Every design for Herlev

Herlev Kirke, the late-medieval church of Skt. Laurentii, explains the gridiron on the town's coat of arms: its patron, Saint Lawrence, was martyred on one. The village around the church is first recorded in the thirteenth century, and for most of its life Herlev was farmland north-west of Copenhagen, between Rødovre, Ballerup and Gladsaxe.

What sets Herlev apart is how firmly it once refused to become a suburb. When new building spread through neighbouring Gladsaxe, its voters declared Herlev an agricultural town that meant to stay that way, chose to break away and won a municipality of their own. The station on the Frederikssund line brought commuters regardless, and the village became a town. Later came Herlev Hospital, for decades the tallest building in Denmark, and the Gammelgaard art and culture centre.

Look closer and the older layers are still there, in the ancient sites of Sneglehøj and Gladsaxe Dyssekammer and in the green of Elverparken. Ask anyone from Herlev, and they will tell you that the hospital on the skyline means one thing: nearly home.