About / Biography

Elin Hirsch is an architect working cross-disciplinarily, seeking new perspectives on how and what we build.

Her architectural and curatorial practice merges critical and ecological thinking with research to explore the sustainable relations humans establish with and within built and unbuilt landscapes.

Her approach integrates collaboration, spatial concepts, and research-driven reflective practice.

In her projects, the focus lies on the interrelations between structure and detail within social, material, cultural, and political frameworks, seeking to foster care and planetary responsibility. Through exploring these relationships and dependencies, she aims to identify a project’s bearing elements for sustainable and regenerative adaptation and transformation.

Alongside this practice, her research explores the interconnections between human spatial experience and the built environment, investigating how spatial concepts might move beyond physically patched landscapes toward the careful transformation of existing qualities and atmospheres—allowing narratives and traces to persist.

Her work spans from architectural and curatorial projects, practice-based research and advisory work.

Curriculum vitae

Elin Ingrid Hirsch
*1987, Freiburg, Germany


Education

Master in Building Culture – Sustainability, Strategy & Transformation, Postgraduate programme, Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, 2023–2025

MA in Architecture (cand. Arch), Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, 2014–2016

BSc in Architecture, Technische Universität Wien (diploma) — 2013-2014

Undergraduate Studies in Architecture, ETH Zürich, 2007–2012


Professional Practice

Own Practice — Elin Hirsch Studio, 2022– present (formerly Studio Hirsch)

Project Architect — Praksis Arkitekter, Svendborg, 2024–2025 I Transformation

Collaborating Architect — Vaag Arkitekter, Kerteminde, 2024 I Preservation

Project Architect— ERIK Arkitekter, Copenhagen / Odense, 2021–2022

Architectural positions in established practices in Denmark, Sweden,

Erik Arkitekter/Rubow Arkitekter/White Arkitekter/Arkitema, and Gehl, 2016–2022

Architectural internships in Switzerland and Germany, 2008–2009 and 2012–2013


Professional Roles and Activities


Professional Advisor

Visual Arts Council of Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality, 2024–present

- Advising on the integration of public art in urban space, including site selection, spatial integration, wayfinding, and accessibility

- Contributing to citizen engagement processes and mediation of public art

- Addressing social and material sustainability in restoration and relocation processes

Curator / Co-founder

TRAKT, Svendborg — 2025–present

Experimental exhibition and event space at the intersection of art and architecture

- Curating exhibitions and hosting talks, events, and interdisciplinary programs

Curator / Co-founder

Bar’kitektur - non-profit association and platform for architectural discourse, Svendborg — 2023–2025

- Curating and hosting talks and discussions on architecture

- Fundraising, partnership building, communication, and outreache

Selected Working and Project Grants

Grants for Bar’kitektur from Realdania, Land & By, and the Danish Association of Architects, 2024-2025.


Appointments and features


Appointment as Sustainability Advisor for UNDERVÆRKER, a Realdania initiative, 2023

Featured graduation project ´Rehousing Danish Suburbia´, Sustainia Living exhibition, Operaen / Industriens Hus, Copenhagen, 2016

Featured semester project ´Inductus´ (residential), ETH Zurich Yearbook, 2009

Architectural and curatorial projects, research, writing and advisory work.

Elin Hirsch

Architect MA Arch. / cand.arch

Work and collaborations:
Copenhagen, Berlin,
Basel / Zurich.

SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION IN MATERIAL + CULTURAL LANDSCAPES

SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION IN MATERIAL + CULTURAL LANDSCAPES