19 Significant Buildings Worth Seeing in Denmark

Høpfner A/S commissioned Mountain Dwellings (MTN), designed by the firm BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), in Ørestad. MTN’s site skirts rail tracks, and zoning required a strict ratio of two-thirds parking to one-third living. Housing is distributed over 11 south-facing staircase levels, and each apartment is a penthouse with a roof garden. Irrigation drains into a collective underground water tank. Eighty units ensure the development, completed in 2008, is neither too big nor uneconomically small. The patchwork of chaletlike apartments sits atop a concrete foundation sheathed on its north and west faces with perforated aluminum “murals” of Mount Everest, enabling air and light to enter the parking area. In daylight, the murals look realistic, but at night, internal lighting flips them into photographic negatives.

Parking is at MTN is a selling point. Ranged from the lobby (the main entrance is through the garage) upward, residents park near their front door and cross a gangway to reach their hallway. Those without cars, though, are not second-class residents. They have the pleasure of riding a funicular directly to their hallway. (Denna Jones)

Nordic architects often use traditional forms as reference points in their architecture. The architecture of the Faroe Islands Art Museum takes the visual reminders further, creating a kind of updated rustic architecture. The building houses the islands’ art museum. The Faroe Islands, a small self-governing part of Denmark, has a population of less than 50,000 and enjoys a vibrant cultural life. The Faroe Islands Art Museum shows a program of changing exhibitions alongside the permanent collection, mainly exhibiting art by artists native to the islands.

Jákup Pauli Gregoriussen designed the north wing of the museum for the Faroe Islands Art Society, opened in 1970. Gregoriussen—collaborating with N.F. Truelsen—also worked on the later addition of a run of galleries, opened in 1993. Black-tarred wood covers the facade of the run of buildings. Traditional Scandinavian architecture is dominated by the use of wood due to its plentiful availability. Vikings, who colonized the Faroe Islands at the end of the 1st millennium, also built their ships in tarred wood.

Three large hipped roofs, with glass tops, sit on the smaller, front-gabled buildings with a facade of large windows. The run of galleries displaying the permanent collections is here. The huge windows offer two-way views between indoor and outdoor spaces. Typically for a Nordic building, light is emphasized: during the day, the windows allow light to flood into the sparse gallery spaces, while in the evenings the warm light glows invitingly in the dark. The overall impression is one of approachability, with none of the pomposity sometimes displayed by museums. Natural materials and friendly proportions merge harmoniously with modern building methods and the surrounding, imposing landscape. (Riikka Kuittinen)

In the north of Denmark, close to the sea and the town of Skagen, there is a wonderful and distinctive landscape called Raabjerg Mile (Raabjerg Dune). Here the terrain is barren, covered only with scrub. Sand governs this desert-like landscape. Hardly any signs of human life exist, yet when walking through the dunes a visitor suddenly comes across the remains of a church emerging from the sand: the Sct. Laurentii Kirke (Church of St. Lawrence). As a symbol marker of the past, the church is nestled softly but surely among the dunes.

Today Sct. Laurentii Kirke is nicknamed the Sanded or Buried Church, of which the only remaining visible part is the tower. Around the tower a number of red stakes indicate the original location of the nave and the vestry. The old cemetery wall is also marked. The brilliant light of northern Denmark illuminates the remains of the tower. Visitors these days are filled with the eerie, enigmatic feeling that the house of worship has risen to meet the sky.

This church of St. Lawrence, who is considered by some to be the guardian of seafarers, was no match for the ravages of inland foes. Every year the sand dunes move approximately 49 feet east, encompassing all that lies in their path and leaving behind desolate, windswept deserts. The sandbank was formed on the west coast of Jutland in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century the dunes had reached the church, which dates to about 1300, and forced the congregation to dig their way in to attend services. In 1795 the parish of Skagen was forced to close it, leaving behind the tower as a navigation mark. The nave was demolished and parts of it reused elsewhere in the community. Today the tower stands proud—symbolic of a structure that has become one with nature. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

Situated to the south of Copenhagen’s center, in the town of Ørestad, the IT University is one of several buildings in an area of exciting architecture that includes Jean Nouvel’s Danish Broadcasting Corporation television studios and concert hall as well as the residential houses designed by Steven Holl. This architectural star-studded promenade lies within easy reach of the sea, the main airport, the metro system, and the protected green site of Amager Common.

