| The Consert House
| | Helsingborg´s concert house was opened in 1932. Sven Markelius´ building has several similarities to the students´ house he designed for the technical college in Stockholm. Helsingborg´s concert house is perhaps the best example of a monumental building in early functionalism in Sweden. |
Modernism and Functionalism
The Stockholm exhibition in 1930 marked the entry of the modern, functionalist style in Scandinavia. The exhibition had buildings by Gunnar Asplund, among others, done in white, with supporting concrete constructions and large windows in glass and steel. The focus of the exhibition was everyday needs and it showed many examples of different housing and modern interiors. The inspiration is clear in the Blidah Park in Copenhagen and Arne Jacobsen´s famous Bellavista neighbourhood at Bellevue at Strandvejen north of Copenhagen.
The perhaps most interesting example of early modernism in Sweden, is the concert house in Helsingborg, which was finished in 1932. It was designed by Sven Markelius and is very similar to the students´ house he designed for the technical college in Stockholm in 1930.
The project of the concert house itself is very interesting inasmuch as Markelius´ first proposal was clearly classicist, but eventually the proposal was reworked and ended finally with its present functionalist style with smooth, white plastered walls, large glass fronts to let in the light in the vestibule and semi circled wings with cloakroom and restaurant.
In Hornbæk on the North Zealand Coast you find the first examples of summer cottages in the late-romantic Viking style, but also the fashionable, functionalist seaside hotel from 1935.
Early Functionalism | 
Early Functionalist-inspired Architecture | 
The Concert House in Helsingborg | 
Arne Jacobsen´s Bellavista | 
Arne Jacobsen´s Bellavista |
Oversæt | 
Kronborg Open Air Bath | 
Hornbæk Seaside Hotel |
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