Jun 25, 2026 · 31 min · 10 segments
The Hedeskov Living Lab in Djursland, on the Jutland Peninsula, points towards a potential paradigm shift in sustainable architecture. In this episode, we meet architect Justine Bell from Djernes &…
Justine BellGuestMichael BoothHost
Um, so in 2020, we started a practice, uh, with a premise of only working with what already exists, the built, the human, the material, and the natural.
And in the last, what is it now, uh, six years, I would say every single practice in Denmark has changed that to core business.
I, I think initially the reason we've focused on that was because that is what we knew, and we found it so rewarding working in a way that really brings a huge amount of constraints from the beginning.
So if you're working with a listed building, if you're working with a preservation-worthy heritage building, you're working with often pre-industrial materials.
You're working with really long lineage of built crafts, so a huge amount of knowledge in the sort of more maker craft side of architecture.
Working often with, uh, natural materials, locally available materials, materials which respond to, um, a climate and a tr- a culture and the vernacular that has emerged from that over centuries of knowledge transfer.
Working very closely with craftspeople and specialists and historians and storytellers.
Which type of materials might be found here? Which type of knowledge is embedded in existing communities? Which traditions and cultures could one tap into?
So I mean, on, on Let's Talk Architecture, we've heard before many times about studios who will go to a site and see what materials are here, man-made materials, how can we reuse them? How can we adapt? You go much beyond that, don't you? Talk me through some of the elements that you'll go looking for when you start a project.
So generally we start, I guess, looking also historically at what has made this landscape, what has made this site, so, uh, a much deeper time perspective, uh-
... uh, to find where the mineral deposits have come, but which processes have brought these minerals to the site? Um-
Um, so in 2020, we started a practice, uh, with a premise of only working with what already exists, the built, the human, the material, and the natural.
And in the last, what is it now, uh, six years, I would say every single practice in Denmark has changed that to core business.
I, I think initially the reason we've focused on that was because that is what we knew, and we found it so rewarding working in a way that really brings a huge amount of constraints from the beginning.
So if you're working with a listed building, if you're working with a preservation-worthy heritage building, you're working with often pre-industrial materials.
You're working with really long lineage of built crafts, so a huge amount of knowledge in the sort of more maker craft side of architecture.
Working often with, uh, natural materials, locally available materials, materials which respond to, um, a climate and a tr- a culture and the vernacular that has emerged from that over centuries of knowledge transfer.
Working very closely with craftspeople and specialists and historians and storytellers.
Which type of materials might be found here? Which type of knowledge is embedded in existing communities? Which traditions and cultures could one tap into?
So I mean, on, on Let's Talk Architecture, we've heard before many times about studios who will go to a site and see what materials are here, man-made materials, how can we reuse them? How can we adapt? You go much beyond that, don't you? Talk me through some of the elements that you'll go looking for when you start a project.
So generally we start, I guess, looking also historically at what has made this landscape, what has made this site, so, uh, a much deeper time perspective, uh-
... uh, to find where the mineral deposits have come, but which processes have brought these minerals to the site? Um-
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