This university building, which sits next to a 2,625-foot-long (800 m) canal, is arranged around a large central atrium, a space filled with light from the large five-story-high windows and the open glass and steel beam roof above. Different-sized glass boxes, which act as social meeting areas for students, are cantilevered out from the two parallel buildings linking this central space. The architects, Henning Laresen Architects, have added a lively dynamic to the space by allowing students, staff, and passersby to glimpse what goes on inside the building. The result of such openness is a building that oozes activity and gives a sense of transparency and freedom for ideas, research, and inspiration. The building, completed in 2004, is elevated with a metal-clad frame that wraps around the entire structure. The glass facades are banded in different colors. Inside, color is also present; digital artwork displays designed by John Maeda project red and green on the surfaces of the atrium. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

In 1937 Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller were chosen by Århus town council to create what turned out to be one of the most celebrated and innovative buildings of 20th-century Danish architecture. Despite World War II and the Nazi occupation, their town hall was inaugurated in 1941; it was marked for preservation due to its unique design in 1994.

The building, situated in the center of Århus, consists of four stories. It is split into three overlapping blocks, each of which represents a different service function. The block pointing toward the main part of the city, including the main vestibule, acts as the area of representatives. The central office block, with a long corridor dividing all the offices on both sides, is intersected into the main hall, which links the vestibule with the third building, a smaller and lower section containing the citizens’ service area. The town hall’s monumental blocks are lifted by the 197-foot-high (180 m) tower. Like the rest of the building, the tower is covered with Norwegian Porsgrunn marble.

Århus Town Hall expresses many aspects of the Modernism of Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller. The rigid yet open and light design works superbly well, particularly with the outdoor surroundings. The cool gray of the marble, concrete, and white cement contrasts strongly with the verdigris copper-covered roof and the detail of the clocks. With a sense of majestic dignity, the town hall fuses the classic tradition of monumental architecture with a calm, open, and progressive design style. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

Århus University was founded in 1928. After three years with study facilities in various buildings all over the city, it was decided to set up one campus and centralize the faculties. The entire site was originally designed by C.F. Møller in collaboration with Kay Fisker, Poul Stegmann, and landscape gardener Carl Theodor Sørensen between 1931 and 1942; from then on C.F. Møller, later C.F. Møller Architects, took over solely, working on university developments until 2001.

The university is located in the north part of Århus and is surrounded by lush park areas characterized by a deep moraine cleft. The landscape, together with the yellow-brick buildings, is harmonious and well placed for study. The many buildings are set closely together, and their uniform appearance is due to the consistent use of yellow bricks and tiles. These materials are repeated in the interior design—both the walls and the floors are covered with yellow tiles. Such consistency speaks of a respect for the construction materials and equally for the indoors and outdoors. A large open-air auditorium reinforces the message, seeming to merge with the grounds.

C.F. Møller was a pioneer of Danish Modernist and Functionalist architecture. In Århus University he mastered the synthesis of form, function, building materials, and the immediate surroundings. This ideal was carried through in the university’s expansion between 1998 and 2001, when another five auditoriums were built, again in a uniform, rectangular style in yellow brick designed to conform to the original concept. In one auditorium, Danish artist Per Kirkeby covered an area of 5,380 square feet (500 sq m) with a beautiful wall and ceiling painting, adding a sea of color to the clean, Functionalist, and unpretentious architecture. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

When Jørn Utzon was commissioned to design the Church at Bagsværd, a few miles northwest of Copenhagen, he had just resigned from the Sydney Opera House project. This robust building, somewhat resembling an industrial unit with its use of materials, ranks as one of Utzon’s most celebrated works. The church is drawn with a meticulous care for purity and simplicity, characteristics that typify the atmosphere of most Scandinavian churches. The ground plan of the building is rectangular, 262 by 72 feet (80 x 22 m); the exterior is clad tightly in prefabricated, white concrete panels, with a gray aluminum roof, which appears cold yet also calm and collected. Small inner courtyards adjoin the building, creating a sense of privacy. The interior is impressive; in particular the main space stuns visitors. Almost everything is white: it has white concrete walls and floors, and the trellis around the altar is made of glazed white tiles, which reflect the light coming in from both the skylights and sidelights. The heavy, organically-shaped, arched ceiling winds into the main space with great elegance and softness. The serenity of the building, which was completed in 1976, is further emphasized by the use of pale, whitewashed pine wood in the pews, doors, windows, and the organ. The addition of brightly colored textiles, floor runners, and vestments—designed by Utzon’s daughter Lin—also works well in this peaceful space. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

Bertel Thorvaldsen was one of the finest Neo-Classical sculptors in Europe. Born in Copenhagen, he studied in Rome from 1796 and spent most of the rest of his life there, accepting commissions from all over Europe. In 1838 he decided to return home for good, founding a museum to house his collections of plaster models of his entire output, as well as contemporary paintings and antique artifacts.

