Arne Jacobsen 1 Arne Jacobsen Arne Emil Jacobsen Born 11 February 1902 Copenhagen, Denmark Died 24 March 1971 (aged 69) Copenhagen, Denmark Nationality Danish Awards C. F. Hansen Medal (1955) Buildings Bellevue Theatre SAS Royal Hotel Aarhus City Hall St Catherine's College Danmarks Nationalbank Arne Emil Jacobsen (11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural Functionalism as well as for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple but effective chair designs. [1] Biography Early life and education Arne Jacobsen was born on 11 February 1902 in Copenhagen to upper-middle-class Jewish parents. [citation needed] He first hoped to become a painter but was dissuaded by his father who encouraged him to opt instead for the more secure domain of architecture. After a spell as an apprentice mason, Jacobsen was admitted to the Architecture School at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts where from 1924 to 1927 he studied under Kay Fisker and Kaj Gottlob, both leading architects and designers. Still a student, in 1925 Jacobsen participated in the Paris Art Deco fair, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, where he won a silver medal for a chair design. On that trip, he was struck by the pioneering aesthetic of Le Corbusier's L'Esprit Nouveau pavilion. Before leaving the Academy, Jacobsen also travelled to Germany, where he became acquainted with the rationalist architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. Their work influenced his early designs including his graduation project, an art gallery, which won him a gold medal. After completing architecture school, he first worked at city architect Poul Holsøe's architectural practice. In 1929, in collaboration with Flemming Lassen, he won a Danish Architect's Association competition for designing the "House of the Future" which was built full scale at the subsequent exhibition in Copenhagen's Forum. It was a spiral-shaped, flat-roofed house in glass and concrete, incorporating a private garage, a boathouse and a helicopter
Transcript
Arne Jacobsen 1
Arne Jacobsen
Arne Emil Jacobsen
Born 11 February 1902Copenhagen, Denmark
Died 24 March 1971 (aged 69)Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality Danish
Awards C. F. Hansen Medal (1955)
Buildings Bellevue TheatreSAS Royal HotelAarhus City HallSt Catherine's CollegeDanmarks Nationalbank
Arne Emil Jacobsen (11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and designer. He is rememberedfor his contribution to architectural Functionalism as well as for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple buteffective chair designs.[1]
Biography
Early life and educationArne Jacobsen was born on 11 February 1902 in Copenhagen to upper-middle-class Jewish parents.[citation needed] Hefirst hoped to become a painter but was dissuaded by his father who encouraged him to opt instead for the moresecure domain of architecture. After a spell as an apprentice mason, Jacobsen was admitted to the ArchitectureSchool at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts where from 1924 to 1927 he studied under Kay Fisker and KajGottlob, both leading architects and designers.Still a student, in 1925 Jacobsen participated in the Paris Art Deco fair, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifset Industriels Modernes, where he won a silver medal for a chair design. On that trip, he was struck by the pioneeringaesthetic of Le Corbusier's L'Esprit Nouveau pavilion. Before leaving the Academy, Jacobsen also travelled toGermany, where he became acquainted with the rationalist architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius.Their work influenced his early designs including his graduation project, an art gallery, which won him a goldmedal. After completing architecture school, he first worked at city architect Poul Holsøe's architectural practice.In 1929, in collaboration with Flemming Lassen, he won a Danish Architect's Association competition for designing the "House of the Future" which was built full scale at the subsequent exhibition in Copenhagen's Forum. It was a spiral-shaped, flat-roofed house in glass and concrete, incorporating a private garage, a boathouse and a helicopter
pad. Other striking features were windows that rolled down like car windows, a conveyor tube for the mail and akitchen stocked with ready-made meals. A Dodge Cabriolet Coupé was parked in the garage, there was a Chris Craftin the boathouse and an Autogyro on the roof. Jacobsen immediately became recognised as an ultra-modernarchitect.
