Carl Theodor Srensen

Personal

Vocation

Notable

Danish landscape architect, recognised as one of the greatest garden designers of the 20th century. A contemporary of Thomas Church, Geoffrey Jellicoe and Luis Barragán he was a leading figure in the first generation of Modernists in landscape design. He is best known for designing the first Adventure playground (in partnership with Hans Dragehjelm) in Emdrup, a district of the Danish capital Copenhagen in 1940. Sørensen was a prolific author producing eight books, editing two volumes and writing hundreds of articles. Only one short book has been translated into English and another into German and Dutch. His books cover open space in urban life, horticulture, the history of garden art, principles of garden design, education and autobiography. In his book Parkipolitik i Sogn og Købstad (Park Politics in the parish and market town), Sørensen stated his belief that "children's playgrounds are the city's most important form of public plantation". He believed children needed sun and open space to play in and hated the trend for dark, shady courtyards as play spaces. He called them skrammellegepladser ("junk playgrounds"). He started teaching at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1940 and was professor of landscape architecture there from 1954 to 1963. He was awarded the Eckersberg Medal in 1945 and the Prince Eugen Medal in 1972. Sørensen died on 12 September 1979 in Copenhagen, Denmark, aged 86. Link to Wikipedia biography