The “ugliest” house in Gentofte: The Poul Henningsen Hus as a built cultural critique

In 1937, Poul Henningsen built a detached house for himself and his family in Gentofte, a municipality north of Copenhagen. Henningsen, who despite his architectural work is probably best known today for his lamp designs, was not only a designer and architect but also a poet and, in particular, a critic. His critical work highlights the content of the public debate during his lifetime and his role as editor of the magazine Kritisk Revy from 1926 to 1928 in particular makes him one of the most important representatives of Danish cultural radicalism.

This in-depth study examines the thesis that this house built in 1937, which he himself once described as the “ugliest” house in Gentofte, takes up important aspects of his cultural and architectural criticism and can thus be understood as a built cultural critique. In addition to literature by and about him, poems, photographs and plans as well as chronicles written about Henningsen served as a literary basis for the study in order to gain a deeper understanding of his personal history and world view.

In many respects, the Poul Henningsen Hus corresponds to positions that Henningsen represented in his cultural-critical work. This is evident on the one hand in the layout of the floor plan, which illustrates his view of modern family life, but also in the use of materials and the design of the interior spaces. The house can be interpreted as his view of a contemporary architectural expression and also as a provocation against the social ideas of the time. Just like the materialization and floor plan, the interior design of the time also shows Henningsen's position at the interface between tradition and modernity.