Conference Abstract | Samuel Quagliotto

Danish Welfare as a National Identity

Can Danish Welfare architecture be the quintessence of Denmark’s architectural identity? In order to establish a common thread, through which it is possible to systematise architectural and urban themes that have repercussions and are updated over time we propose a collection of Danish residential projects covering a time span since 1400 AD. to present day. The aim is to encode those traits that define the architectural space of Danish Welfare. To determine a starting point for the Danish archaic urban dimensions the analysis of the urban composition and the proportions of the building volumes of the villages of the late Middle Ages is necessary. More-over, to understand how to build in an effective way for the working class we consider Kartoffelrækkerne and Brumleby. From here the attention is projected on Kay Otto Fisker who had a key role in designing residential buildings for welfare and through which he was able to update the vocabulary of Danish architecture. Reaching 1970, the attention goes on the work of Tegnestuen Vandkunsten and on the theoretical contribution of Jan Gehl. The paper will end with a comment on the text by David Sim and two contemporary projects: Krøyer Plads from Cobe - Vilhelm Lauritzen and Støberikvarteret from Effekt. Analysis of these two projects will be proposed to highlight the affinity of themes and design processes with the other projects on display. The vision we want to propose with this paper is that there is a continuous and peremptory investigation by today’s Danish architects towards those projects of Danish Welfare architecture. The hypothesis submitted is that there is no longer any difference between architecture and Welfare architecture. Today’s Danish architects project their design investigations towards a high qualitative degree of space, useful for welcoming the everyday life of all citizens.

Samuel Quagliotto is an architect and, at La Sapienza in Rome, he is a PhD in Architecture with a doctoral thesis on Kay Otto Fisker, Subject Expert and teaching assistant. His architectural researches concerne the Scandinavian countries; in particular he investigates the Danish architecture of the ‘900. His research fields focus both on the city, trying to synthesize the eurythmy generated by the composition of the different buildings, and on the intimacy of the interiors. In 2014 he founded atelier QUAGLIOTTO with the intention to investigate the combination of functionality and intimacy to design an everyday architecture.