Aage Rafn

(b 1890; d 1953). Danish architect. He studied at the Arkitektskole of the Kunstakademi (1909-19) in Copenhagen under Hack Kampmann and won the Grand Gold Medal in 1921. With Kay Fisker he won the competition (1915) for the Gudhjem Line stations on the island of Bornholm (completed to a revised plan in 1916). Their simplified and functional form harmonized with the landscape and local building styles and was in strong contrast to the nostalgic historicism of the previous generation. An awareness of the work of M. H. Baillie Scott and C. F. A. Voysey coupled with their own observations of earlier anonymous architecture had convinced them that function, materials and construction must accord. They wished to create architecture that satisfied social needs. Studies of classicism were seen as a cathartic process towards achieving pure form and aesthetic function. After they had made a study of the classically designed country seat, Liselund (1916-17), their work was published (1918) with Rafn designing the book, whose format and layout initiated a stylistic tendency.

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