Thorvaldsen’s Museum is a key building in the history of Danish Classicism, completed, in 1848, just as the old Neoclassicism was passing out of fashion but before historicism had taken root. The museum was the first and most important work of its architect, Michael Gottlieb Bindersbøll. It was built on the site of the old Royal Carriage House, not far from the Christiansborg Palace. The reuse of that building’s foundations largely dictated the museum’s dimensions. Bindersbøll’s study of polychromy in the decoration of antique buildings materially affected his design.

The basic color of the simple and massive exterior is a rich ocher, with architectural elements picked out in white, green, and blue. The portal motifs of the entrance front are carried around the sides, where they contain windows and frame a remarkable s’graffito (“scratched” plaster) frieze by Jørgen Sonne depicting the transport of Thorvaldsen’s collections from Rome to Copenhagen, in a modern-dress equivalent of an ancient Roman triumph. The museum’s interior is decorated with plain dark colors to set off the sculpture, and the ceilings are decorated in paint and stucco in the Pompeian style. The entrance vestibule is large and barrel-vaulted. Beyond, a glazed peristyle surrounds the courtyard while the side wings contain a series of small rooms or alcoves to house individual major works of art. (Charles Hind)

In 1913, architect Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint won a competition to design a church as a memorial to the popular hymn writer N.F.S. Grundtvig, but it was not until 1921 that the foundation stone was laid. The site is a square in the residential suburb of Bispebjerg, in the northwest of Copenhagen, where Jensen-Klint also designed the surrounding houses. The church is conceived in an Expressionist style, but the form also draws on the Gothic brick churches of northern Europe and the buildings of the Danish National Romantic movement. More than six million yellow bricks were used in its construction.

Among the most striking features of the church is the soaring entrance facade, with its tripartite gable, complete with lower ziggurat pattern and projecting central section. Further Expressionist stepped brick gables run down the sides of the building, interspersed with etiolated windows and topped with pointed arches. The interior is a modern interpretation of the Gothic cathedral, with a long nave and aisles, pointed arcades, and a ceiling height of some 115 feet (35 m). However, in this case the traditional carved stone decorations are replaced by exposed courses of projecting and receding brickwork. Even the two pulpits, one located at the end beneath the tower and one in the choir, are made of brick.

In 1930, before the building could be completed, Jensen-Klint died. The final works, including the organ front and many of the furnishings, were finished by his son, Kaare Jensen-Klint. The church was finally consecrated in 1940. (Marcus Field)

Henning Larsen Architects worked through every detail of the Nordea Headquarters in Copenhagen, completed in 1999, in a meticulous manner, with every element slick and polished. The building complex consists of six glass wings, each six stories high. They are positioned at a 90-degree angle to the inner harbor front. On the south side of the city, away from the harbor, is the main entrance—a U-shaped building clad with sandstone. It makes quite a contrast to the other buildings, which are light and almost weightless, not only because of the glass facades but also because all the glass sections have been enclosed and raised off the ground by frameworks of copper. Similarly, at night, when lights wrap around and underneath the structure, the buildings appear to float off the ground, becoming a part of the canal. The anchor here, however, is the U-shaped building, which brings us back on land. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

The Kvarterhuset (the Quarter House), located in southwest Copenhagen, is a four-story extension of industrial premises dating from 1880. Today it includes a public library, a café, a school, and meeting rooms. A large, open foyer connects to the library, and a white spiral staircase and white footbridges lead the public to the other floors as well as to the neighboring buildings. The glass box extension is lifted off the ground by leaning pillars of concrete, giving a sense of the magical. The bearing construction of the foyer is made of plywood with thermo glass panels set in a framework of pinewood, creating the impression of a light and airy environment.

The Quarter House, completed in 2001, rejuvenates an area where rather heavy and dark brick buildings create a somber atmosphere. It is an open and inviting building, throwing light into the street and onto the buildings that tower two or three stories above it. Its presence imbues a sense of optimism and raises the expectations of the public who attend it for schooling, leisure time, and sports activities. The Quarter House functions as a much-needed community center in a built-up urban area where there are few outside public spaces for local inhabitants to meet. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

