Editing Steen Eiler Rasmussen

{{short description|American architect}}

{{More citations needed|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox architect
|name                 = Steen Eiler Rasmussen
|image                = Steen Eiler Rasmussen.jpg
|image_size           = 200
|caption              = 
|nationality          = [[Denmark|Danish]]
|birth_date           = {{birth date|df=yes|1898|1|9}}
|birth_place          = [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]
|death_date           = {{death date and age|df=yes|1990|6|19|1898|1|9}}
|death_place          = [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]
|significant_buildings= [[Tingbjerg]]
|awards=[[Royal Designers for Industry|Honorary Royal Designer for Industry]] (1947)<br />[[Heinrich Tessenow Medal]] (1973)<br />[[C. F. Hansen Medal]] (1977)
}}
'''Steen Eiler Rasmussen''', [[Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects|Hon. FAIA]] (9 January 1898 – 19 June 1990) was a [[Denmark|Danish]] [[architect]] and [[urban planning|urban planner]] who was a  professor at the [[Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts]], and a prolific writer of books and poetry. He was made a [[Royal Designers for Industry|Royal Designer for Industry]] by the [[Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce|British Royal Society of Arts]] in 1947.

==Early life and education==
Steen Eiler Rasmussen was born on 19 February 1898 in [[Copenhagen]] to Lieutenant colonel and later general Christian Rasmussen and Anna Dorthea (Dori) Jung. He first apprenticed as a mason and then studied architecture at the [[Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts]] from 1916 to 1918. In 1919 he set up his own practice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Arkitektur/Danmark/Steen_Eiler_Rasmussen|title=Steen Eiler Rasmussen|publisher=Gyldendal|accessdate=2010-11-23}}</ref>

==Architecture and urban planning==
It was mainly as an urban planner that he made his name. He was part of the [[Dansk Byplanlaboratorium|Danish Urban Planning Laboratory]] from 1924, as the Academy Council's representative, and its leader from 1942 to 1948. From 1932 to 1938 he worked at [[Copenhagen Municipality]]'s Department for Urban Planning.

Through his involvement in the Urban Planning Laboratory, he was an important part of the process which led to the [[Finger Plan]]  which has governed the overall development of suburban Copenhagen ever since. He also co-planned the area [[Tingbjerg]] town (yellow brickstone and greens) with C.Th. Sørensen in Copenhagen North West, as well as the town [[Hørsholm]].

Among the buildings he has designed are [[Ringsted|Ringsted Town Hall]], Mødrehjælpen (a social institution for women) in Copenhagen Ø and his own house in Rungsted Kyst Hørsholm, north of Copenhagen(1938).

==Academia==
Rasmussen was a lecturer at the Academy from 1924 and became a professor in 1936. Among his students were  [[Jørn Utzon]], designer of the [[Sydney Opera House]], and Marian Pepler who designed rugs for Gordon Russell in the 1930s .

==Writings==
One of Rasmussen's most influential books was ''Experiencing Architecture'', first published in Danish in 1957 and in English in 1959. Underlining the importance of a first-person, embodied experience of architecture - including its shape, color, scale, proportion, rhythm, textural effects, daylight and sound - the book may be regarded as a classic in [[Phenomenology (architecture)|architectural phenomenology]].

Another important book was ''London''. It was first published in [[Danish language|Danish]] in 1934, in [[English language|English]] (as ''London, the Unique City'') in 1937. When this edition was re-issued in 1948, Rasmussen had added two Postscripts: "For English readers only", and "For American readers only". A shorter version was published as a paperback in 1960.

Other influential books by Rasmussen include ''Towns and Buildings'' (1951) and ''København'' (1969).

Among his many friends was [[Edmund N. Bacon]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

==Personal life==
On 15 June 1934 he married Karen Margrethe Schrøder (12 November 1904 - 31 March 1985), daughter of economist and later Danish National Bank manager [[Frederik Carl Gram Schrøder]] og Astrid Koefoed. He is the father of the linguist [[Una Canger]]. He was a close friend of the author Karen Blixen.

==Awards and distinctions==
* 1947 [[Royal Designers for Industry|Honorary Royal Designer for Industry]], London
* 1973 [[Heinrich Tessenow Medal]]
* 1977 [[C. F. Hansen Medal]]

==Written works==
* ''London, the Unique City'' (1937)
* ''Towns and Buildings'' (1951)
* ''Experiencing Architecture'' (1959).

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasmussen, Steen Eiler}}
[[Category:Danish architects]]
[[Category:20th-century American architects]]
[[Category:Danish urban planners]]
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:Danish male writers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts]]
[[Category:Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Architects]]
[[Category:Recipients of the C.F. Hansen Medal]]