:: Panoramic Views

•  ROOM 606 HAS SOME OF THE FURNITURE FROM THE OLD SAS CHECK-IN AREAS, BUT OTHERWISE IS AS JACOBSEN INTENDED, WITH ALL THE FABRICS, LIGHTING, AND FURNITURE TO HIS ORIGINAL DESIGNS •  THE MODERN RADISSON LOOK IS CLEANER, BUT LACKS THE JACOBSEN DESIGN INNOVATION IN AREAS SUCH AS THE LIGHTING AND TELEVISIONS •  DESIGN FOR THE JET AGE: LESSONS HAVE BEEN DRAWN FROM SCANDINAVIAN DESIGN INNOVATION FOR YEARS - BUT ARE OFTEN NOT EVIDENT, AS HEATHROW SHOWS. WOULD ARNE JACOBSEN HAVE DONE BETTER?

There are not many hotels where the furniture and lighting features in the national design museum. The Kunstindustriemuseet (Museum of Decorative Arts) in Copenhagen acknowledges the startling effect the building and its contents had on all aspects of Danish design in the late 1950’s (part of the installation in this excellent little museum can be seen right). Many hotel designers dream of designing everything in an hotel, few are successful in carrying it off. Arne Jacobsen, already at the time teaching in the Danish School of Design, carried the project through controversy to meet the brief of Scandinavian Airlines System (known everywhere now as SAS Airlines, and birthplace of hotel operators Radisson SAS) to provide it with an hotel in Copenhagen symbolic of the emergence of the jet age.

The hotel was the first true high-rise building amongst the otherwise homogenous predominantly pre-war architecture of the Danish capital, reaching 22 stories high. It was for a while the tallest building in Scandinavia – remarkable considering the first steel frame skyscraper buildings in Chicago date from the 19th Century. It was amongst the first attempts to create a transport interchange, providing check-in services for passengers using SAS flights from the capital's airport, and became known as a 'landmark for the jet age'. Apparently the local newspaper ‘Politiken’ commented: “Each day thousands of people stop up in Vesterbrogade, look up and think: ‘I hope that it won’t fall down in a storm’”

The sense of this cultural and stylistic inheritance is strong in the hotel, and a recent refurbishment attempts to pay homage to the original design, whilst working within the Radisson SAS house style (best shown by the Radisson SAS Krakow which can be seen in the Review archive). The sense of local and corporate pride in the achievements of Arne Jacobsen is apparent by the preservation of Room 606 with the original colour scheme, including fabrics, furniture and lighting, all designed by Jacobsen. The room is also part of the lettings so if you want to stay and experience a room style and functionality of the 1950’s, the room can be requested when booking. In truth some of the design features Jacobsen built in work better than some of the features in the refurbished rooms, particularly his tracked lighting system and concealed dressing table units (see photo's on the last page of this Review)

Bathrooms substitute marble for Jacobsen mosaics, and use larger tiles on the walls, both for housekeeping reasons, but stay true to orginal colour scheme. Vola taps were designed for this installation by Jacobsen, as were doorhandles and other detail fittings (rollover for another view)

Table lay-ups use the original cutlery and cruet set, whilst the tea and coffee pot designs are for sale in a Copenhagen store (shown in the roll-over)

The refurbishment re-uses the Jacobsen furniture – during research for this Review I found a Jacobsen ‘Swan’ sofa being auctioned on E-bay, with a price in excess of $3,500, so the furniture represents possibly a uniquely appreciating asset for the hotel. Also in use are many other Jacobsen artefacts, which can still be found for sale in Danish design stores, including the coffee pots, jugs, teapots, cruets, AJ cutlery and other items he designed as part of the original design brief. These can be seen to best advantage in the twentieth floor speciality Restaurant, 'Alberto K'.

With ribbon windows running all the way around the space, the view dominates the room, unfortunately spoiled for most of my stay by the scudding low clouds off the Skaggerak. The redesign has picked up on Jacobsen’s original blue green and turquoise colour scheme and incorporates Jacobsen’s apparently favourite timber, Wengé wood – now a very fashionable wood and proving that ‘what goes around comes around’ in interiors as much as in fashion circles.

The lack of a view was compensated for by excellent food charmingly presented. Apparently when sunny it is possible to look across to Sweden, and the view must be truly spectacular. However so gloomy is the Scandinavian winter weather that the arrival of spring sunshine is still celebrated with a floating royal tour around the country – and throughout the country candles are extensively used to hold the gloom at bay. My view was constrained to the red-tiled roofs and soaring church spires that previously dominated the skyline of this charming small city.