The Louisiana Museum, in collaboration with the foundation Margot og
Thorvald Dreyers Fond, has organised a series of exhibitions entitled The
Architects Studio, conceived as studio exhibitions which - by focusing on
some of the great pioneers of modern architecture, their formal concepts and
working processes - will attempt a more comprehensive approach than that of
the traditional architectural show. The upcoming exhibition will present the
Danish architect Henning Larsen.
Henning Larsen is one of the most important architects of his generation. For
many years he has influenced - and made significant contributions to - both
the Danish and the international architectural scene. His most recent work is
Christiansbro, including the headquarters of Unibank and housing, which
opened in October 1999 in Christianshavn, Copenhagen. Henning Larsen
won international acclaim and became widely known to the public with the
design of the Foreign Ministry building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (1979-1984).
The Foreign Ministry building has been characterised by a leading English
architecture critic as a turning point in 20th century world architecture.
The exhibition is set up as a studio exhibition, offering insight into the work
processes characteristic of Henning Larsen and his studio. The intention is to
shed light on his ability to capture the spirit of his time while maintaining a
sense of continuity, and on the way in which he manages - by extracting the
essence of the new - to translate it into a consistent and convincing
architectural idiom, expressed in a contemporary and sophisticated formal
language.
Analysis is a key-word in his working process. Openness and contextuality are
others. His strength lies in simplification and in an uncompromising purity of
form and function, evident in his use of simple, archetypical elements and
themes such as the house-within-a-house, the internal street - and in his
orchestration of daylight.
Many of Henning Larsens studio projects have been designed as entries in
competitions, often a driving inspirational force in the studios development. It
could be said that these projects have assumed the character of basic
architectural research. Other driving forces have been experiences and
inspiration gathered in connection with traveling and a fascination with local
architectural references. All of these elements influenced the succeeding
creative process and have been integrated into the working methods at
Henning Larsens Studio.
The exhibition, designed specially for Louisianas galleries and set up to
resemble a building-site is a presentation of current projects, showing
experiments with materials, facade-mock-ups, slide and video projections, etc.
The exhibition also includes scale models and photos documenting Henning
Larsens extensive production. One section shows travel photos, architectural
references and other inspirational source material.
The periodical SKALA, originally published by the Henning Larsen Studio, will
be issued in an anthology on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. (Ed. Kjeld
Vindum).
Recent Projects
Henning Larsens recent works, besides the Christiansbro building project
mentioned above, include: the addition to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek,
Copenhagen; Malmö Central Library; Project Tuborg Nord, Hellerup; Maersk
Training Center, Svendborg; the addition to the university Roskilde Universitets
Center; Kunsthalle Adolf Würth, Schwäbisch Hall. The coming winter will see
the opening of the Danish Design Centre in Copenhagen, as well as the
NaturBornholm experiential center, Aakirkeby on the island of Bornholm.
Exhibition Catalogue
For this exhibition, a Henning Larsen catalogue will be published in The
Architects Studio series of catalogues. It features the articles The World of
Space by architect and editor Kjeld Vindum and
The Presence of Silence by Peter Davey, architecture critic and editor of The
Architectural Review, as well as photos of selected works and a biography.
Main sponsor of exhibitions at Louisiana: Nykredit.
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