Vilhelm Lauritzen (1894–1984) is one of the most significant architects in Danish; he was a trail-blazing figurehead of functionalism. A number of his buildings – Nørrebro Theatre, Daells Varehus department store, Radiohuset and the first airport built in Kastrup – represented the concentrated essence of contemporary life.
Vilhelm Lauritzen
As a pioneer of Danish functionalism, Lauritzen designed several prominent buildings, including the theatre, Nørrebro Teater (1931-32), the department store, Daells Varehus (1928-35), the headquarters of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, known as Radiohuset (1936-41), and Copenhagen Airport’s first terminal (1937-39), located in Kastrup, just outside of Copenhagen. He also created a number of other significant works throughout his career.
Vilhelm Lauritzen understood both natural and artificial light, and he consistently worked diligently to shape light and shadow by strategically placing windows in a building to enhance the experience of its users.
He applied the same thoughtfulness and diligence to his lamp designs, combining direct illumination with softer, delicate illumination to create defined shadows and diffuse light, effectively softening and shading spaces.
Lauritzen had a remarkable ability to create a pleasant ambience with light, as exemplified in Radiohuset. He not only designed the light fixtures specifically for the building, but was also responsible for the overall design of Radiohuset. These fixtures were first included in Louis Poulsen catalogues in the mid 1940s and are still available today
Vilhelm Lauritzen was enormously inspired by nature. This was where he felt he could relax. He was particularly interested in butterflies and spent countless hours building an extraordinary collection, which he gifted to the University of Copenhagen Zoological Museum. Vilhelm Lauritzen once said that had he not become an architect, he would probably have become a zoologist.