Pre-World War II career
One of Jacobsen's lifeguard towers at Bellevue Beach
The year after winning the "House of the Future" award, ArneJacobsen set up his own office. He designed the functionalistRothenborg House, which he planned in every detail, acharacteristic of many of his later works.
Soon afterwards, he won a competition from GentofteMunicipality for the design of a seaside resort complex inKlampenborg on the Øresund coast just north of Copenhagen. Thevarious components of the resort became his major publicbreakthrough in Denmark, further establishing him as a leadingnational proponent of the International Modern Style. In 1932, thefirst item, the Bellevue Sea Bath, was completed. Jacobsendesigned everything from the characteristic blue-striped lifeguard towers, kiosks and changing cabins to the tickets,season cards and even the uniforms of the employees. The focal point of the area was supposed to have been alookout tower, more than a hundred metres high with a revolving restaurant at the top but it was abandoned afterhuge local protests. Still, it is reflected in the overall arrangement of buildings in the area which all follow lines thatextend from their missing centre. In 1934, came the Bellavista residential development, built in concrete, steel andglass, with smooth surfaces and open floor planning, free of any excesses or ornaments. Completing the white trilogyin 1937, the Bellevue Theatre featured a retractable roof allowing open-air performances. These early works clearlyshow the influence of the White Cubist architecture Jacobsen had encountered in Germany, particularly at theWeissenhof Estate in Stuttgart. The cluster of white buildings at Bellevue also includes the Skovshoved FillingStation. In their day, these projects were described as "The dream of the a modern lifestyle".
Århus City Hall
Despite considerable public opposition to his avant-garde style, Jacobsenwent on to build Stelling House on Gammeltorv, one of Copenhagen's mosthistoric squares. Although the modernistic style is rather restrained and waslater seen as a model example of building in a historic setting, it causedvirulent protests in its day. One newspaper wrote that Jacobsen ought to be"banned from architecture for life".
When, together with Erik Møller, he won a competition for the design ofÅrhus City Hall it was with yet another controversial design. It was deemedtoo modern and too anti-monumental. In the end Jacobsen had to add a toweras well as marble cladding. Still, it is considered one of his most importantbuildings. It consists of three offset volumes.
During World War II, scarcity of building materials made assignmentsdifficult to obtain and in 1943, due to his Jewish background, ArneJacobsen had to abandon his office and go into exile to escape planneddeportation. He fled Denmark, rowing a small boat across Øresund toneighbouring Sweden where he would stay for the next two years. Hisarchitectural work was limited to a summer house for two doctors.Instead he spent his time designing fabrics and wallpaper.
When the war ended in 1945, Jacobsen returned to Denmark andresumed his architectural career. The country was in urgent need ofboth housing and new public buildings but the primary need was forspartan buildings which could be built without delay.After some years Jacobsen got his career back on track and with projects such as the Allehusene complex from 1952and his Søholm terraced houses from 1955, he embarked on a more experimental phase. He moved into one of theSøholm houses and lived there until his death.
Rødovre Town Hall central staircase
Rødovre Town Hall, built from 1952 to 1956, shows how wellJacobsen combined the use of different materials: sandstone, two typesof glass, painted metalwork and stainless steel. It is also noted for itscentral staircase, suspended from the roof on orange-red steel rods. Thesides are cut from 5 cm steel plate, painted a dark grey; the steps, onlya few millimeters thick, are stainless steel with a rubber coating on theupper side for better grip.
The Munkegaard School consists of pavilions connected by glasscorridors, arranged in a grid system around small courtyards. Itreceived considerable attention in international school circles andcontributed to his growing international reputation.
Large commissionsWith the SAS Royal Hotel, built from 1956 to 1960, Jacobsen was given the opportunity to design what has beencalled "the world's first designer hotel". He designed everything from the building and its furniture and fittings to theashtrays sold in the souvenir shop and the airport buses.