In the Øresund area, south of Copenhagen, modern buildings have rapidly sprung up since the turn of the 21st century. Many of these buildings have similar architectural traits—angular and hard-edged outlines. By contrast, the Tietgen Hall of Residence brings organic curves and dimensions to the neighborhood’s architecture. The building provides accommodation for up to 360 students. Five detached units, each of six residential stories, form a circle around a communal courtyard. The sections are joined by towers of stairs and lifts, making it possible to walk from one unit to another. The residential parts of the building, which was completed in 2005, are placed in the outer sections of the circular unit. The communal rooms, such as the study spaces and kitchen facilities, face the courtyard. All the rooms are organized in structural modules that vary in depth and size, creating a dynamic and vibrant environment. This results in the overall facade of the building appearing asymmetrical, which contrasts with the balanced, rotund shape of the structure. Wood breaks up the building’s hard concrete framework, blending the artificial with the natural in a pleasant and harmonious way. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

In the southern part of Funen, the island between Jutland and Zealand, is the District Heating Plant of Faaborg, in an open area just outside the town near a lake. The plant, completed in 1996, consists of two identical mirrored buildings in which gas engines are placed; in between the buildings is a large accumulation tank. Two smaller buildings, with control and monitoring facilities, are on the other sides of the tank, making the design of the plant symmetrical and harmonious. The concrete constructions, with facades of large yellow brick blocks, speak of geometry and stringency, which form prevalent characteristics throughout the design.

With the undulating green fields and the lake as its closest neighbors, the District Heating Plant is among natural elements, away from the public who use the energy that it produces. The architects allow the design to speak its own architectural language, not having to relate to other buildings. As a sculpture in its own right, it stands both isolated yet elegantly majestic on the green fields of Faaborg. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

Jørn Utzon aspired to create architecture accessible to all people. He also concerned himself with topography, immediate environment, and how people contribute standards of living to their surroundings. These thoughts are exemplified and carried through in his the Kingo Houses, a residential housing scheme in Helsingør that dates to 1961. The scheme comprises 60 houses, locally referred to as the “Roman Houses” because of their Roman atrium style.

The Kingo Houses are spread across a beautiful undulating landscape next to a pond. Each house is L-shaped and has its own courtyard. The tiled roofs are all evenly slanted, adding a particular dynamic to the overall structure. Seen individually the units make up private spheres, but when they are seen in their entirety the units also represent an environment wherein a particular sense of the collective and the communal exists. Three-quarters of the estate is laid out for communal areas.

Although each house appears sheltered and inward, their zigzag positioning allows the buildings to maintain a connection with the outer surroundings; inside each unit, this transparency is heightened by large floor-to-ceiling windows. Utzon was able to give full rein to his ideas in Helsingør, bringing an original vision to housing schemes, which at the time received little attention. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

Most prisons in Denmark were built at the beginning of the 20th century. However, due to increasing security needs and a new focus on inmates’ living conditions, many of these prisons do not meet 21st-century standards. The State Prison of East Jutland, completed in 2006, is a closed prison, the second of its kind in Denmark. The complex lies on a large open field close to the town of Horsens. Although there are no bars in front of the windows, the windows are made of armored glass and the frames are welded into the walls. The prison is ultramodern and holds up to 230 prisoners who each have a 129-square-foot (12 sq m) cell with its own toilet and shower. A distinctive feature of this two-story building is the way in which the architects, the firm Friis + Moltke, have emphasized several units instead of one large structure. The prison‘s ring wall is 4,593 feet long (1,400 m), and the total length of the prison’s fence measures 2.55 miles (4 km). The ceilings are made of steel and the walls of reinforced concrete. The building is not a typical fortresslike prison; it is low-built, and the architects have taken into consideration that every prisoner must have his or her own view. The cluster of individual units makes it appear more like a group of homes than a large, grim institution. Inside, inmates encounter a thought-provoking sculpture by Danish artist Christian Lemmerz of a golden angel with breasts, wings, and tattoos. On one of the angel’s arms it reads “God,” and on the other, “Dog.” (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark is an extraordinary art repository. While the collections themselves are impressive, it is the beauty of the setting within which Jørgen Bo and Vilhelm Wohlert gradually built up, over several decades, a thoughtful, unpretentious home for these modern art collections that continues to draw many visitors each year.

In 1956, businessman Knud Jensen bought the Louisiana Estate, overlooking the Oresund Strait between Denmark and Sweden. He intended to open his art collection to the public and hired young architects Bo and Wohlert to build a new wing onto the existing 19th-century villa for this purpose. The villa was surrounded by a beautiful landscape, and the architects wanted to create a building that was suitable for a world-class museum without competing with the art or the natural magnificence of the estate. The result was three small pavilions, connected to the house with arching glass corridors, reminiscent of Mies van der Rohe. As the collection grew, the architects added to their design. The complex today includes a wing buried in the hillside, mirroring the slope of the land itself, and an underground building, designed to house light-sensitive photographs and prints.

