Ragna Grubb (20 March 1903,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

– 9 June 1961,

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

) was a Danish architect. She is remembered as one of the first Danish women to open her own architecture studio and for her interest in social housing in the 1930s.

Early life

Grubb completed her schooling at Nørre Gymnasium in 1921. As a child she was interested in architecture. After studying old buildings during a long trip to Italy and Switzerland, she realized she wanted to become an architect. In 1922, she attended technical school and the following year was admitted to study architecture at the

Danish Academy Danish Academy is an independent organisation founded in 1960 by a circle of Danish intellectuals "to promote Danish esprit and language, especially within the field of literature". It has up to 20 members, currently 18, and is based at Rungstedlu ...

, graduating in 1933. During her studies, she took on part-time work with

Kaj Gottlob Niels August Theodor Kaj Gottlob, usually known as Kaj Gottlob, (9 November 1887 – 12 May 1976) was a Danish architect who contributed much to Neoclassicism and Functionalism both as professor of the School of Architects at the Royal Danish Aca ...

Povl Baumann Povl Erik Raimund Baumann (9 November 1878 – 3 July 1963) was a Danish architect who was a central figure during the transition from Neoclassicism to Functionalism in Danish residential architecture. In 1910, he was one of the founders of ''De ...

and

Knud Sørensen Knud Sørensen (10 March 1928 – 26 September 2022) was a Danish writer, poet and novelist. Born in Hjørring, in 1958 Sørensen settled as a surveyor on Mors. He made his debut as a poet with ''Eksplosion'' in 1961.Functionalist style. In 1937, together with Karen Hvistendahl and Ingeborg Schmidt, Grubb won the first prize in the ''Foreningen Socialt Boligbyyeri'' (Social Housing Association) competition for designing housing for low-income families. Social housing became Grubb's main interest. She was an active proponent for apartments with two or three small bedrooms and more open planning than traditional two-room apartments which served working-class families with several children. She also developed the apartments' interior decoration and furnishing with light wooden furniture. In 1939–1940, she completed one of the large social apartment buildings of

Bispebjerg Bispebjerg, more commonly referred to as Nordvest (English: North-West), is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. Located on the northern border of the municipality, it covers an area of 5.39 km² and a population of 40,033 ...

.Jette Lokvig, "Ragna Grubb (1903-1961)"
''Danske Kvindebiografiske Leksikon''. Retrieved 5 February 2012. In 1937, Grubb married the architect Christian Laursen who occasionally assisted her although he was usually engaged in other work. As family commitments increasingly weighed on her time, her later work was devoted to a few private homes and

summer house A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden ...

s and to restoration.Erik Ejlers, "Ragna Grubb"
''Kunstleksikon Danmark & Weilbachs kunstnerleksikon''. Retrieved 4 February 2012.

References

External links

Old photographs of ''Kvindernes Bygning'' from Kulturarv.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grubb, Ragna 1903 births 1961 deaths Architects from Copenhagen Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni 20th-century Danish architects 20th-century Danish women artists 20th-century Danish artists Danish women architects Burials at Mariebjerg Cemetery