Arne Jacobsen

Krystallen_Nycredit_Copenhagen

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:13:13 GMT

Architects: Schmidt Hammer Lassen.

DSC00608, Copenhagen, Denmark

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:13:04 GMT

Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark, is situated on the east coast of the Danish island of Zealand, the largest of Denmark’s approximately 500 islands. The entire country is in size, one half the area of Maine. The name Copenhagen or “Kobenhavn” means “Merchant Harbor” and it is believed that the city was founded in 1167 by Bishop Absalon, at the spot where fishermen and merchants gathered to market their goods.

See set comments for “Copenhagen Denmark Overview”.

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vandkunsten, architects: torpedohallen, naval shipyard conversion, holmen,...

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:12:49 GMT

torpedohalltorpedohallen, conversion of naval shipyard building to housing, holmen copenhagen, 1953 / 2000-2003.
architects: tegnestuen vandkunsten.

I uploaded some very bleak february photos of torpedohallen, the first building I worked on at vandkunsten; it felt like a fitting way to mark that I left the office after 14 years.

here are a few shots from around five o'clock on a june morning to show you another aspect of the house. the sun had been up for a while and light was coming from the northeast. seeing something you know well under a new light can be a revelation, which I suppose could also be said to be the point of the winter photos.

www.vandkunsten.com

this photo was uploaded with a CC license and may be used free of charge and in any way you see fit.
if possible, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER".
if not, don't.

do not copy texts, tags and comments.

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tegnestuen vandkunsten, det blå hjørne, 1983

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:12:37 GMT

det blå hjørne, social housing, christianshavn, copenhagen 1983.
architects: tegnestuen vandkunsten.

like a fragment of valparaíso.

www.vandkunsten.com

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interior. hans christian hansen, architect: tagensbo kirke / church,...

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:11:40 GMT

tagensbo church and kindergarten, landsdommervej 35, copenhagen NV.
architect: hans chr. hansen 1901-1978 (working in his own name).

link to full size image.

tagensbo is a box full of surprises, one of them being that it may not be with us for much longer. let me make a case for it while it is still here.

in some ways the church is as cool and abstract as hans chr. hansen's other late works, but in the interior his values become apparent by how he dealt with the conventions of church building. what we meet is hansen's critical humanism, his historical awareness, and a certain warmth expressed in how he brought people together.

these could really only be guessed at from his many technical facilities, but were evident in his earlier institutions with their restless sections and general eventfulness. there is nothing remotely eventful about hansen's final buildings. in tagensbo, a rectangular section meets a rectangular plan and a shoebox is born. knowing the mischief hansen was capable of when working in the section makes you wonder if his extreme economy of means was not the result of an extreme economy to begin with.

a 1966 reform which had taxpayers foot the bill of new churches must have come too late by only a few months, making tagensbo one of the last projects to be financed by donations through the independent copenhagen church fund. the tax reform was later to provide spreckelsen and utzon with sufficient means for their great churches, but perhaps the people of tagensbo would rather have their freedom. I have been told there was controversy in the christian press at the time, but I am not sure what controversy in the christian press counts for.

they got a box and our study is what hansen did with it. interestingly, in the light of so much of current architectural thinking, he did not employ the manipulation of form; his box stayed a box. rather, we should look at his work as the manipulation of type.

the easy and traditional answer would have been for hansen to organise the church lengthwise. this tried and tested plan dates from the early christian adaption of the roman basilica as their house of worship. you know you are winning when you are able to reinterpret the meaning of one of the main building types of the roman empire, but its past was not easily overcome, perhaps because the past was part of its allure.

the basilica had been a throne room and a courthouse, with roman dignitaries positioned in the apse. I imagine it made perfect sense during those final chaotic years of the western empire when christianity had become the state religion and the country was falling apart. there is a fifth century church in rome in which christ is depicted in the half-dome of the apse as a roman senator, carrying the law in his hands, passing judgement on the believers. a throne room and a courthouse - a fitting choice for the romans, but a troubled choice for christianity.

in fairness to the catholics, they did well by it for centuries, but the catholic church had become a repository for roman culture since the crisis of the fifth century had coincided with the christening of the roman nobility. men wearing dresses, hoarding wealth, art and knowledge in their stone basilicas, speaking latin long after the rest of the world had ceased to, keeping women at a distance and buggering their choirboys instead – it was all very classical, but except for the suppression of women it had little to do with scripture.

