Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Copenhagen
The SAS Royal Hotel (since 2009 Radisson Blu Royal Hotel) is a five -star hotel with 270 rooms in the Danish capital Copenhagen, which is part of the hotel chain Radisson Blu. The Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen designed it on behalf of the Scandinavian airline Scandinavian Airlines System ( groups) of 1956 until 1960., The building was in the international style, with a curtain wall façade of glass and steel Designed. Jacobsen influenced the project down to the smallest detail of the interior. Because of the extensive changes since the completion, it is referred to as his lost work of art. Some of the furniture designs like the Swan Chair and egg, are regarded as design classics.
- 3.1 Horizontalbau
- 3.2 Tower
- 4.1 Green
- 4.2 means
- 5.1 renovation
- 5.2 Preservation of the design
Location
The hotel is the Central Station and Tivoli Gardens opposite to the main traffic route Vesterbrogade in Vesterbro district. On other pages of the site is bounded by the streets Hammerichsgade and Vester port, and in the western region by a neighboring development. On a traffic island between the hotel and the main railway station is the built in 1797 freedom column which commemorates the abolition of serfdom in Denmark.
History
The SAS began in 1954 to plan a scheduled flight between Europe and the west coast of the United States over the polar route, which was referred to in advertising as the " SAS Polar Short Cut ". The first commercial flight from Copenhagen to Los Angeles took place with a piston engine Douglas DC-6 on November 16, 1954. Orders for the first jet-powered Douglas DC-8, which should be used on the route, realized the SAS in 1955 and was expecting delivery from 1958. Consequently, the marketing department expected an increase in tourist traffic in Copenhagen, mainly from the United States, for which a new hotel to be built.
The building should not only serve as a hotel, but also as a terminal for the processing of passengers of SAS. Furthermore offices should be provided for the management, so as to concentrate the dispersed offices located within the airline Copenhagen in one place. With the Copenhagen Kastrup Airport, a shuttle bus connection should be established. Planning for the building began in 1955. Per Kampmann, the then Director of the airline, Arne Jacobsen commissioned to plan 1956, the hotel and its interior. In design, the SAS wanted a hotel that represented the jet age and represented a monument of Danish design.
Planning and reception
During the procurement, the basic dimensions of the building were already set by the contracting authority and the Copenhagen city planning. Jacobsen designed in these specifications, a 20 - story high-rise, which, like almost all modern high-rise buildings of the era, was inspired by the 1952 built Lever House by Gordon Bunshaft. The Curtain Wall, the separation of curtain walls and load-bearing skeleton, the slender tower over the wide overlapping base and the building's cores with lifts, technique and side rooms were a type of building, which was almost the paradigm of modern architecture in the late 1950s. In Denmark, the SAS Royal Hotel was the first idea of style in a prominent location, such as in the center of the capital.
Following the publication of sketches of the building in local newspapers in 1956, there were protests from the public and criticism from the professional world. It was feared the destruction of the historic urban landscape and the collection of American architecture in Denmark. The comparison of the building with a punched card Jacobsen agreed, because " so real it looks with the windows open on hot summer days. " Erik Møller, who previously worked with Jacobsen at several town halls, described the building as "glass cigar ". The formative for the International style American Philip Johnson described it as the worst imitation of the Lever House. In a speech at the Architectural Association in London, he said in 1960, the building had " ... no scale and looks more like a piece of blotting paper with a bill on it. " Admiration for Mies van der Rohe was implemented recognizable but boring. Jacobsen commented: " at least it won the contest of the ugliest building in Copenhagen. "
The Hotel was the largest hotel in Denmark, with 69.60 m height the first skyscraper in Copenhagen until 1969 and the tallest building in Denmark when it is completed. In 2009 it was the seventh-highest skyscraper in Denmark.
Gesamtkunstwerk
The SAS Royal Hotel is considered as the last work of art and is described by Jacobsen because of the profound changes that it has undergone in the following years, as the lost work of art by Jacobsen. The attempt to create a work of art, so the design of each aspect of a project, coined Jacobsen's operation during this creative period. On previous works, he did not restrict himself to the planning and construction of the building alone. He tried to change the interior of the building by his own creations such as chairs and fabric samples. Already in his first major project after graduation, the 1929 planned home of the future, he created furniture that were only there for use. The SAS Royal Hotel was his most comprehensive work, here he was able to dispense altogether with other designers and architects. After the SAS Royal Hotel Jacobsen had no further contract with such broad freedom.
