In the history of building, Olaf Nordhagen is one of the names that keeps returning.
The record lists Olaf Nordhagen as Norwegian architect (1883–1925).
Olaf Nordhagen was born at Christiania in 1883. His recorded nationality is Norway. He trained at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
Modernism rejected ornament and historical style, arguing that a building should express its structure and its function - a claim contested ever since.
He is recorded as architect, engineer and artist.
His best-known building is Kråkerøy Church. An architect is judged by how a building is used a century after the drawings.
That the work was built in Norway shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Olaf Nordhagen died in 1925, aged 42. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Kråkerøy Church
- Trained at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
