Exhibitions: Jacobsen at Royal
In 1956 Arne Jacobsen was given the task of creating a high-rise building for the airline company SAS. Placed in the centre of Copenhagen, it was to contain an airport terminal as well as a hotel. The building was divided into two sections, - a low horizontal base, containing the lobby, airport terminal, restaurant and bar and a high-rise containing the hotel rooms.
With the Royal Hotel, Arne Jacobsen created a ‘total environment’. Besides the building, he designed the furniture, lamps, textiles, wall panels, tableware, door handles, - everything, right down to the little ball at the end of the pull of the roller blinds!
The furniture was an absolute ‘tour de force’. Modern furniture icons such as “the Egg”, “the Swan”, “the Drop”, was first presented here, and their full, sculptural shapes constituted an interesting contrast to the angular, stringent building. A number of pieces was subsequently put into general production, but a large portion were only produced for the hotel, for which reason they remain very rare.
Today, the entire hotel has been refurnished, with the exception of room no. 606. This room still contains the original Jacobsen pieces.
