The everyday building culture of Hans Christian Hansen: A study of an ecology of urban tectonic

How does material interest and tectonic aspiration inform the urban scale and how does the urban context call for – or generate specific tectonic qualities in ordinary buildings?
Is it possible to speak about an ‘ecology of urban tectonics’ where the scale of the urban context relates to the tectonic scale of construction details?
These questions will be studied and discussed in few selected public buildings form the 1960’ies by the Danish Architect Hans Christian Hansen (1901–1978). Hans Christian Hansen is most likely unknown to the wider international community of architects and also he has been unfairly neglected when referring to the great modern heroes in Danish architectural history. Just recently few examples of his work have been presented in a theme edition of the Danish architectural magazine, ‘Arkitekten’ where a graduate candidate (Even Brænne Olsted) presented a thorough study of his legacy. The article shows a number of recent images of some of his school buildings and technical facilities – buildings that are characterized by their contemporary presence.
Hans Christian Hansen is a rare figure in Danish architecture and professionally he formed part of the City Architect of Copenhagen’s office since 1928. Some of the largest and most interesting buildings he designed in the period from the late 50’ies to the early 70’ies a time period when the building industry was changing radically towards industrially based construction procedures and products and numerous new materials were introduced.
Hans Christian Hansen buildings are humble and unfashionable yet they refer to a strong building culture that is deeply rooted in a regional understanding of materials, traditions of construction and specific properties of (urban) context. Through this approach he was capable to reinvent traditions in construction and material use, and translate the challenges of contemporary construction industry he was facing into modest, long lasting building designs. On the basis of the everyday they hold qualities for the next generations. One could argue that his buildings define an ecological tectonic approach that addresses the urban scale in a direct unimpressed and highly original manner.