catholicism also preserved roman hierarchies that were effectively mirrored in their symbolic throne rooms and courthouses. when the reaction came, a fanatical return to scripture instigated in northern europe, the buildings had to change too. there is every reason to be cynical about money in construction as in any other aspect of life, and there can be no doubt that the new, improved and impoverished church of protestantism also needed a cheaper way to build its houses. german protestants came up with a remarkably simple solution, a single-room church on a rectangular plan, no aisles and a flat ceiling. architecturally speaking, it had very little going for it but for one brilliant move: the preacher and his congregation faced each other across the short length of the space, bringing the spatial experience of going to church closer to that of the study group, if you'll allow the anachronism, and deflating the position of the priesthood.

the inherent critique of the roman basilica and what it brought to christianity has had a long afterlife in the 20th century – around copenhagen it can be seen in the more neutral square plans applied by the exners, von spreckelsen, utzon and in lewerentz' final church in klippan. hansen did not follow their lead but went straight to its protestant roots and developed his design from there.

the measurements of his church were tied to the geometry of the surrounding housing blocks and their shallow depth made for an even greater intimacy and intensity, but rather than compensating for this hansen emphasised it by adding two open U-shaped galleries that hug the space and bring about some of the qualities of a shakespearean theatre, not least that of the crowd witnessing its own reactions. the galleries are likely to be empty except for the greatest events of the church year, christmas and easter, and for weddings, funerals and baptisms, but those are exactly the occasions when hansen's touch of theatre makes the most sense.

the protestants had originally kept the central processional route towards the altar in their new churches , but it was short, and too short processions have since been a problem of the various modern churches on a square plan. we remain sentimental of walking our young and our dead down the aisle and rightly blame the architect when the possibility is taken from us. hansen's finest idea, to my mind, was to keep the processional route and to place it perpendicular to the line of sight. you carry your babies, your bride and your parents in front of the congregation, your friends and family, and sit them down not at the top of the room but at its centre.

and there it is, the warmth and humanity of this otherwise cool and somewhat abstract building - the ability to see and shape its rituals from the point of view of the man or woman walking through the door rather than the institution that happens to pay for the electricity. it was a lesson learned from that great father figure of nordic architecture, erik gunnar asplund, who was as important to hansen as he was to anyone who had begun their career during the 1920's, the height of asplundian classicism in scandinavia. we are best served by sticking to classicism, hansen is quoted as saying. we are best served by sticking to asplund was likely what he meant.

hansen's sensitivity is also seen in the surprisingly small windows. anything larger would have created glare, he correctly judged, once people were facing the long facades. the impressionist forest floor of sun spots was no doubt a welcome effect as well.

the many lightbulbs are a recent addition, borrowed from the 'starry skies' of exners' churches. they are not without charm. part of me sees a connection with the sun spots from the small windows and likes it, part of me finds that some of hansen's analytical clarity is lost. what it adds, though, is an invitation; an invitation to the laity, the general user, reader, listener, that all of modern art needs, but so little of modern art offers.

the relationship between frame and cladding, skin and bones, as it is unfolded inside the church is of particular interest. hansen offers a playful, almost light-hearted weave of cheap industrial materials: painted plywood in quaint colours, white calcium silicate bricks and dark floor tiles are set against neutral, almost silent frames of concrete and steel. patterns related to textiles and weaving are found in the floor, the ceiling, the balcony fronts and the infill brickwork of the northern wall. even the antependium, the altar cloth, is replaced with a ceramic representation of a woven fabric, making it the primary motif of the interior.

as most of you will know, the theme of frame and cladding is central to many of hansen's mature buildings, often developed in very different ways, with his staccato rhythm of densely spaced verticals as a uniting trait. the recurring reference to textiles in tagensbo, even down to their representation in ceramics, suggests that hansen was studying the first and most important theoretician on the question of cladding or bekleidung as he would have called it. gottfried semper, a 19th century german architect and art historian, advanced the idea that the true origin of architecture, its urkunst, was found in the rich woven textiles that still make up the temporary dwellings of nomad peoples.