Structure
The building consists of two structurally distinct parts of buildings that are only functionally connected. The lower part is a two-storey low-rise building with two basements. About this stands on six of his own foundation beams of the 18 -storey hotel tower.
Horizontalbau
The part of the building was planned in two parts, with a hotel component and a terminal part (see red line in the overview ). In the southern part under the hotel tower foyer, a restaurant, bars, cafe and shops are housed. The northern part was intended for the terminal building of the SAS terminal and check- in counters, baggage handling facilities, offices and meeting rooms. The counter area extended over both floors. Access to the offices on the first floor was a gallery. Since the task of the terminal 20 years after the opening of the hotel's area for further conference rooms, shops, a travel agency and a gym is being used. For this purpose, a ceiling was added to the hall. The roof of the low building was designed as a terrace, but was not used as such. In the two basements for storage rooms and garage are housed.
In continuous glazed ground floor there is direct access from the individual stores from the street. The first floor extends beyond the ground floor and is covered with gray-green enameled steel panels. A narrow, continuous band of windows underlines the horizontal alignment of the low-rise building.
Tower
On the third floor of the tower begins. In the basement the management of the hotel is housed. The projectile has a smaller footprint than the remaining floors of the tower. Therefore, the floor can not be seen from the road so that the tower above the flat looks floating. This detail also includes the Lever House.
In the normal floors 4 to 18 floor single and double rooms are housed. Some of the rooms have connecting doors. The service areas of the floors are between the elevator shafts and the northern facade, over which a vertical band draws from ventilation grille. The 19th floor contains suites. In the 20th floor is the restaurant Alberto K. The guest room is located around on the windows and offers a panoramic view over the city. Kitchen and service areas are located in the center of the floor.
The built in reinforced concrete skeleton construction tower has a curtain wall aluminum profiles and transparent as well as green gray anodized glass. The windows can be opened on all floors inside. The horizontal distance between the aluminum profiles is 60 cm. Vertical alternately 168 cm green glass followed by 120 cm window mounted. The curtain wall construction Jacobsen had first used at the three-storey town hall of Rødovre 1955 in Denmark. The local façade differs only by the bright green color of the intermediate elements and slightly different proportions.
Above the 20th floor, the facade is continued with a blind basement with no windows. Here is on both long sides of the building a neon sign with the former logo of the SAS mounted. It remained after the retreat of the airline from the Rezidor Hotel Group, the parent company of Radisson SAS hotel chain, get the old style. Only on flat logos were replaced with those of the Radisson SAS.
Shaping
In the foyer, the floor is covered with light gray marble slabs. The ceiling was painted dark green, but was suspended later with gray plates. In the hall of the four parallel -propelled lifts the walls are covered with black marble. The lobby is connected to the restaurant on the first floor via a spiral staircase. These steps has folded steel plates and suspended in 14 steel cords. Smoke -colored Plexiglas fills the interstices of the railing. The green of the foyer ceiling continues into the green carpet. Similar spiral staircases were used by Jacobsen in several of his projects. Also in the city hall of Aarhus and the library of Rødovre used Jacobsen similar spiral staircases in a prominent place in the building.
The two areas of low-rise building were originally separated by a two-storey conservatory (see number 3 in the list ), were planted orchids between its inner and outer windows and suspended in flower pots. Complete Up the Winter Garden was by a glass roof. Translucent curtains hung in front of the outer side walls. 1963, the Winter Garden was transformed into an exhibition space, closed in 1980 and dismantled.
Jacobsen had planned different facade designs that also contained other color schemes in addition to other divisions. One of his ideas was to install a flower box in front of each window. At his favorite design, the side faces of the tower was intended to disguise with granite counter tops, as he also made the town hall of Rødovre. This was rejected by the future hotel manager, as this looked better marketing opportunities with a glass facade. The room focused on the number of windows, starting with the cheapest room with five windows.
