Henning Larsen - Copper Concept

Architectural Copper Review | 2005 / 2
Henrik Larsen’s famous door handle – Sewer lid in cast iron adorned with water drops – Copper lamp designed for the opera house
Henning Larsen – from the small to
Henning Larsen, 80 years old – world renowned Danish architect whose
mind wanders from the small to the large, and the large in the small,
from detail to entirety. He is master of creating, from a sketch, everything
from door handles, chairs, furnishings and buildings to master
plans, the latest one an overall plan for the town Dalian in northern
China.
The independent artist, such as the
painter or the sculptor, has nothing else
to consider than the material he or she
is working with. The architect is a
craftsman, with the difficult task to take
into consideration all human functions,
materials, techniques and social condi-
tions.
Henning Larsen is a dreamer, a creative
visionary who thinks in practical terms
and knows how to materialize an idea.
He is an architect who has had the
possibility to realize the most prestig-
ious projects, sometimes with setbacks.
But how does he think when he creates?
I am on my way to visit Larsen in
Copenhagen. I find the address,
Vesterbrogade 76 and Henning Larsens
Tegnestue. The office is on the two top
stories of an eight-story building. The
receptionist announces my visit. Larsen
has his work station, “Henning’s
4
Corner”, at one end of the large open-
plan office. He greets me with a big
smile; it has been 45 years since we last
saw each other in Stockholm.
It’s been a long time, we say simultane-
ously. We are both marked by the
passing years.
A lot has happened since that time in
1961, when Larsen won first prize in a
Nordic architect contest for the new
university building in Stockholm. We sit
down and I show him a photo I took at
the competition. He studies it for a long
time and laughs.
Do you remember that time? – Yes, I
remember it like it was yesterday – from
the joy over the first prize and the
celebration, to the disappointment. I will
never forget it.
Cheated on the commission
Henning Larsen was granted first prize
for the very special architecture with an
Text og photo: Alf Folmer
Architect: SAR/MAA, Sweden
mail: alf@mbox316.swipnet.se
entirely new and fresh approach to the
university environment in human scale, a
university for 10,000 students. All
buildings were placed on a large, floating
concrete deck that was shaped for the
landscape. Below the deck there was
parking space for 3,000 cars. Young
Larsen was at the time unknown as an
architect.
What were you thinking, when you were
awarded such an honourable prize?
– I was in Denmark at the time and
couldn’t believe it at first! I was sum-
moned to Stockholm to receive the
prize. Then the cold shower and the
disappointment.
The politicians’ viewpoint was that a
Swedish university should be designed
by a Swedish architect. So I was in fact
cheated on the commission, which
instead was given to the second-prize
winner, the well-known Swedish archi-
tect David Heldén, who had designed