Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Copenhagen

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The Radisson SAS Royal Hotel

The Radisson SAS Royal Hotel is the largest hotel in Denmark. When it was completed in 1960 it was the first skyscraper in Copenhagen. It is located in the heart of the city, close to Tivoli.

The entire hotel from the exterior facade through to the stainless-steel cutlery used in the restaurant and the Swan and Egg chairs gracing the lobby have been designed by famous Danish architect, Arne Jacobsen.

Arne Jacobsen has said the following about the hotel:

"Well, yes, they call it the punch card, and it’s funny, for that is actually what it looks like when the windows are open on a hot summer’s day. It has been called a lot of different things. Svend Erik Møller called it the 'glass cigarbox'. And many people thought it was a terribly ugly building, and many may still think so. At least, it came in first when they held a competition for the ugliest building in Copenhagen."

The structure is twenty stories high and a defining characteristic of Copenhagen's skyline. The structure was inspired by New York Park Avenue structures, namely Skidmore, Owings and Merrill's Lever House. The building's sense of lightness eminates from its Lever House-inspired form with a two-story base supporting its lofty "punch card" tower. The effect is also enhanced with the architect's placing of "thin aluminum mullions and the pale glass pandrels, and avoids appearing as a dominant foreign object in conflict with its surrounds."^[1]