| Arne’s quite special abilities made him an
avant-gardist and a poet.
Arne’s abilities, which probably came
from his farther’s desire and urge to uncover
new truths in his field, made him a true
teacher and a source of inspiration. lam very pleased that this book about
Arne is being published. | myself am one of
the many architects whose talents were lib-
erated by him at one time.
How did he do this?
He was extremely well-read and well-in-
formed, and he lived on the crest of the ris-
ing wave of Modernism.
Arne always thought aloud — in extremely
condensed sentences — far too condensed
for the uninitiated — but for those who had
followed along for a time in Arne’s world, it
was precisely this that was so valuable, that
his sentences were so full of meaning: we
strode forward with lightning speed in the
world of ideas, towards a destination that
sometimes astonished us. Arne was a master at turning things up-
side down so that we saw them in quite a
new light, getting a completely different
angle ona problem.
This is illustrated by the following little in-
cident: I was invited up to the mountains to visit
Arne and Grete in September, and had a
chance to experience all that magnificient
nature through his eyes. One morning there
came a knock at the door. It was a man who
was selling game licences for the grouse
hunting season, which was over the follow-
ing day. Arne flew into a rage and shouted
at the man: «Are you crazy!! Do you thing
you have the right to sell death certificates
for birds??? What do you think the birds
would say?? Get out!!!»
This ability to perceive a situation in quite
a new way is precisely the most essential
ability for an architect who does not want to fall into mannerism or stylization, but who
wants to express a particular situation, a par-
ticular combination of a site, people and
functions in a completely genuine way,
without a «straitjacket».
The reason why it was such a great plea-
sure for my wife Lis and myself to spend time
with Arne and Grete and to work with them,
was that they always led us into an oasis of
splendid possibilities, joie de vivre and high
spirits.
That we were on two occasions of our
cooperation too late in delivering competi-
tion entries, and that in the case of the VIKA
Competition Arne did not come down to me
in Copenhagen with the programme until
the day the proposal was to be turned in,
perhaps best illustrates his total absorption
in architectonic problems, regardless of
whether they could be realized or not.
Arne admired Le Corbusier’s ability to
identify the tasks that were most essential at
the time; the tasks which architects ought to
throw themselves into. He admired Le Cor-
busier’s ability to define the programme.
Time and again Arne stressed: «lt is the ar-
chitect who shapes man’s surroundings. He
cannot expect to have a finished plan pre-
sented to him by the client. The architect is to
lead the way. He understands the needs of
his fellow men. He «cares for him, has com-
passion for him and understand what he
needs from his surroundings. »
The architect bases his philosphy and with
that his buildings, on his respect for man.
All of Arne’s undertakings, be it the many
fine sketches which flowed unceasingly
from his hand, or his projects, bore the stamp
of his kindness and sense of poetry, which is
what man rightfully needs most of all.
As a teacher Arne was outstanding. He
enjoyed being with young people and see-
ing them express themselves. Instead of res-
tricting the students with his own proposals, he liked to challenge and stimulate their
abilities and imagination, rejoicing in their
progress. By the same token, with his ques-
tions he was, of course, ademanding judge,
and could often express his criticism in a
single word.
When Arne saw one of his students a-
chieve a good result, he entered into the
game with great spirit and could say — as he
did to me on several occasions: «You are my
best student!» lam certain that he said this to
many architect students with the same plea-
sure, when the situation called for it.
He could indeed get all of us to work with
enthusiasm and intensity. One of the greatest architectural experi-
ences of my life was the trip to the Yuacatan
Peninsula in 1949 together with my wife, Lis,
and Arne and Grete. Our mutual pleasure at what we saw and
experienced together inspired us with such
enthusiasm that the memory of it still rever-
berates in our hearts.
Arne and Grete were very widely trav-
elled and had a circle of friends consisting of
architects and artists all over the world —
Charles Eames, James Prestini, Louis Kahn,
Alvar Aalto, the people in the CIAM, and
many more — who felt as if they were mem-
bers of a great, international family of archi-
tects. Thanks to Arne, we were drawn into
this brotherhood.
Hellebaek, April 1985
Jern Utzon
Norberg-Schulz, Christian, The Functionalist Arne Korsmo, Norwegian University Press, 1986 |