I don't know who reads semper these days, but you'll recognise his influence in the writings and interiors of adolf loos who once said, I believe, that he began a particular room with carpets on all surfaces and only then looked for a structure to support them.

semper, though long dead, played an important part in early modernist architecture, his book der stil even lending its name to a dutch avantgarde movement, but we haven't seen or heard much of him in Danish architecture. tagensbo could be viewed as the exceptional example of semperian tectonics in copenhagen, worthy of academic study on this account alone.

apart from the antependium, the altar itself is a study in modesty, brickwork supporting a black plywood table top. this is for the jesus who was born into the construction business, the carpenter's son. it is not conventionally beautiful, but very assured nevertheless.

now, some of you are thinking, why have you not shown us this house before? admittedly, its grim facade made me hesitant when I did the first run-through of hansen's works. I wanted you to like him as much as I did. but others have worked tiredlessly to bring attention to tagensbo church, if not the kind of attention it deserves.

in 2012, it was placed on a list of sixteen copenhagen churches to be deconsecrated and sold. the list came with a review from our architect to the crown, jens bertelsen of bertelsen & scheving. his ruling was as heartbreaking as it was wrongheaded: a decommissioned tagensbo church was not worth protecting, and you could easily fit an extra floor in its central space without compromising any qualities it might contain.

are you now feeling what I felt when I read this? am I alone?

the question was temporarily resolved when tagensbo announced that the parish alone held the authority to close its church, and that they weren't going anywhere. I so like the fighting spirit of their response, but I also remember when one member of staff quietly told me that they were down to twenty old ladies and that they even failed to show up at the same time. one way or the other tagensbo is on borrowed time.

this is what I mean when I say that hansen's buildings are under threat: it is not a lack of christians that will do them in, it is a lack of recognition. only when we see them for what they are worth, will people want to keep them even after they lose their original purpose. if it survives, perhaps tagensbo could one day be a mosque, who knows; its working class neighbourhood has changed its faith long ago.

I called the good people at our national museum to hear what they thought of the house, as they will no doubt have a say in its future when the twenty old ladies holding it up give in. thankfully, they know it well and see it as unique and worthy of protection. there is hope still.

the hans chr. hansen set.

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tegnestuen vandkunsten, birkerød søhuse housing, birkerød, copenhagen 1994-1995

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:11:24 GMT

birkerød søhuse, birkerød, copenhagen, denmark 1994-1995.
architects: tegnestuen vandkunsten.

after the cohousing projects, vandkunsten had to redefine itself as the rest of the world changed. they designed a number of private rental projects in which the relationship to the landscape was explored and these remain the most elegant houses produced by the office.

one of the projects, birkerød søhuse, are rowhouses placed in an old garden facing birkerød lake, north of copenhagen. the houses and not least those amazing roofs carefully follow the slope of the terrain. water is gathered at the end of the roofs for use in the park-like garden.

nearby, related project 'dianas have' is here.

(and the windows were not originally that yellow).

the vandkunsten set.
www.vandkunsten.com

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vandkunsten, architects: trudeslund cohousing community, birkerød, copenhagen...

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:10:54 GMT

trudeslund cohousing community, birkerød, copenhagen, denmark 1979-1981.
architects: tegnestuen vandkunsten, copenhagen.

private courtyard towards the landscape/garden.

main trudeslund photo, text and comments like it's 1979 here.

the vandkunsten set.
www.vandkunsten.com

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mogens lassen, systemhuset housing, ordrup 1937

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:10:44 GMT

systemhuset housing, ordrupvej 70, ordrup, denmark 1937.
architect: mogens lassen (1901-1987).

I came across this classic in Danish modernist housing, mogens lassen's experiment in concrete construction, systemhuset, from 1937, while cycling around gentofte looking at arne jacobsen villas.

lassen and his engineer, ernst ishøy, expressed the minimal concrete skeleton with refined lightweight infill facades. if I tell you that the two surrounding brick houses are contemporary - 1930's on the right and 1940's on the left - maybe you can imagine just how exceptional it was at the time.

lassen's use of colour was inspired by le corbusier's claviers de couleurs which he adapted for the nordic light. in fact, throughout the 1930's lassen was le corbusier's most faithful proponent in denmark, making it all the more surprising that he had turned down a job offer from the swiss master on a visit to his office.

later in his career, as his works became more traditionalist, lassen insisted he had been a romantic in love with the mediterranean rather than a modernist. the almost constructivist systemhuset begs to differ.

crisp, light, and transparent - I like everything about it. but it is the parent generation of every endless "system house" of the sixties and seventies. maybe all nightmares begin as poetry.

remarkably, the house appears untouched since 1937 with the original cast glass, perforated steel balconies, and window details in faded colours. the slender concrete construction is sagging, but so will you be at 73 :)

this photo was uploaded with a CC license and may be used free of charge and in any way you see fit.
if possible, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER". if not, don't.

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arne jacobsen, alléhusene housing, gentofte 1949-1953

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:10:30 GMT

alléhusene housing, jægersborg allé, gentofte, 1949-1953.
architect: arne jacobsen, 1902-1971.

jacobsen expressing the inividual units.

more jacobsen.

