Arne Jacobsen was a Danish architect and designer renowned for his modernist approach to architecture and furniture design. His work includes iconic buildings such as the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen and innovative furniture pieces like the Egg Chair and the Swan Chair. Jacobsen's designs are characterized by their functional elegance and attention to detail. His contributions to modern architecture and design have left a lasting legacy, influencing contemporary design practices and aesthetic standards.
"I don't see that any buildings should be excluded from the term architecture, as long as they are done properly."
"Now, the downside to conservation is that so much is done for the public, which almost always mars the environment that one wanted to conserve."
"And when an architect has designed a house with large windows, which is a necessity today in order to pull the daylight into these very deep houses, then curtains come to play a big role in architecture."
"But inspiration? - That's when you come home from abroad and are asked: Well, have you found inspiration? - and fortunately you haven't. But the impressions sink in, of course, and may emerge later: None of us has invented the house; that was done many thousands of years ago."
"In addressing a task, one almost always has several possible options, sometimes only a few, and they may all be practical and functional. But they lack the aesthetic aspect that raises it to architecture."
"Furniture manufacturing in plastics requires very costly machinery, which the Danish market is not big enough to justify. Or so they say. But show me a plastics manufacturer who dares to take on the experiment."
"If architecture had nothing to do with art, it would be astonishingly easy to build houses, but the architect's task - his most difficult task - is always that of selecting."
"Architecture tends to consume everything else, it has become one's entire life."
"That business of relaxation, which is so terribly modern today, is all good and well, but my work interests me so much, and is so varied, that many times it seems relaxing when I go from one aspect to another."
"On the other hand, I don't understand the enthusiasm for everything in the antique shop that Grandma threw out. There, the sense of quality has declined; otherwise Grandma wouldn't have thrown it out."