Provocations Against Perfectionism: The Architecture of Friis and Moltke (1950-1980)

Between 1950 and 1980 Danish architects Knud Friis and Elmar Moltke realized hundreds of projects. Most of their work can be found in Jutland, and within this region the majority is built in and near Aarhus. Roughly ten percent of the firm’s built work is presented here, in a cross section of their schools, town halls, sports complexes, housing, private houses and summerhouses, hotels, offices, factories, churches, and conference centres. The book traces the development of Friis and Moltke’s unique and friendly brutalism, which is always comfortable, casual, and, in the words of Knud Friis, a ‘provocation against perfectionism’.