Henning Larsen Architects receives the European Prize for Architecture

Danish architecture studio Henning Larsen Architects has been named as this year's laureate of the European Prize for Architecture.

The prize, established in 2010, is organizes by the Danish, European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and the American, Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.

The award is awarded annually to the European architects perceived to have advanced "the principles of European humanism and the art of architecture". This year, at a Gala Dinner Award Ceremony at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece on September 13.

Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Reykjavik, Iceland. Design: Henning Larsen Architects + Batteriid Archtects. Photograph by Nic Lehoux.

Henning Larsen Architects (founded in 1959) is the eponymous studio of the late Danish architect Henning Larsen and is the second Danish winner of the accolade, following BIG's founder Bjarke Ingels (Denmark) who was the award's first laureate in 2010. Last year, The European Prize for Architecture was given to the Russian/German architect, Sergei Tchoban.

"The firm’s exceptional design philosophy is best grounded in that Scandinavian Modernist tradition and best exemplified in such buildings as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (1984), the Malmö (Sweden) City Library (1999), thr Würth Art Gallery in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany (2000), Copenhagen Opera (2004), and the Harpa Reykjavík Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Iceland (2011)."

Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, President and CEO, The Chicago Athenaeum.

"Our core goal is a very simple one: to design and build good buildings for the people that use them," says Louis Becker, design principal and partner at Henning Larsen Architects. Becker and Mette Kynne Frandsen took over the firm when, in 2013, founding architect Henning Larsen passed away at the age of 87. "In every project, regardless of scale or type, we aim to strengthen community and improve the quality of life. In the architecture, that means creating engaging spaces that encourage meeting and interaction, but also integrating sustainable solutions."

Some of Henning Larsen Architects' more recent accomplishments include the completion of lakeside Hangzhou Yuhang Opera in China and The Wave housing in Denmark. Among the studio's best-known work is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the Malmö City Library in Sweden.

Among other laureates are: Graft Architects (Germany), TYIN Architects (Norway), Marco Casagrande (Finland), Alessandro Mendini (Italy), Santiago Calatrava (Spain/Switzerland), LAVA Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (Germany), and Manuelle Gautrand (France), who was the first woman to receive the prize.

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Malmö City Library, Sweden, 1999, by Henning Larsen Architects. Photograph by Thomas Flensted.

Umeå Museum of Art in Sweden, by Henning Larsen Architects.. Photograph by Åke Lindman

Town Hall Eysturkommuna by Henning Larsen. Photograph by Nic Lehoux

Moesgaard Museum, Aarhus, Denmark, by Henning Larsen Architects.. Photograph by Hufton+Crow.

The Wave housing completed by Henning Larsen. Photograph by Jacob Due

The Wave housing in 2011 by Henning Larsen. Photograph by Thomas Mølvig

Kiruna City Hall, Sweden, by Henning Larsen . Photograph by Hufton + Crow

The Parking Garage that Moonlights as a Sledding Slope by White Arkitekter + Henning Larsen Architects. Photograph by Åke Eson Lindman

Henning Larsen Architects: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photo: Richard Bryant, courtesy of Henning Larsen

Extension. Opéra Bastille, Paris by Henning Larsen

Enghøj Church, Randers, Denmark by Henning Larsen Architects. Photograph by Martin Schubert

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HENNING LARSEN ARCHITECTS

Henning Larsen Architects, was founded in 1959 an is an is an international architecture company with strong Scandinavian roots.

Henning Larsen was born in 1925 in the town of Opsund, Videbæk, in western Denmark and moved with his parents to Bregninge, Zealand, as a child. Henning Larsen graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, in 1952. He established the company after a study trip to the United States. He started out with only one architecture student among his staff. Today, Henning Larsen Architects is one of Europe’s leading architectural companies. Henning Larsen's life work counts a number of significant building works in Denmark and abroad. He was often described as a "master the light". From 1968 to 1995, he was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen.

Henning Larsen received a number of awards and recognitions. Most recently, His Royal Highness the Prince Consort of Denmark's Europe Nostra Award 2013 and in 2012 what is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of art, the Praemium Imperiale. In 2001, he established the Henning Larsen Foundation with the objective of promoting and disseminating architecture in its broad sense.

Among Henning Larsen's most important works abroad, you find the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, 1984), The Danish Embassy in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, 1987) and Malmö City Library (Sweden, 1997). In Denmark, his most essential works include Copenhagen Business School Dalgas Have (1989), Enghøj Church (1994), Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1996) and the Royal Danish Opera (2004).

Published on: August 21, 2019

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