This building challenges the perception of the museum as a cabinet of curiosities. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an organic entity, a living part of the landscape it inhabits. The art is displayed inside and out, and the building itself is presented as an exhibit, as is the vista beyond. It is as much about the nature and scenery as it is about architecture. (Justine Sambrook)

In 1988, when still an architecture student and only 25 years old, Søren Robert Lund won a competition to design a new museum for modern art located by Køge Bay, 12 miles (19 km) south of Copenhagen. He was very conscious that the museum should correspond to its surroundings and that the lines of the landscape blended in with the building. This resulted in an imaginative design that resembles a ship berthed solidly along the coastal line. Today, Arken affords a fantastic view over the sea, taking in as well as imitating the nautical atmosphere.

White concrete walls and floors, sharp outlines of steel beams and doors, right angles, and various ceiling heights dominate the building, which was completed in 1996. A 492-foot-long (150 m) axial corridor cuts through the entire structure. On one side the wall is plane, the other arched. Along the plane edge there are several exhibition areas, with large as well as smaller, more intimate rooms, while the curved wall borders a foyer and a multifunctional hall. The art axis not only governs the inside; it also encompasses the outdoor, seemingly wiping out any boundaries between the cultural world within and the natural settings outside. This merging with the external is also emphasized by the skylights, bringing light and spaciousness to the weighty concrete interior.

In the main foyer the visitor is greeted by a vast Norwegian granite block, which powerfully marks the entrance. The block, referring to the history of the landscape, is treated in four different ways, with a matte, rugged, smooth, and high-polished finish. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

Christian IV, king of Denmark and Norway from 1588 to 1648, was celebrated for his great interest in culture, in particular architecture. Many of his architectural projects can be seen in Copenhagen, such as the Old Stock Exchange, the Round Tower, and Rosenborg Castle. The castle was originally erected as the king’s summer residence, and it lies within the King’s Garden, which he also designed. Although the castle was built and extended over almost 30 years, it stands today as a fine and whole example of the Dutch Renaissance style.

Between 1606 and 1607 the king built a two-story, red-brick summerhouse with a spire-crowned turret and two bays facing east. Today, this first section of the building marks the central part of the castle’s southern structure. From 1613 onward, the house was extended, and in 1624 the majority of the building was completed, so that by then it included a third story, the Long Hall, the Great Tower, and several spires. In 1634 the king requested a more notable entrance to the main official chambers, replacing the existing stair turret with the current one, and adding an outer double staircase linking the entrance to the first floor. The castle blends together three natural colors with its use of red brick, gray sandstone, and verdigris copper roof, making for a prominent and eye-catching building.

Today Rosenborg Castle is a museum that houses the Crown Jewels, the Danish Crown Regalia, and collections of parade arms, porcelain, and glass, displayed in sumptuous, Baroque settings in styles chosen by the king’s successors at the end of the 17th century. King Christian IV was aided on structural elements of the building project by the architects Bertel Lange and Hans van Steenwinckel. To this day it remains uncertain how much the king participated. (Signe Mellergaard Larsen)

Arne Jacobsen believed in the universality of the designer’s art; whenever possible he designed not only the buildings themselves but also the fittings and furniture that went inside them. As he was to state, “the fundamental factor is proportion.” The town hall at Rødovre, a suburb of Copenhagen, demonstrates him working at all scales of design. Replicas of the clock he designed for the council chamber were still manufactured in the 21st century, and his chair, door-handle, and cutlery designs in general are perhaps better known than his architecture. Rødovre Town Hall is almost painfully simple and regular in its design. A large rectangular block contains the offices and most other functions; a small box to the rear houses the council chamber. That is all. The open sides of each block are unvarying curtain walls of glass and steel; the closed end walls are clad in plain black stone. Only a freestanding porch relieves the entrance front. Inside is a wide central corridor flanked by the paired structural columns on which the building stands. The interiors are almost as sparse as the exterior.

Such simplicity is difficult to execute with conviction—the architect risks being seen as unimaginative rather than restrained. Jacobsen, however, avoided large-scale gestures for a reason: by keeping the shape simple, the intimate perfection of the building’s every detail is allowed to set the tone. A good place to start learning to love this wonderful, unemotional building is on its main staircase, where very slim treads run between zigzagging beams. The stair rises through all three stories of the building but never touches the walls. Instead the whole thing is hung from three thin, steel bars. Here and throughout the building, Jacobsen seems to take to extremes the famous aphorism attributed to one of his architectural heroes, Mies van der Rohe: “less is more.” (Barnabas Calder)