hanssted skole / school, valby, copenhagen, denmark 1954-1959.
architect: hans christian hansen, 1901-1978, working for the copenhagen municipal architects department.
the hans chr. hansen set.
the comments I have added to some of my photos can be read together as a kind of mangled, yet surprisingly brief essay on hansen. repetitious and opinionated, it reflects the writer above his subject, but until someone does some serious research on hansen, a complete lack of competition makes me immune to criticism. enjoy :)
01. introduction, amager 1966.
02. the engineer as ideal, hansen's pre-war architecture, sundholm 1939.
03. the church he didn't build. war and the return to tradition, 1942-1944.
04. following fisker. wartime housing, hulgårds plads 1943.
05. the architect finding himself in kindergarten, skydebanen 1948.
06. developing the restless section. hanssted school 1954.
07. early industrial. nyborggade transformer 1958.
08. the brutalist, bellahøj 1961.
09. perfect self-confidence, ringbo nursing home 1961.
10. perfect idiosyncrasy. ringbo bell tower 1961.
11. the masterpiece, bremerholm 1962.
12. on the fine art of knowing when to be a backdrop. svanemølle 1966.
13. industrialized construction, a first response. svanemølle 1966.
14. concrete charm, bellahøj gas regulator 1967.
15. late irreverence. gasværksvejen school 1969.
don't copy texts and comments. respect the photos that are marked all rights reserved. for photos with a CC license, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER".
Tags: hans chr. hansen hans christian hansen hans christian hansen arkitekt architect f.c.lund stadsarkitekt københavn copenhagen kopenhagen köpenhamn valby hanssted skole school schule danmark denmark architecture arquitetura architectuur architettura architektur arquitectura modern modernist modernism jenskristianseier seier+seier creative commons CC
ringbo nursing home, bagsværd, copenhagen 1961-1963.
architect: hans christian hansen, 1901-1978, working for the copenhagen municipal architects department under f.c.lund (1896-1984).
the balcony front first used in hansen's skydebanehave kindergarten, 1948
the hans chr. hansen set.
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the comments I have added to some of my photos can be read together as a kind of mangled, yet surprisingly brief essay on hansen. repetitious and opinionated, it reflects the writer above his subject, but until someone does some serious research on hansen, a complete lack of competition makes me immune to criticism. enjoy :)
01. introduction, amager 1966.
02. the engineer as ideal, hansen's pre-war architecture, sundholm 1939.
03. the church he didn't build. war and the return to tradition, 1942-1944.
04. following fisker. wartime housing, hulgårds plads 1943.
05. the architect finding himself in kindergarten, skydebanen 1948.
06. developing the restless section. hanssted school 1954.
07. early industrial. nyborggade transformer 1958.
08. the brutalist, bellahøj 1961.
09. perfect self-confidence, ringbo nursing home 1961.
10. perfect idiosyncrasy. ringbo bell tower 1961.
11. the masterpiece, bremerholm 1962.
12. on the fine art of knowing when to be a backdrop. svanemølle 1966.
13. industrialized construction, a first response. svanemølle 1966.
14. concrete charm, bellahøj gas regulator 1967.
15. late irreverence. gasværksvejen school 1969.
don't copy texts and comments. respect the photos that are marked all rights reserved. for photos with a CC license, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER".
Tags: hans chr. hansen hans christian hansen hans christian hansen arkitekt architect f.c.lund stadsarkitekt københavn copenhagen kopenhagen köpenhamn ringbo plejehjem nursing home danmark denmark architecture arquitetura architectuur architettura architektur arquitectura modern modernist modernism jenskristianseier seier+seier creative commons CC
bremerholm transformer, bremerholm 6, copenhagen 1962-1963.
architect: hans chr. hansen, 1901-1978, working for the copenhagen municipal architects department under f.c.lund, 1896-1984.
a consensus has always existed among architects that special rules apply to buildings within the walls of old copenhagen. you couldn't do cheap or crude, that was reserved for the suburbs. I am not going to pretend that modernism never failed this unwritten law, only that hans christian hansen didn't. and he was a master of cheap and crude.
the brief for the bremerholm transformer was not dissimilar to the other buildings of his, we have seen; a blast proof concrete shell with a seemingly random pattern of ventilation openings. not a lot to work with and potentially deadening in a living, urban context such as central copenhagen still was at the time of construction.
the architect's answer was to propose an office space above the technical installations to keep the building populated, and a row of glass display cases along the street. but most significantly, he draped the entire facade in a refined bronze skin, at once hiding and expressing the ventilation openings behind it.
today, in a cruel reversal of the original order, the city centre has become a mere function of its own suburbs. people come here for shopping and fucking, but live elsewhere. hansen's sensitivity makes little sense to intoxicated passersby who offer grafitti and vandalism in return. the owners too are giving up and will, according to an inside source, be moving the capacity of bremerholm to one of their larger plants outside copenhagen.
EDIT: I have previously stated that bremerholm 6 was listed and would stay with us even when its use changed. that was not the case and the facade is to be changed now that the empty building is to be turned into flats.
this photo was uploaded with a CC license and may be used free of charge and in any way you see fit.
if possible, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER". if not, don't.
the hans chr. hansen set.
more words, yada, yada, yada.
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the comments I have added to some of my photos can be read together as a kind of mangled, yet surprisingly brief essay on hansen. repetitious and opinionated, it reflects the writer above his subject, but until someone does some serious research on hansen, a complete lack of competition makes me immune to criticism. enjoy :)
01. introduction, amager 1966.
