ARCHITECTS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD


MAY 3:

Yesterday I wrote about all the Germans who came to Denmark and Russia in the 18th century to help developing these countries, especially in agriculture.  They are certainly not the only people, who either move to other countries or who are involved in important projects outside their own country.  
ARCHITECTS have for centuries been very active also in many other countries than their own.

To start with my own country of birth, Denmark:   the famous castle KRONBORG ( the castle of Hamlet ) was built in the 16 century. The Danish king invited two Belgian architects to be in charge:  First Hans Hendrik van Paesschen ( 1510-82 ) and later Hans van Steenwinchel the Elder ( 1550-1601 ).   Their castle is today on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage.
Another Belgian architect, Jean Delogne ( 1923-2017 ) was in charge of constructing one of the nicest parks in Copenhagen today,  AMALIEHAVEN.   I lived in a nice warehouse, The Yellow Warehouse, when it was built in 1983.  There were a lot of very noisy demontrations against it just outside my windows, because the project was not given to a Danish architect.  But today everybody is very happy about the park.
Many other architects from abroad have also made their footprints in Denmark over the years. In recent times the French architect Jean Nouvel was in charge of the Concert Hall of Denmark’s Radio.  And the English architect, Norman Foster, built the new Elephant House in Copenhagen Zoo.



In the same way Danish architects have also been in charge of lots of important projects around the world.   Jørn Utzon is the architect behind the Sydney Opera House.  Johan Otto von Spreckelsen made the new Grande Arche in Paris. Henning Larsen was the architect behind the new Siemens headquarters in München and the Spiegel House in Hamburg.  Arne Jacobsen built the City Hall in Mainz. Bjarke Ingels the Big Maze Labyrinth in Washington DC.  Jørgen Bo ( Louisiana’s architect ) was also in charge of IBM’s former education centre in La Hulpe in Belgium.  Now a Dolce conference centre. And C.F. Møller seems to be on his way to win the competition for the new Ministry of Environment in Berlin.



It is a pleasure for us all that architectural skills and imaginations do not know any borders !


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