DAMPA_75_years_of_quiet_design_ENG - Flipbook - Page 109
Concurrently, Fischer and Jørgensen investigated whether
steel could be used to make panels instead of aluminium.
This resulted in the testing of a design code-named ‘Dæmpa 20/30’, reflecting the panels’ dimensions in centimetres
– but making the necessary fine perforations proved more
challenging and time-consuming than had been anticipated. A second, more successful attempt at using steel followed, resulting in Dæmpa 10 (D-10) modular tiles and
panels, which won a Danish Design Award in 1968. After
further development of the Dæmpa 20/30 concept, it was
eventually launched in 1972 with the slightly modified title of
‘Dæmpa 200/300’ – which, of course, referred to the same
dimensions in millimetres.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Dæmpa’s management
observed that many new sports and physical recreation
facilities were beginning to be constructed all over Denmark
and internationally and that the typical ceiling finishes used
in these venues were prone to damage through being hit
hard by footballs and tennis balls. A special ceiling system
consisting of robust strips with deeper profiles for extra resilience was therefore developed. Named ‘Dæmpa Sport’, its
potential was first demonstrated on a large scale in the strikingly-shaped and coloured Rundforbi Stadium and Swimming Pool at Nærum which Ole Helweg and Claus Bremer
designed and which was completed in 1970.
The successes of these products made for a positive atmosphere and employees of the era, such as Harry Schrøder
and Kurt Pedersen, would subsequently look back upon the
1960s with obvious fondness and nostalgia. Det Fyenske
Trælastkompagni was a paternalistic employer and,
although the daily work was hard-going, there was an annual party for all employees in the Grand Hotel in Odense and
also an annual visit to the theatre there.
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