File:Hans chr. hansen, architect- svanemølle koblingsstation, copenhagen 1966-1968 (5692115853).jpg

link to full size image (4412x5090px)

svanemøllen koblingsstation (facility for the distribution of electricity), østerbro, copenhagen, denmark 1966-1968. architect: hans chr. hansen, 1901-1978, working for the copenhagen municipal architects department under f.c.lund, 1896-1984.

while remaining unfashionably faithful to the architectural elements that made up his earliest, original projects, hans chr. hansen never stopped changing the way he applied them. contrary to the eventful hanssted school and ringbo nursing home, his final buildings are silent and enigmatic, none more so than svanemøllen.

hansen's dense web of verticals across the elevation is immediately recognizable; we have seen it elsewhere in bronze , concrete and painted wood. no doubt this repeated pattern represents a translation of sorts of the modular nature of hansen's architecture, though I also read into it a reference to the gothic and, more specifically, to the ruskinian neo-gothic of p.v. jensen-klint. as such, we are looking at that rare bird in modern architecture, the personal voice, all the more surprising in hans chr. hansen's case since he was a mere job architect, working for the municipality.

evidently, svanemøllen is repetition with a difference. gone is the careful craft of the facade of his nyborggade neighbour and in its place an endless pattern of cheap pressure-treated wood envelopes the structure. tempting as it is to see the changes in hansen's approach as the reflection of a personal development, I suspect he was responding to outside circumstances. the sixties saw building cost accelerate to a point which finally brought about the industrialized construction, modernists had preached and promised for decades. wages played a significant part in this, but so did demands for better performing building parts, not least in terms of insulation.

we are still caught up in these violent changes to our trade, struggling to make sense of the loss of craft and to tame the fundamental inhumanity of industrial production, all while aiding our clients in milking it for every penny of profit possible. at svanemøllen, we meet hansen at the point of inception, only eight years after the neat brick infill of nyborggade, and his response is less of a mystery than the blind facade would have you think.

the wood here is neither cladding nor part of the supporting frame. rather, it is the actual shuttering which the concrete walls were cast against, left in place - the process quite literally becoming the architecture. the layers of svanemøllen's exterior walls are - from the outside - wood shuttering, left in place; tar paper; hard insulation batts; concrete. the inside formwork was dismantled as it played no part in fastening or protecting the insulation.

current demands for insulation and the overall performance of the building envelope have effectively divorced the cladding of a building from its structure, forcing architects to play post-modern games with their facades, often against their own will. modernism had nothing to hide, but architecture today is often all skin, no bones - the structural order of a building hidden in shame behind images of perceived correctness formed in thin sheet metal or similar materials. hans chr. hansen, at the brink of this development, appears to be telling us that a careful look at the process of construction may rescue the integrity of the facade yet, providing us with alternatives to mere cladding.

the hans chr. hansen set. more words, yada, yada, yada.

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.

all architecture photos with a CC license from this user can be used free of charge and in any way you see fit. if possible, please name photographer "SEIER+SEIER". if not, don't.

don't copy texts and comments. respect the few photos that are marked all rights reserved.