Reflecting on Nordic design’s pivotal role in Modernism in America during the 20th century, we turn again to the Nordic tradition for its resilient building strategies for climate action and wellbeing that offer tools for today and into the future. The four-part architecture series Nordic American Connections: Conversations on Architecture and Design engages contemporary Nordic and American architects and designers, highlighting their sustainable design approaches with an emphasis on award-winning projects that shape the American landscape.
The fourth panel of the series, marking Scandinavia House’s 25th Anniversary, will close the series with contemporary Nordic American architects focusing on the challenges they face as designers in a rapidly changing environment—AI and technology, economic volatility, climate vulnerability—and what’s next for future practice.
These design leaders will highlight their firms’ approaches to innovation, research and collaboration, and cross-cultural influences used in their work. They will share strategies embodied in Nordic design for resilience and wellbeing: use of mass timber and natural materials, alternative methods of construction, community building and ‘complete design’.
Participants include Daniel Baumann, Principal and Design Director at Henning Larsen; Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group; and Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, Director of Architecture for Communities Los Angeles (ACLA). The program will be moderated by Susan Chin of DesignConnects.
The panel is organized by ASF with Susan Chin in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects New York, and American Institute of Architects Continental Europe.
AIANY Continuing Education Credits are approved for this session; attendees receive 1.5 Learning Units | 1.5 HSW credits. To receive the credits, please ask to sign the AIANY student form at check-in.
PANELISTS
Daniel Baumann is a Principal and Design Director at Henning Larsen, a global design practice founded in Denmark in 1959, which works across Architecture, Landscape, and Urban Design. Daniel joined the firm during a period of rapid international growth, and has worked from Henning Larsen’s studios in Copenhagen, Riyadh, Munich, and New York City, where he has co-led the US- office since 2018. These global experiences inform his approach to architecture as a meeting point between cultures, climates, and social conditions.
The firm’s contemporary portfolio builds on a legacy of working with light, context, and nature, extending Scandinavian design to impact livable and sustainable places and communities. Across scales, the practice seeks to create architecture and urban environments where beauty emerges through performance, social value, and environmental responsibility. Daniel leads multidisciplinary teams to translate these principles into projects that shape meaningful everyday experiences. Notable mixed-use, civic, and institutional developments across North America include Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus, Raleigh City Hall, Visa Global Headquarters at Mission Rock in San Francisco, and Toronto’s 520-acre Downsview Framework Plan.
Bjarke Ingels is a Danish architect and the founder of BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, a multidisciplinary design studio operating at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, landscape, and systems thinking. His work is driven by the belief that architecture can be a tool for turning fiction into fact – merging pragmatic solutions with utopian possibilities.
Since founding BIG in 2005, Ingels has led projects that redefine typologies and challenge conventional constraints. From the figure-eight loop of 8 House in Copenhagen, to the hybrid pyramid-courtyard of VIA 57 West in Manhattan, to the skiable waste-to-energy plant CopenHill, his work proposes that sustainable cities can not only be better for the environment, but also more enjoyable to live in.
BIG’s portfolio includes global collaborations with companies like Google, LEGO, and Toyota, as well as public projects such as the Smithsonian Master Plan, the Prague Philharmonic – a cultural landmark for music in motion – and Zurich Airport, the world’s largest building in timber, redefining both scale and sustainability in aviation architecture. Across all scales, Ingels advocates for hedonistic sustainability – an approach where ecological responsibility and human enjoyment are not at odds, but mutually reinforcing.
He has taught at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia, and is the author of Yes Is More, a graphic monograph on BIG’s design philosophy. His recognitions include the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark), Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), the French National Grand Prix for Architecture (Grande Médaille d’Or), the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, the Louis I. Kahn Award, and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, as well as being named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People.
Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, FAIA NCARB is a practicing architect, educator, and façade consultant bridging material experimentation with social design. As a Swedish-speaking Finn, she draws on Nordic principles of equity, collaboration, and craft traditions in glass and timber to create spaces that support resilience and delight. Notable projects include the renovation of the Los Angeles Mission, a 156,000 sf, 300-bed facility serving unhoused individuals as part of California’s alternatives-to-incarceration programs, and experimental glass applications as Project Architect of the Corning Museum of Glass with Smith-Miller Hawkinson Architects, which established her reputation for material-driven research and innovation.
Ingalill has forged barrier-breaking educational pathways that support her vision of free education for all, serving as Dean of Woodbury School of Architecture (2016–2021) and teaching at Yale, Cornell, SCI-Arc, and the Bartlett (UCL). She is a Professor at East Los Angeles College, part of the largest community college district in the U.S., where her Nordic-inspired values guide her teaching.
Reinforcing her belief that design is a social act, she is Director of Architecture for Communities Los Angeles (ACLA) and a member of NCARB’s Education and Experience Committees. Elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 2018, she has received multiple Most Admired Educator in Architecture and Design awards. Her work demonstrates how thoughtful design can inspire joy, foster community, and transform lives.
MODERATOR
Susan Chin, FAIA, Hon. ASLA is an urbanist and civic leader who leads the independent consultancy DesignConnects, advancing design excellence in the public realm. Most recently, she served as Co-Commissioner of the U.S. Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, in partnership with the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Previously, Chin led Design Trust for Public Space, a nationally recognized New York City nonprofit, where she spent more than eight years shaping innovative, equitable public spaces. Before that, she served for over two decades as Assistant Commissioner for Capital Projects at the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, commissioning over $3B in high-performance architecture and public art across the city. A national leader in the profession, Chin chaired the AIA Committee on Design in 2024, served as Vice President of the AIA National Board, and was Chapter President of AIA New York. Her civic service includes the East Midtown Governing Group and the NYC & Company Board of Directors. Her honors include the 2025 William A. Bernoudy Resident in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome; Honorary Membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects; the Kideney Gold Medal from AIA New York State; The Ohio State University Distinguished Alumna Award; and the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Future panels in 2026: Nordic firms in NYC, their values and approach that guide their architecture and practice
May 14, 2026 – Next in Nordic American Architecture: Resilience Meets Wellbeing
Contemporary Nordic architects across America, the issues they face, sustainable design, and cross-cultural influence