just over 50 years ago, Arne Jacobsen, perhaps the most widely known modernist danish architect [he would never refer to himself as a designer], designed and built the first premium "designer" hotel in the world within the capital of his home country...
the SAS Royal Hotel is Jacobsen's towering ode to mid-century modernism, the revered repository of his design refinements down to the doorhandles, the timeless temple to his intrinsic belief in perfect proportions, and ultimately in the midst of much flashier architectural hyperboles all around, it has managed to pull off being the middle-aging hipster still somehow maintaining its innate cool factor...
often quoted as the world's most beautiful staircase, the spiralling black and cream stairs from the lobby still exude a sexy come hither to climb up to ever more sophisticated reveals above...
many of Jacobsen's innovative and time-tested chair creations made their debut at the Royal Hotel where they still nest cozily today in the reception area - the cluster of EGG chairs above and the ballet of SWAN chairs below...
the "total design" manifestation of Jacobsen's intuitive oeuvre included the royal blue crown logo for the hotel...
on a bright fall day a little more than half century since it was built, Jacobsen's SAS Royal Hotel [now renamed Radisson Blu] still rises tall and slim, almost ageless in appearance - still basking in its glory days but remaining majestically serene as always as a pristine modernist pantheon should...
[SAS Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Hammerichsgade 1, Copenhagen]
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