page_title: Schmidt Hammer Lassen
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Schmidt Hammer Lassen / History
caption_attribution_description: The square Under Krystallen in Vesterbro in Copenhagen.
context_page_description: Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects is an international architectural firm founded by a group of Danish architects in 1986 in Aarhus, Denmark. It currently has three offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark, and Shanghai, China.
  The studio has a distinguished track record as designers of international high-profile architecture, that is deeply rooted to the Nordic architectural traditions of democracy, welfare, aesthetics, light, sustainability and social responsibility. In 2018, Schmidt Hammer Lassen became part of global architecture and design firm Perkins and Will.
  The practice has a track record as designers of high-profile cultural buildings; theatres; art galleries, educational complexes and libraries. Notable projects include the national library of Denmark The Royal Library in Copenhagen, the ARoS Kunstmuseum in Aarhus, DOKK1, the largest public library in Scandinavia and named by IFLA International Federation of Library Associations as Public Library of the Year in 2016, and Shanghai Library East, which will become China’s largest new library when it opens in 2021.
context_section_description: Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects was established in 1986 by Morten Schmidt, Bjarne Hammer and John F. Lassen.
  The current group of Principals includes Morten Schmidt, Bjarne Hammer, Kim Holst Jensen, Kristian Lars Ahlmark, Chris Hardie, Rong Lu, Elif Tinaztepe, Kasper Heiberg Frandsen, Mads Kaltoft, Rasmus Kierkegaard, Sanne Wall-Gremstrup, and Tiago Pereira.
  The practice had its major breakthrough with the Katuaq Culture Centre in Nuuk, Greenland, completed in 1997. The project in Nuuk was followed by first prize in the international competition for the extension of the Danish Royal Library on the harborfront in Copenhagen. Completed in 1999, the library extension, also known as the Black Diamond, has become one of the practice’s best known buildings.
  Another major project is the ARoS Art Museum in Aarhus, Denmark, which was completed in 2004. In May 2011 the art work Your rainbow panorama, by Olafur Eliasson, was officially unveiled on the roof top of the museum.
  In 2010 Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects won the competition to design the first permanent premises for the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands. The ICC is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. It was founded in 2002 and has grown to the present-day size of 122 member countries. The building is designed to convey hope, trust and faith in justice.
  In 2011 Schmidt Hammer Lassen established an office in Shanghai, to serve their increasing client base in Asia. Current projects include China’s largest new Library Shanghai Library East due for completion in 2021, the world’s largest waste to energy power plant Shenzhen East due for completion in 2020, and Ningbo New Library in Ningbo, China, completed in 2019.
caption: The Crystal in the Vesterbro district in Copenhagen
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