Architecture icon

It wasn’t its 260 rooms and suites, lobby, meetings and events space, and fitness centre that differentiated the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel from all the others in Copenhagen — it was its reflective façade, its homely atmosphere, and its innovative interior design. Now, over 55 years after it was first built, Space Copenhagen has been tasked with re-establishing the hotel as a design destination for the modern age. Using the hotel’s archives, the design company has changed the layout of the lobby to honour Jacobsen’s original intention of it being a lively public area — leaving the suspended staircase still as the focal point — reupholstered some of Jacobsen’s most famous furniture pieces — including the Egg Chair, the Swan Chair, and the Drop Chair — and created new pieces and implemented modern materials to complement the original design. Currently, the ground floor, lobby, restaurant and bar, the first-floor meeting room, and some of the guest rooms have been renovated, with the rest to be completed this spring — quite possibly the best time of year to visit the City of Spires.

Photos: Joachim Wichmann