Jacobsen, Arne Emil (1902–71). Danish architect, he was influenced by International Modernism in the 1920s, as is demonstrated in his own house (1928) and in the Bellavista Estate, Klampenborg (1934), both in Copenhagen, where he embraced the style of the Stuttgart Weissenhofsiedlung. In the 1930s Jacobsen was influenced by Asplund in his designs for Aarhus (1937–42—with Erik Møller (1909– ) ) and Søllerød (1940–2—with Flemming Lassen (1902–84) ) Town Halls. He used curtain-walls of the utmost refinement from the 1950s, good examples of which were the Jespersen Building (1955), and Rødovre Town Hall (1955), both in Copenhagen. Attention to detail was clear in St Catherine's College, Oxford (1960–4—with Knud Helmuth Holscher (1930– ) ), where the brickwork and precast concrete were meticulously detailed in every respect. Jacobsen also designed all the furnishings and fittings for the College. He was responsible for the Danish Embassy, Sloane Street, London (1969–77), which, like his Rathaus (Town Hall), Mainz, Germany (1970–3), was completed by his colleagues Hans Oluf Dissing (1926–98) and Otto Weitling (1930– ).

Bibliography

Dyssegaard (1972);
Kalman (1994);
Faber (1964);
Kastholm (1968);
Sheridan (2003);
Skriver et al. (1971);
Thau & and Vindum (1998, 2001);
Tøjner & and Vindum (1996);
Jane Turner (1996);

JACOBSEN, ARNE EMIL

JACOBSEN, ARNE EMIL (1902–1971), Danish architect. Jacobsen was born and educated in Copenhagen. When he was a student, neoclassicism dominated Danish architecture, but Jacobsen's meetings with Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe at exhibitions in Paris and Germany had an enormous effect on his work. His first houses, inspired by Le Corbusier, caused a sensation, and in 1936 he designed and built a series of housing units with staggered perspectives giving all the apartments a good view and a share of sun and light. This established him as Denmark's leading architect. After World War ii the Søholme housing scheme established him internationally. He refused to specialize, and designed a wide variety of buildings, including town halls, a stadium, office blocks, and private houses. In 1959, he began to build St. Catherine's College, Oxford. During the same period he completed the famous sas block in Copenhagen for Scandinavian Air System (1960), using glass curtain walls. In this building and in others Jacobsen designed also the furnishings and appurtenances. From 1956 he was professor of architecture at the Copenhagen Academy of Arts. His works are generally unspectacular and human in scale, and are characterized by refinement in siting, proportion, and detail, and by a sensitive use of materials.

bibliography:

T. Faber, Arne Jacobsen (1964); J. Pedersen, Arkitekten Arne Jacobsen (1954).

[Julius Margolinsky]