Vilhelm Wohlert (Denmark 1920 - 2007)
Vilhelm Wohlert was a major force in architecture and design in the 1950s and 1960s and the work of Vilhelm Wohlert epitomises the essence of "Danish design" perhaps better than any other architect from that country. With his friend Jørgen Bo, he created in 1958 one of the key buildings of the 20th century with the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, on the coast north of Copenhagen. The building broke with tradition in its use of humble natural materials, employing white-painted brick walls, purple clay brick floors and timber ceilings and frames. The museum has also become known fo... Read more Vilhelm Wohlert was a major force in architecture and design in the 1950s and 1960s and the work of Vilhelm Wohlert epitomises the essence of "Danish design" perhaps better than any other architect from that country. With his friend Jørgen Bo, he created in 1958 one of the key buildings of the 20th century with the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, on the coast north of Copenhagen. The building broke with tradition in its use of humble natural materials, employing white-painted brick walls, purple clay brick floors and timber ceilings and frames. The museum has also become known for its gallery of Alberto Giacometti sculptures, which provides a rare and perfect harmony between art, architecture and nature.
In Denmark he built several churches, and restored others, including the Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen's cathedral. He also built a number of houses - complete with his own furniture and furnishings - that provide an exemplar of the Danish vision of a modern domestic architecture. These include a group of linked courtyard-like houses at Piniehoj, north of Copenhagen; built in white-painted brick and timber, they are akin to a domesticated Louisiana.
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