St Catherine's College, Oxford, view from thewest
These larger assignments started to attract attention and commissionsfrom abroad. Rødovre Town Hall secured him an invitation for his firstcompetition in Germany which was followed by a number of otherGerman projects.A delegation of Oxford dons visited the SAS Hotel and the MunkegårdSchool in their search for an architect for St Catherine's College. Theywere soon convinced he was the right choice for their importantcommission. Again Jacobsen designed everything, including thegarden, down to the choice of fish species for the pond. The dining hallis notable for its Cumberland slate floor. The original college buildingsreceived a Grade I listing on 30 March 1993.
Departure and uncompleted worksWhen Arne Jacobsen died unexpectedly in 1971, he had a number of large projects under way. These included a newtown hall in Mainz, Germany, the Danish National Bank and the Royal Danish Embassy in London. These projectswere completed by Dissing+Weitling, a firm set up by his former key employees Hans Dissing and Otto Weitling.
Furniture and product design
Drop, swan and egg chairs designed by Jacobsen foruse in the SAS Royal Hotel (pictured in background).
Today, Arne Jacobsen is remembered primarily for his furnituredesigns. However, he believed he was first and foremost anarchitect. According to Scott Poole, a professor at Virginia Tech,Arne Jacobsen never used the word 'designer', notoriouslydisliking it.
His way into product design came through his interest inGesamtkunst and most of his designs which later became famousin their own right were created for architectural projects. Most ofhis furniture designs were the result of a cooperation with thefurniture manufacturer with which he initiated a collaboration in1934 while his lamps and light fixtures were developed with LouisPoulsen. In spite of his success with his chair at the Paris
Exhibition in 1925, it was during the 1950s that his interest in furniture design peaked.
A major source of inspiration stemmed from the bent plywood designs of Charles and Ray Eames. He was alsoinfluenced by the Italian design historian Ernesto Rogers, who had proclaimed that the design of every element wasequally important "from the spoon to the city" which harmonized well with his own ideals.
No. 7 chairs in the auditorium of the Ny CarlsbergGlyptotek in Copenhagen
In 1951, he created the Ant chair for an extension of the Novopharmaceutical factory and, in 1955, came the Seven Series. Bothmatched modern needs perfectly, being light, compact and easilystackable. Two other successful chair designs, the Egg and theSwan, were created for the SAS Royal Hotel which he alsodesigned in 1956.
Other designs were made for Stelton, a company founded by hisfoster son Peter Holmbl. These include the now classic CylindaLine stainless steel cocktail kit and tableware.
Other interior design is a line of faucets and accessories forbathroom and kitchen,created after he won a competition in 1961for his design of the National Bank of Denmark. This classicdesign is still in production today by Danish company Vola.
Style and legacy
According to R. Craig Miller, author of "Design 1935-1965, What Modern was", Jacobsen’s work "is an importantand original contribution both to modernism and to the specific place Denmark and the Scandinavian countries havein the modern movement" and continues "One might in fact argue that much of what the modern movement standsfor, would have been lost and simply forgotten if Scandinavian designers and architects like Arne Jacobsen wouldnot have added that humane element to it".
Arne Jacobsen is noted for his sense of proportion. Indeed, he himself saw this as one of the main features of hiswork. In an interview he said; "The proportion is exactly what makes the beautiful ancient Egyptian temples [...] andif we look at some of the most admired buildings of the Renaissance and Baroque, we notice that they were allwell-proportioned. Here is the basic thing".