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free seamless brick texture frederiksberg gymnasium, seier+seier

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:10:20 GMT

brick texture from henning larsen's gymnasium in frederiksberg. coal-fired, waterstruck, grey brick produced by gråsten teglværk, denmark. can be used as its own bump map etc. at low values.

link to full size image, 2400x1920 pixels.

this one renders really well, in my experience.

sharing my homemade architectural hi-res textures - for those of you who work in 3D or photoshop. they are originally made for renderings in 3D max and tile seamlessly.

uploaded with a CC license. no attribution necessary.

the full set of architectural textures that tile seamlessly here.

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atelier bow-wow, four boxes gallery, krabbesholm højskole, skive, denmark 2009

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:10:00 GMT

four boxes gallery, krabbesholm højskole, skive, denmark 2009.
architects: atelier bow-wow, yoshiharu tsukamoto and momoyo kaijima, tokyo.

the 'four boxes' gallery by atelier bow-wow looks like a tribute to utzon's bagsværd church and to the culture it grew out of, making it an obvious place to end the latest line of projects and buildings here. for such a celebration to arrive from abroad came was no surprise - the Danish architecture scene is currently occupied elsewhere - but no-one could have predicted its authors.

no expert on atelier bow-wow, I have nevertheless enjoyed their work from a distance. from the observations of their early books, true bestiaries of the strange buildings that thrive under extreme conditions in tokyo, through their unique drawings, to their quirky houses, they have shown an uncanny ability to make the traditional disciplines of architecture come alive. and despite the formal diversity of their buildings, bordering at times on the whimsical, everything they do appears connected through their unique understanding of the city they live and work in.

yes, the bow-wows are contextualists, but their careful and idiosyncratic readings of places and use have allowed them a great freedom from mimicry so far. and true to the ethics of their approach, none of the charm and quirkiness of their tokyo work is present in the gallery in skive, skive not really being famous for either. but neither is Danish architecture in general, with its historical focus on classicism and typological studies, and its modernist translation of those into prefabrication and system thinking. it does not sound charming when you say it and frankly, it rarely looks charming either. it does however allow for some intellectually exciting architecture with a hidden structure of game-like rules.

the four boxes gallery is just such a building, and its hidden rules are the rules of prefabricated concrete elements, sandwich elements more specifically, meaning fully insulated elements with a concrete finish on both interior and exterior sides. sandwich elements are the work horse of construction in denmark and deal with sound transmission, fire, load and finish all in one piece, and at a good price. only problem being, as an architect, you can hardly do anything with them.

complex geometry is out of the question, the elements are flat. height is limited to about one floor or you couldn't move the pieces under a bridge; as in all prefabrication, the demands made by transportation are the most decisive. you can make the elements long, trucks are long after all. the logic is simple, the resulting buildings tend to be simplistic. yet strict limitations like these attract architects of a certain mindset. utzon was such an architect and so, surprisingly, are the bow-wows. if cheap sandwich elements only let you build boxes, we shall build boxes, they seem to say, and proceed to build the architectural equivalent of a russian matryoshka doll, a box inside a box inside a box inside a box!

while budget was clearly a decisive factor, there is nothing cynical about bow-wow's application of prefab. in the facade, the elements have been turned on the side, and rather than stacking floors, single elements express the changing height of the building like a graph or the LED display on your 1980's HIFI equalizer. the same elements with different reinforcements act as beams and daylight reflectors in the suspended boxes inside, displaying the kind of terse thinking one would have expected from utzon or korshagen back in the day.

the fourth, outer box is a courtyard, a spatial typology central to both Japanese and Danish traditional architecture, and one of the similarities between the two that meant so much to Danish architects working in the 1960's. the bow-wows are contextualists alright, but they acknowledge that reading context is every bit as personal as reading a book - in skive, their reading has produced a house so Danish, it could only have come from japan.

this photo was uploaded with a CC license and may be used free of charge and in any way you see fit.
if possible, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER". if not, don't.

more words, yada, yada, yada.

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aalborg 07, industrial architecture, 1929-1931.

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:07:55 GMT

de danske spritfabrikker, 1929-1931.
architect: alfred cock-clausen.

the architecture of the Danish distillers "danske spritfabrikker" is in a rather elegant neoclassicism. I am guessing the architect was sober, at least until he reached the upper floor.

those round windows make the building look a bit like an owl with a hangover.

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