Travel: a stay in the redesigned Radisson Blu Royal Hotel by Arne Jacobsen

When I was an architecture student I made a design pilgrimage to Copenhagen and I remember standing, looking up in awe, at the grand, gravity-defying staircase of Arne Jacobsen‘s Danish National Bank. Ten years or so later and I was back in the Danish capital to take in, and this time write about, another of his modernist masterpieces – the iconic SAS Royal Hotel, now known as the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel.

Following a refurb by Danish design duo Space Copenhagen, the high rise hotel, and its 259 light-filled rooms and suites, has been brought back to life and updated for today’s design-savvy traveller. I checked in this month to see how the world’s first design hotel – so-called because Jacobsen designed every single thing, from the architecture to the furniture, and right down to door handles, room keys and condiment sets – has fared since it first opened in 1960.

Back then in 1960, the SAS Royal Hotel was a hotel of firsts – the first skyscraper to be built in Copenhagen, and a glamorous, new concept designed for the Jet Age, combining a luxury hotel and airline terminal in one. Catering to tourists jetting over on transatlantic flights, the building offered a seamless journey from the hotel’s cocktail bar, check-in desks and conveyor belts in the heart of the city to the airport runway, a 20 minute bus ride away.

Towering over the famous Tivoli Gardens and the Central Station, the building comprises a box on top of a box; a 20 storey, grey glass tower sitting on top of a low, two storey podium. Inside, the clean, rigid lines were softened by Jacobsen’s organic, sculptural furniture designs and nature-inspired details. Picture a scene in the open-plan lobby, of richly veined marble floors and dark wood-panelled walls, complemented by sea green carpets and clusters of now-iconic Egg chairs, their high backs and smooth contours designed to give a sense of privacy to the vast, open space. There was even a glass-clad orchid garden where you could have afternoon tea.

The SAS Royal Hotel became the birthplace for so many Danish design icons we’re now familiar with today – Jacobsen not only designed six different types of seating, including the Egg, Swan and Drop chairs for Fritz Hansen, but also, a series of low tables, candleholders now produced by Georg Jensen, serve ware for Stelton, the door handles, cutlery, ashtrays, the patterns for rugs and curtains, and even the typeface for the signage. 

It’s hard to believe then that by the Eighties and Nineties – following Jacobsen’s death in 1971 – whole rooms suites were being ripped out, furniture was being sold and panelling painted over. Fashions had changed, mid-century modernism was out. Just one room – the famous Room 606 on the sixth floor – was left as it appeared in the Sixties, thanks to one shrewd, quick-thinking manager. You used to be able to stay there, but now it’s simply a museum piece – a remarkably preserved tribute to Jacobsen’s functionalist concept. There’s still the dark wood panelling and modular built-in furniture, the light turquoise walls and Sixties furniture, and the beds dressed simply without pillows (because that would have ruined the clean line aesthetic – upon check-in housekeeping would bring them up for you).

Taking inspiration from Jacobsen’s original ideas and the hotel’s basement archive, Space Copenhagen has re-introduced lost features and furniture, while modernising the interiors with their own designs. A new, more muted colour palette gives a warm, contemporary feel, with soft beiges, burgundy reds and rich rust tones.

Jacobsen’s curvaceous, suspended staircase remains the focal point of the lobby, the steps and handrail now finished in light mole brown leather. Functions have been reorganised to make more sense of the large space, positioning new brass reception desks and clusters of furniture to one side of the staircase, and a new restaurant and bar overlooking the street. Transparent wooden screens give a sense of intimacy to the various seating nooks, combining Jacobsen’s designs, newly upholstered in velvet, with Space Copenhagen’s Stay Sofa for Gubi and the new Loafer Chair for &tradition. The feel is understated luxury, with rich, plush textures appealing to the senses.  

The guest rooms are cleaner and more pared-back in design than the lobby space, leaving the modular windows and uninterrupted views of the city to tell the story. The city is still predominantly low-rise, so you get one of the best vistas around. I stayed on the 11th floor, in a corner room that projects a view onto the rollercoaster rides of Tivoli Gardens, and it was magnificent.

The walls are painted white, with a deep window sill made from light marble. Dark wooden feature walls behind the headboards pay homage to Jacobsen, adding a sense of cosiness and mid-century warmth. Brass details, from the windowsill gratings to the bathroom taps, mirror elements picked out from downstairs in the lobby.

New features in the rooms include Space Copenhagen’s new Amore Mirror series for &tradition, inspired by the building’s glass skin, and the way it changes and reflects the sky throughout the day. Jacobsen’s Swan and Drop chairs now sit next to Space’s own solid oak Accent tables for Mater and the Copenhagen pendant for &tradition with its simple, industrial feel.

The combination of old and new designs doesn’t feel jarring or out of place, they all fit together well; indeed I think if you didn’t know anything about design, you wouldn’t be able to tell what came first in the timeline. Celebrating their 60th anniversary this year, Jacobsen’s chairs for Fritz Hansen remain as relevant as ever – instantly recognisable, even if you don’t the name or the designer, their organic shape fits to the body’s form and cocoons the sitter.

 

The room ticked all the boxes for me – crisp white linen, decent task lighting, plugs right next to the bed, huge fluffy dressing gowns and a really good shower. A huge plus is the Nespresso machines in the rooms for that first coffee in bed, and the delicious breakfasts in the mornings with almost everything you could wish for.

 

The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel is a must for design aficionados, who want to experience a slice of polished, Scandinavian design. Where once in the Sixties, travel remained a luxury for the privileged few, now with a cheap return flight to Copenhagen, you can easily enjoy a city break and all the design it has to offer, right at your fingertips.

Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Hammerichsgade 1, 1611, Copenhagen. From £147 per night, for more information and reservations see: www.radissonblu.com

All images Cate St Hill. Disclosure: my stay was provided free of charge for the purposes of a review