For a small country that generally keeps a low profile on the stage of world events, Denmark has played a disproportionately prominent role in the history of 20th Century architecture and design. Today in the early 21st Century, known for its anything-goes attitude towards design, Denmark also has its share of provocative architects surfing waves of fashionable trends, yet a few firms maintain a more grounded and centered approach to their work. Prominent among this group is KPF Architects (Kjelgaard, Pedersen & Fællestegnestuen), whose philosophy and work is a prime example of design rooted in a specific regional narrative while globally pursuing new ideas, new concepts and new materials that elevate their projects to the highest levels of architectural discourse, without sacrificing either usefulness or pleasure for the client. Even their most ordinary functional projects like banks, office buildings, and medical facilities embody a sensitivity that is uplifting. Kenneth Frampton states: "One cannot help but be reminded of the tradition of Arne Jacobsen when looking at KPF Arkitekters work and thus of the commonsense functional, but ludic, character of the still vital Danish modern movement as it has consistently evolved over the past sixty years."