Selected works
Alléhusene housing, Gentofte, 1949-1953
St Catherine's College, Oxford-undergraduaterooms and bell-tower-view from west
(1931–34)• Bellevue Theatre and restaurant, Klampenborg (1935–36)• Skovshoved Petrol Station, Skovshoved, Copenhagen (1936)• Stelling House, 6 Gammeltorv, Copenhagen (1934–37)• Søllerød Town Hall (with Flemming Lassen), Søllerød, Copenhagen
(1938–42)• Århus City Hall (with Erik Møller), Århus (1939–42)• Søholm I (1946–50), II and III terraced houses, Klampenborg• Rødovre Town Hall, Rødovre, Denmark (1952–56)• Alléhusene housing, Gentofte, Copenhagen (1949-1953)• Glostrup Town Hall, Glostrup, Copenhagen (1958)• Munkegaard School, Copenhagen (1957)• SAS Royal Hotel, Copenhagen (1958–60).• Toms Chocolate Factory, Ballerup, Copenhagen (1961)• National Bank of Denmark, Copenhagen (1965–70)•• Landskrona Sports-Hall, Landskrona, Sweden (1965)• St Catherine's College, Oxford, UK (1964–66)• Mainz City Hall, Mainz, Germany (1966–73)• Christianeum School, Hamburg, Germany (1970–71)• HEW Vattenfall Europe, Hamburg, Germany (1970)[2]
• Royal Danish Embassy, London, UK (1976–77)[3]
• Parliament House, Islamabad, Pakistan
Furniture and product design• Ant chair (1952)• Tongue chair (1955)•• Series 7 chairs• Swan chair (1958)• Egg chair (1958)•• Pot chair (1959)•• Giraffe chair (1959)•• Cylinda Line tableware•• Flatware cutlery (1957)
In culture and media• Arne Jacobsen's No. 7 chair is known for being the prop used to hide Christine Keeler's nakedness in the iconic
photograph of her taken by Lewis Morley in 1963.[4] Morley just happened to use a chair that he had in the studio,which turned out to have been a copy of Jacobsen's design. Since then 'Number 7' chairs have been used for manysimilar portraits imitating the pose.
• The Seven has featured on the set of the BBC soap opera EastEnders.• Jacobsen's flatware design, with right and left-handed spoons, is used by Stanley Kubrick in his movie 2001: A
Space Odyssey. It was selected for the film because of its 'futuristic' appearance.
Awards and recognition• 1955 C. F. Hansen Medal• 1957 Grand prix, Milan XI Triennale, Italy, for Grand Prix chair• 1967 ID-prize, Danish Society of Industrial Design, for Cylinde• 1968 International Design Award, American Institute of Interior Designers, US, for Cylinde
References[1] Arne Jacobsen. From Scandinavian Design (http:/ / www. scandinaviandesign. com/ arne_jacobsen/ ). Retrieved 24 January 2010.[2][2] Believed to have been notably successful.[3][3] The dates here represent the period of construction only.[4] Christine Keeler Photograph: A Modern Icon - Victoria and Albert Museum (http:/ / www. vam. ac. uk/ collections/ photography/ past_exhns/
seeing/ modern_icon/ )
Literature• Dyssegaard, Søren (ed.); Jacobsen, Arne; Skriver, Poul Erik: Arne Jacobsen, a Danish architect, (translation:
Reginald Spink and Bodil Garner), 1971, Copenhagen: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 56 p. ISBN 87-85112-00-3• Jacobsen, Arne: Arne Jacobsen: absolutely modern, 2002, Humlebaek: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 96 p.
ISBN 87-90029-74-7• Solaguren-Beascoa de Corral, Felix: Arne Jacobsen (Obras y Proyectos / Works and Projects), 1992, Barcelona,
Editorial Gustavo Gili, 222 pages. ISBN 84-252-1404-1• Thau, Carsten; Vindum, Kjeld: Arne Jacobsen, 2008, Copenhagen, Arkitektens forlag, 560 p. ISBN
978-87-7407-230-0
External links• Arne Jacobsen portrait and photos of his most important furniture designs (http:/ / www. danish-furniture. com/
designers/ arne-jacobsen/ )• Photos and description of Jacobsen's major work in the UK, St Catherine's College, Oxford (http:/ / www. stcatz.
ox. ac. uk/ the_college_pages/ buildings_and_gardens. htm)• Reflections on a Soup Spoon (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2012/ 05/ 14/ arts/ 14iht-design14. html) by Alice
