Danish architects. Nils Koppel (b Copenhagen, 11 June 1914) and Eva Koppel [n?e Ditlevsen] (b Copenhagen, 1 Jan 1916) were married in 1936. They were both educated (1935-41) at the architecture department of the Royal Academy, Copenhagen, and they both worked for Alvar Aalto in Helsinki shortly before World War II before setting up in practice together. During the decade after the war they designed a number of carefully planned single-family houses that continued the Danish Functionalist tradition. Their prize-winning buildings for the Buddinge school and theatre complex (1952), Gladsaxe, and the Langelinie Pavilion (1953), all in Copenhagen, extended their architectural range and after 1957, when Nils Koppel was appointed Royal Inspector of Public Buildings (1957-84), a position held by five or six prominent private practitioners, the partnership began to design very large and complex building projects. These include the H. C. ?rsted Institute (1958-64) and the Panum Institute (1971-80) for the University of Copenhagen, and the Danish Technical University (1960-73), Lyngby. To the large projects that were characteristic of their work in the 1960s and 1970s, the Koppels imparted qualities reminiscent of the architecture of Mies van der Rohe as well as Aalto and, later, of Japanese architecture, as can be seen at the administrative centre at the Technical University and the Panum Institute. Nils Koppel's official position also led to important restoration and rebuilding projects in Copenhagen, including work in 1970 on the National Art Gallery (1889-96; by Vilhelm Dahlerup and Georg M?ller) and in 1985 on the Royal Theatre (1872-4; by Dahlerup and Ove Petersen), both of which are important examples of 19th-century Danish historicism.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
