In 1921, he took an
examen artium in Hamar. He thereupon travelled to
Switzerland where he studied architecture at
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich from 1922 to 1926. He also studied economics in
London in 1925.
Lars Backer thereafter employed him as assistant in Oslo. In 1929–30, Platou was employed by
Erich Mendelsohn. In 1930, Platou started his own
architectural firm, which he named after himself. The Norwegian architects
Otto Torgersen and
Bernt Heiberg worked in his firm, which designed various
functionalist buildings in Oslo. After the
Second World War, the office was expanded with more architects, who designed many
banking centers and enterprise buildings in Oslo. They also designed the
Kon-Tiki Museum at
Bygdøy and the headquarters of the
Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities at
Vika in the Oslo
city centre. After a fire in 1957, Platou designed a new building for the
Grand Hotel in Oslo the following year. In 1971, his architectural firm was converted into a
limited company. For many years, the firm performed major assignments abroad. Platou was co-founder of the engineering, architecture and design firm
Norconsult, and headed the company from 1963 to 1968. He also had honoraries in some other architectural organisations in Norway. He died on 12 August 1980. ==References==