 |
 |
 |
 |
Arne Jacobsen (11.02.1902 – 24.03.1971) first hoped to become a painter but was encouraged by his father to opt instead for the more secure domain of architecture.
After an apprentice as a mason, Jacobsen studied from 1924 to 1927 at the Architecture School at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts under Kay Fisker.
When still a student, Arne Jacobsen won a silver medal for a chair design in 1925 at the Paris Art Deco fair. On his trip to Paris, he encountered Le Corbusier's
L'Esprit Nouveau pavilion. When travelling to Germany, he becam acquainted with the rationalist architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. The work
of thes pioneers of modern architecture much influenced the early designs by Arne Jacobsen. After graduating from the architecture school, he first worked with the
city architect Poul Holsøe's.
Arne Jacobsen became recognised as an ultr-modern architect, when he won a Danish Architects's Association competition for the desing of the "House of the Future"
in 1929. This prototype building, which was designed in collaboration with Flemming Lassen, was built in full scale for a subsequent exhibition in Copenhagen. The spiral-shaped,
flat-roofed building in glass featured a pravate garage, a boathouse and a helicopter pad. The year after winning this competition, Arne Jacobsen set up his own studio.
In soon he became famous for his functionalist house desings and for winning several competitions. Among his first successes were the town hall for Gentofte and the
seaside resort complex in Klampenborg near Copenhagen. With the seaside resort, Arne Jacobsen gained a lot of public reputation and further established him as a
leading national proponent of the International Modern Style. Despite considerable public opposition to his avant-garde style, Jacobsen got the possibility to build the
Stelling House in the historic centre of Copenhagen. This building shows a modest modernistic style, and was later considerd as an exemplary model of building in historic
context. But at the time of construction, the building aroused virulent protests in the city, newspapers even demanded to ban Arne Jacobsen from architecture for life.
Due to his Jewish background, Arne Jacobsen had to abandon his office during the Second World War, and went into exile to escape the planned deportation.
In a small boat Arne Jacobsen fled across the Øresund to neighbouring Sweden. He stayed there for the next two years, but his architectural output was very
limited. During this period, he spent most of his time designing fabrics and wallpapers. With the end of the war in 1945, Arne Jacobsen returned to Denmark
and resumed his architectural career. Of course, the country was in urgent need of both housing and public buildings. But the new situation didn't ask for radical
modernist constructions, but for rather spartan buildings, which could be built spontanous. Just a few years later, Arne Jacobsen was successfull again wich projects
such as the Allehusene complex (1952) and the famous Søholm terraced houses (1955).
In the following years, Arne Jacobsen realized a vast amount of buildings. Amont them famous desings such as the Rødovre Town Hall (1952-1956),
the Munkegaard School and the SAS Royal Hotel (1956-1960). When Arne Jacobsen died unexpectedly in 1971, there were a number of large projects
still uncompleted. Among theme were the town hall for Mainz (Germany, the Danish National Bank, and the Royal Danish Embassy. These projects were
completed by a company, wich was founded by his former key employees.
Although Arne Jacobsen realized many architectural works, he is rememberd today mainly for his furniture desing. He considered hiself to be foremost an architect,
and he disliked the word "designer". Many of his designs were the result of a cooperation with the furniture manufacturer Fritz Hansen. Especially his chair designs
became very popular and still today belong to the standard furnitusre.
1931 - 1934 Bellavista Apartments Klampenborg - Copenhagen
1934 - 1935 Bellevue Theatre and Restaurant Klampenborg - Copenhagen
1936 - 1937 Texaco Petrol Station - Copenhagen
1937 - 1938 Stelling Hus - Copenhagen
1939 - 1941 Ibstrupparken I - Copenhagen
1946 Ibstrupparken II - Copenhagen
1946 - 1950 Søholm I - Copenhagen
1949 - 1951 Søholm II - Copenhagen
1949 - 1954 Alléhusene Residential Buildings - Copenhagen
1953 - 1954 Søholm III - Copenhagen
1953 - 1956 Town Hall Rødovre - Copenhagen
1956 - 1961 Royal Hotel and SAS Building - Copenhagen
1959 - 1960 Rødovre Housing Block - Copenhagen
1959 - 1964 Nyager School - Copenhagen
1960 - 1961 Bellevue Bugt. Residential Complex - Copenhagen
1966 - 1978 National Bank of Denmark - Copenhagen
1967 - 1969 Storehouse and Office Building - Mainz
1968 - 1974 Town Hall - Mainz
1969 - 1977 Royal Danish Embassy - London