Greens dominate the entire construction project. Jacobsen, who also worked as a landscape architect, persecuted 1955-1960 the motif of the "modern garden ". His interpretation he sat through green textiles and furniture with organic shapes combined with rigid geometric shapes around. With the integration of the winter garden in a prominent place in Vertikalbau the SAS Royal Hotel he tried to integrate nature into the modern city life. Already at City Hall Rødovre he used a similar color and form language.
Facility
Jacobsen created various pieces of furniture, lamps and textile patterns. Some models were later incorporated into production and developed to design classics, which are exhibited in museums around the world. Others, however, remained unique pieces.
As seating furniture for the lobby and the rooms, the architect designed the sofa 3300 Series, the chair drops, as well as the chair and sofa versions of the swan and egg. The Fritz Hansen S / A, which produced all the furniture for the hotel, took over the 3300 series, the Egg and the Swan velvet sofa in the series production. The sofa of the egg, however, remained the SAS Royal Hotel reserved. In the foyer of the Egg and Swan were arranged on deep-pile carpets in groups of five. He used the restaurant Alberto K. his designs from 1955, the chairs of the series 7
On the walls of the hotel room all round, multi-functional panel walls made of pine, rosewood and wenge were mounted. These were half high, and could be equipped with tables, mirrors, shelves and further. The design allowed for easy replacement of elements. Such a construction had learned from his teacher Kaare Klint, who was a supporter of functionalism Jacobsen.
The curtains of the restaurant on the first floor were made of a fabric with a gray-green, woven check pattern. Sunlight reflected the substance golden. Similarly, Jacobsen also designed the other textiles used. A cylindrical lampshade in white cloth, which he mounted on different base support, Jacobsen used as the basic form for the lighting. The screen was set up as a floor lamp, table lamp and wall lamp both in the rooms and in public areas of the hotel. A thin, straight aluminum pipe was the main bar of the floor lamp. All lamps were produced by the company Louis Poulsen.
Further development
Since the completion of the building and its furnishings were told several design and architectural changes. The management of the hotel had other demands on the building, did not get along with the concept of Jacobsen, and did not appreciate Jacobsen's work. In 1963, the AJ cutlery has been removed from the restaurants, because it was felt for daily business as too complicated. In the rooms, the wooden panel walls were provided for 1980 with white paint to reflect the spirit of the times. The previous textiles had to textiles from the standard program of the SAS hotel chain soft, as they were cheaper to obtain and replace. In the foyer, the carpets were removed and the straight, through the reception desk was replaced with several round bar.
After the closure of the terminal, the hotel taught ten conference rooms in a low rise to compensate for the missing nights of passengers through conferences. Also, the restaurant on the first floor has been converted into a conference hall and has up to 200 seats on chairs Series 7
Renovation
A profound renovation of the interior took place in the late 1990s. The previous facility was 30 years in operation and repair. In the hotel rooms man-high wall panels were mounted in light wood veneer with backlit, elliptical frosted glass enclosures. New beds, bedside tables and lamps replace the old models. A new color scheme replaced the greens. The new hotel management, the advertising effect of the name Jacobsen was aware, so they introduced some previously distant details again, as the cutlery in the restaurants. The renovation cost the equivalent of 10 million euros.
Preservation of design
Another part of the advertising strategy with Jacobsen's name is the room 606, which was maintained up to a few details in the design of Jacobsen. It is offered in the normal hotel operations for overnight stays. The walls of the room are in the original light green color. In them the revolving wood panels are mounted. There are green with fabric-covered copies of the Egg, Swan and drop in the room. The 3300 Series is part of the sofa and armchair versions. Notwithstanding the original equipment a flat screen television is available.
The Design Museum Danmark at the Bredgard a room of the permanent exhibition of the hotel and Jacobsen's work has been dedicated to them. On display are the floor lamp in the hotel, an egg and a swan chair. In the background, next to photos of the hotel hang the curtains from the restaurant.
On the 100th anniversary of Arne Jacobsen Zdenek Felix in the exhibition Arne Jacobsen commissioned by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Absolutely modern together, which was shown in 2003 from May to September in the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg. In addition to for the hotel designed furniture This also contained a faithful replica of the room 606
Film
- Architecture: Hotel Royal SAS. Documentation, France, 2008, 26 min, Director: Richard Copans, production: Arte France, German Original Air Date: October 11, 2009 Summary of arte with video excerpt, 3:04 min