Dorte Kristensen MA (Århus 1963) is architect-director of atelier PRO, where she has been at the helm since 2003. She was educated at the Arkitektskolen in Århus; two years of her studies took her to the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft, after which she worked as an architect in London. In 1989, she graduated in Århus and afterwards started her career at atelier PRO. Inspired by Scandinavian masters like Gunnar Asplund, Alvar Aalto and Jørn Utzon, she manages to elegantly combine Dutch pragmatism with a Danish sense of poetry.
The poetry of buildings, but also the poetry of interiors and urban spaces, and the poetry of the transitional spaces between them – spaces where these different scales intersect and overlap. In Dorte's opinion, transitional spaces have the largest impact on social dynamics. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that she mainly works on educational buildings, universities, colleges, town halls, cultural centres and healthcare buildings - the kind of designs where transitions – between the city, the building and its interior- play a vital role.
Dorte believes that architecture can make a connection, on multiple levels: the connection between the past - the spatial, cultural and historical context of a building - with the present and the - sustainable and circular - future. The connection between the scale of city and its public spaces, buildings and their interiors. The connection between the users of a building - the people - with the building itself.
On account of her experience, Dorte frequently acts as a keynote speaker on the architecture of cure and care, education, culture and interior design, both at home and abroad.