02. the engineer as ideal, hansen's pre-war architecture, sundholm 1939.
03. the church he didn't build. war and the return to tradition, 1942-1944.
04. following fisker. wartime housing, hulgårds plads 1943.
05. the architect finding himself in kindergarten, skydebanen 1948.
06. developing the restless section. hanssted school 1954.
07. early industrial. nyborggade transformer 1958.
08. the brutalist, bellahøj 1961.
09. perfect self-confidence, ringbo nursing home 1961.
10. perfect idiosyncrasy. ringbo bell tower 1961.
11. the masterpiece, bremerholm 1962.
12. on the fine art of knowing when to be a backdrop. svanemølle 1966.
13. industrialized construction, a first response. svanemølle 1966.
14. concrete charm, bellahøj gas regulator 1967.
15. late irreverence. gasværksvejen school 1969.
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Tags: hans chr. hansen hans christian hansen hans christian hansen arkitekt architect f.c.lund stadsarkitekt københavn copenhagen kopenhagen köpenhamn bremerholm danmark denmark transformer concrete bronze clad louvres screen industrial architecture arquitetura architectuur architettura architektur arquitectura modern modernist modernism jenskristianseier seier+seier
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tagensbo kirke / church, landsdommervej 35, copenhagen NV.
architect: hans chr. hansen 1901-1978 (for once working in his own name).
I used to find hans chr. hansen's tagensbo church the ugliest building in copenhagen. so much for first impressions, you might add, except that I still find hansen church to be one of the ugliest buildings in copenhagen. I have also grown to love it.
over the next few images, we are going to take a closer look at the qualities of hansen's most important work in his own name, going through this exhilarating, infuriating, ugly, beautiful and seriously endangered house.
we begin with its glorious rooftop belfry, reminiscent of arne jacobsen's tower for his town hall in aarhus - a surprising connection with jacobsen and hansen residing at opposite ends of the refined-modernism-to-brutalism axis.
it should however remind us that hansen and jacobsen were born in the same year in the same country, trained at the same school and both began their career in the copenhagen municipal architects department where they worked under poul holsøe in an idiom best described as asplundian. is this their shared upbringing in nordic classicism making itself seen?
as we have come to know hansen, I am pretty sure the concrete skeleton of the belfry and of the facade in general was unpainted to begin with. the paint is recent and has added little but its own weight to the building.
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previous hansen texts:
01. introduction, amager 1966.
02. the engineer as ideal, hansen's pre-war architecture, sundholm 1939.
03. the church he didn't build. war and the return to tradition, 1942-1944.
04. following fisker. wartime housing, hulgårds plads 1943.
05. the architect finding himself in a kindergarten, skydebanen 1948.
06. developing the restless section. hanssted school 1954.
07. early industrial. nyborggade transformer 1958.
08. the brutalist, bellahøj 1961.
09. perfect self-confidence, ringbo nursing home 1961.
10. perfect idiosyncrasy. ringbo bell tower 1961.
11. the masterpiece, bremerholm 1962.
12. on the fine art of knowing when to be a backdrop. svanemølle 1966.
13. industrialised construction, a first response. svanemølle 1966.
14. concrete charm, bellahøj gas regulator 1967.
15. late irreverence. gasværksvejen school 1969.
the hans chr. hansen set.
don't copy texts and comments. respect the photos that are marked all rights reserved. for photos with a CC license, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER".
Tags: hans chr. hansen hans christian hansen hans christian hansen arkitekt architect tagensbo kirke church eglise tårn kirketårn klokketårn belfry københavn NV copenhagen kopenhagen köpenhamn danmark denmark architecture arquitetura architectuur architettura architektur arquitectura concrete modern modernist modernism jenskristianseier seier+seier creative commons CC
bellahøj koblingsstation, copenhagen, denmark 1961-68.
architect: hans chr. hansen, 1901-1978, working for the copenhagen municipal architects department under f.c.lund, 1896-1984.
corner treatment and coloured window frames.
the hans chr. hansen set.
-
the comments I have added to some of my photos can be read together as a kind of mangled, yet surprisingly brief essay on hansen. repetitious and opinionated, it reflects the writer above his subject, but until someone does some serious research on hansen, a complete lack of competition makes me immune to criticism. enjoy :)
01. introduction, amager 1966.
02. the engineer as ideal, hansen's pre-war architecture, sundholm 1939.
03. the church he didn't build. war and the return to tradition, 1942-1944.
04. following fisker. wartime housing, hulgårds plads 1943.
05. the architect finding himself in kindergarten, skydebanen 1948.
06. developing the restless section. hanssted school 1954.
07. early industrial. nyborggade transformer 1958.
08. the brutalist, bellahøj 1961.
09. perfect self-confidence, ringbo nursing home 1961.
10. perfect idiosyncrasy. ringbo bell tower 1961.
11. the masterpiece, bremerholm 1962.
12. on the fine art of knowing when to be a backdrop. svanemølle 1966.
13. industrialized construction, a first response. svanemølle 1966.
14. concrete charm, bellahøj gas regulator 1967.
15. late irreverence. gasværksvejen school 1969.
don't copy texts and comments. respect the photos that are marked all rights reserved. for photos with a CC license, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER".
Tags: hans chr. hansen hans christian hansen hans christian hansen arkitekt architect f.c.lund stadsarkitekt københavn copenhagen kopenhagen köpenhamn bellahøj koblingsstation switch station danmark denmark brutalism brutalist concrete industrial architecture arquitetura architectuur architettura architektur arquitectura modern modernist modernism jenskristianseier seier+seier creative commons CC