Aarhus Universitet - hovedbygnings bagside

Povl Christian Stegmann (1888–1944) was a Danish architect remembered for designing

Aarhus University Aarhus University (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Ut ...

in collaboration with Kay Fisker and C. F. Møller. His name is included in the

Danish Culture Canon The Danish Culture Canon () consists of 108 works of cultural excellence in eight categories: architecture, visual arts, design, design and crafts, film, literature, music, performing arts, and children's culture. An initiative of Brian Mikkelsen i ...

Early life

Born in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, Stegmann apprenticed as a mason before attending Aarhus Technical School where he matriculated in 1908. He went on to study architecture at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts () has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Cope ...

under Anton Rosen and Hack Kampmann from 1909 to 1919. Among his fellow students were Kay Fisker, Aage Rafn and Einer Dyggve, all together with Stegmann participants in the development of the ''Skønvirke'' style, a blend of the German Jugendstil and the French

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

with a Danish

Historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

dimension.Poul Erik Skriver, "Povl Stegmann"
''Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbachs kunstnerleksikon''. Retrieved 16 January 2013.

Career

Stegmann's first major assignment was the Aarhus housing development in Stadion Allé (1930). The same year a competition was launched for a university in Aarhus. Stegmann, who had studied contemporary university architecture while travelling in Europe, submitted a proposal together with Kay Fisker and his younger colleague C. F. Møller. Inspired by Hannes Meyer's trades union college in Bernau near

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, it consisted of a structure divided into several small departments, carefully adapted to the building site with the assistance of the landscape architect C.Th. Sørensen. The proposal won first prize but when Stegmann became head of the

Technical School A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocationa ...

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

, he withdrew from the consortium. Stegmann is also remembered for his analysis of the detached one-family home (1933) which became compulsory reading for practicing architects."Povl Christian Stegmann"
Kendtes Gravsted. Retrieved 16 January 2013.

German occupation victim

Under the German occupation in November 1944, Stegmann was shot dead outside his home in Aalborg, apparently in return for the activities of the

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stegmann, Povl Christian Danish architects 1888 births 1944 deaths Modernist architects from Denmark Artists from Aarhus Danish murder victims