It Begins with Curiosity
Works by Henning Larsen Architects
Arvinius + Orfeus Publishers
Upon joining Henning Larsen in 2019, I was responsible for concept development and content for the Henning Larsen monograph, It Begins with Curiosity. I wrote all project descriptions, essays, and ghostwrote additional sections of the book.
The monograph - the first in the office's 60-year history - defines the mindset the studio has retained over its 60 years of practice: a respect for context, community, and a desire to infuse each project with knowledge.
The book concentrates its focus on twelve recent works spanning a breadth of scale, typology, and location. Among them are the EU Mies 2013 winner Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center in Reykjavík, the AIA International Region awarded French International School of Hong Kong and Nordea Bank Head-quarters, and the International Design Award winner Eystur Town Hall, among others. These works have drawn on the full expertise of the office, from landscape and design to construction, sustainability, and more. Project descriptions and insights from studio leadership, alongside essays by Kent Martinussen of the Danish Architecture Center and architectural historian Hans Ibelings, offer unprecedented insight into Henning Larsen’s legacy of community-focused design.
The release of It Begins with Curiosity coincided with the studio’s 60-year anniversary, an occasion also highlighted by the studio’s receipt of the European Prize for Architecture by the Chicago Athenaeum in August 2019. It was released by Arvinius + Orfeus, a Swedish publishing house that has also released monographs for COBE, Tham + Videgård, OOPEAA, and Gert Wingårdh.
