are presented to fellow students and supervisors, lecture series, and workshops. Internships and study trips are also important elements of the education.
Special attention is given to ensuring that students acquire academic, artistic, and professional competencies that prepare them for a professional career in both the private and public sectors.
Organization of the Architecture Education in Kalundborg
Organization of the Architecture Education in Kalundborg
One of the advantages of being a smaller, newly established education is the opportunity to influence and rethink its structure. As an architecture student in Kalundborg, you will experience close collaboration and significant exchange between the bachelor’s and master’s degrees. We offer a range of joint activities and share instructors between the two levels, and the bachelor project in the third year will be supervised by teachers from both the bachelor’s and master’s degrees. This means you will already be introduced to the master’s level during your bachelor studies. To give you more opportunities to explore academically, our master’s degree has a slightly broader academic profile compared to the programs in Copenhagen, which are typically highly specialized.
Organisation of the Bachelor’s Programme
During the first two years, the Bachelor’s programme is divided into programme-specific courses and shared core courses. In the third year, you complete your Bachelor’s project and undertake an internship or, alternatively, a study exchange abroad.
Programme-specific courses make up approximately two-thirds of the Bachelor’s programme and are tailored specifically to students in Kalundborg. These courses focus on design proposals and project work and are aligned with the programme’s academic profile and its location in Kalundborg.
The shared core courses account for approximately one-third of the Bachelor’s programme and focus on more specialised and primarily theoretical cross-disciplinary teaching. This teaching takes place in close collaboration with students and teachers from Holmen in Copenhagen but is primarily conducted in Kalundborg.
Organisation of the Master’s Programme
The Master’s programme is organised as four consecutive semesters. You may go on exchange during the second semester, and you complete your final thesis project in the fourth semester.
Language
The Bachelor’s programme is taught in Danish.
Most of the teaching in the Master’s programme is conducted in English, but it is possible to submit assignments and take examinations in Danish.
Campus Kalundborg
The architecture education in Kalundborg is located in the former Station Building and the Grand Hotel, both centrally situated in the city with views of the fjord and close to public transport. The buildings previously housed other functions but have now been taken over by the architecture education.
We are currently exploring how to transform the buildings to create the atmosphere and spaces that we consider important for our education. Examples include building our own library, constructing our own furniture, sewing curtains from recycled bed linen, and retaining the old industrial kitchen, which we use extensively for communal meals and public events.
There is close proximity between students and teachers in the buildings, and the spaces are designed to support close interaction between students, teachers, researchers, international guest lecturers, and practitioners.
At present, we have a temporary workshop, but in autumn 2026 we will open a large new carpentry workshop with brand-new machinery. There will also be opportunities for 1:1 experiments on campus in an assembly hall, and we aim to use the city as an open, experimental laboratory—for example by testing and building in vacant shop premises or in the surrounding landscape.
From the start of the academic year in 2028, the Master’s programme will move to Kalundborg East, where it will be housed together with five other educational programmes in a brand-new campus building. This will be the first campus of its kind in Denmark to accommodate both professional degree programmes and Master’s-level education. The Royal Danish Academy will have a large bio lab, enabling work on the development of bio-based building materials.
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Kalundborg as a place to study
Kalundborg is a provincial city undergoing rapid development, driven in part by a strong industrial sector with exports worldwide. The city also has a strong tradition of collaboration between industry, education, and the municipality, exemplified by the Kalundborg Symbiosis - a pioneering collaboration between companies focused on sharing resources, as well as concrete project partnerships where many student projects are based directly on real challenges from industry.
In addition to being an industrious city, Kalundborg is an ambitious university town with approximately 1,000 students today and plans to reach around 1,500 students by 2030. As a student in the architecture programme, you will therefore be part of a developing study environment with a strong international community.
Living in Kalundborg
Students in the architecture programme live in Kalundborg in shared houses, summer houses, small apartments, or student housing, while others live elsewhere in West Zealand or in Copenhagen. Kalundborg Municipality is currently constructing a large number of small housing units and offers a “roof-over-your-head guarantee” for students moving to Kalundborg to begin higher education. This guarantee ensures housing at the start of the semester.
If you live outside Kalundborg, you can commute easily by train or bus, or by car.
The municipality has recently opened a youth house for students and young people in the city, offering social activities and a place to meet other students. The house is managed by young people, who have also taken part in renovating the facilities.
Kalundborg has a strong association culture and is located close to nature. If you enjoy outdoor activities such as sailing, climbing, cycling, horseback riding, or hiking, there are many opportunities to become part of local clubs and communities.