The life and death of architectural references: Reflections from a failed competition

Exploring how architectural references allow shared spatial concepts, such as “luxury space” or “non-place,” to emerge and enter the architectural design process, this article analyzes ethnographic material produced with the Danish architecture firm Henning Larsen between 2017 and 2018. Focusing on Henning Larsen’s participation in the 2017 competition for a new central train station in Lund, Sweden, Wittgenstein’s notion of the “language game” is introduced to interpret how the material invoked as a reference becomes meaningful within the design process. Three analytical concepts— referencing , common , and rupture —are developed and applied to unpack the relationship between architectural references and the production of shared spatial concepts during the design process.