DAMPA_75_years_of_quiet_design_ENG - Flipbook - Page 94
The ceiling contained down-lighters, fitted flush with the
surface of the Dæmpa panels and strategically located to
illuminate groups of Jacobsen’s bespoke ‘Egg’ chairs,
which were leather-covered. To the right of the entrance, a
slimly-framed spiral open-tread stairway with Perspex balustrades curved upwards to the first floor, where the restaurant was located. Behind the stairs was the remarkable
Orchid Room – a two-storey-high sitting room enclosed
within a double layer of plate glass walls. Between the layers
of glass was a tropical environment in which Jacobsen –
who loved flowers – specified the planting of examples of
every imaginable species of orchid. The Orchid Room was
the height of elegance, but unfortunately it was also
labour-intensive to maintain and so it was later removed,
much to the disappointment of many.
Ascending to the first floor either via the spiral stairway or by
elevator, the hallway and public rooms’ ceilings were likewise clad in Dæmpa panels. There, the facilities included
various small lounges and rooms that could be privately
booked for meetings and gatherings and the large restaurant, which was named ‘Bel Etage’. Its ceiling had in the centre nine circular skylights, each one illuminating a six or
eight-seat round table, while smaller square or rectangular
tables for couples and groups of four were placed at the
perimeter next to the ribbon windows. The wainscot panels
were of rosewood and the seating was of another bespoke
Jacobsen design, named the ‘giraffe’. Even the cutlery and
originally also the flatware were purpose-designed, as were
ashtrays, candle-holders and numerous other small-scale
details.
Continuing by elevator to the bedrooms and their linking
corridors, Jacobsen’s attention to detail was relentless – in
the bedside lighting, the door handles and the colour coordination of the fabrics used for upholstery, curtains and
bedspreads. In every way, the SAS Royal Hotel was an
extraordinarily complete work of applied art and, with hindsight, a pinnacle of Danish post-war architecture and design
achievement. Attracting an international clientele, it helped
to make Jacobsen world-famous.
94
