Søren Carl Theodor Marius Sørensen (24 July 1893 in
Altona, Hamburg, Germany – 12 September 1979 in
Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Danish
landscape architect who is considered to be one of the greatest landscape architects of the 20th century.[1] A contemporary of
Thomas Church,
Geoffrey Jellicoe and
Luis Barragán he was a leading figure in the first generation of Modernists in landscape design.[2] He is best known for designing the first
Adventure playground (in partnership with Hans Dragehjelm) in
Emdrup, Copenhagen.[3][4][5]
Career
Sørensen was a prolific author producing eight books, editing two volumes and writing hundreds of articles. Only one short book has been translated into English and another into German and Dutch. His books covers open space in urban life, horticulture, the history of garden art, principles of garden design, education and autobiography.[6]
Sørensen worked with Copenhagen schoolteacher Hans Dragehjelm (1875-1948) on the first ever
adventure playground in
Emdrup, a district of the Danish capital Copenhagen in 1940.[7] Photos from the time show children playing with bricks, digging in the mud and building dens with wood and nails. In his book Parkipolitik i Sogn og Købstad (Park Politics in the parish and market town), Sørensen stated his belief that "children's playgrounds are the city's most important form of public plantation". He believed children needed sun and open space to play in and hated the trend for dark, shady courtyards as play spaces. He called them skrammellegepladser ("junk playgrounds").[8]
His designs reflected the
Modernist movement and include strong geometric shapes and graceful landforms.
^Gutman, Marta; de Coninck-Smith, Ning (2008). Designing Modern Childhoods: History, Space, and the Material Culture of Children (Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies). Rutgers University.
ISBN978-0813541952.