Radisson Blu Royal Hotel

The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel is a hotel in Copenhagen, that was designed for the airline Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) between 1956 and 1960. At its completion the hotel was the largest in Denmark, the first skyscraper in Copenhagen until 1969 and at the same time the tallest building in Denmark.

It is located in the heart of the city, in the Vesterbro district, close to Tivoli and the central station. On a road island outside the hotel is the "Freedom Statue", commemorating the abolition of serfdom in Denmark. The hotel was renamed the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in 1994, when SAS bought a share in the foreign division of Radisson hotels. When SAS sold their share in 2009, it was renamed the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, its current name.

The entire hotel from the exterior façade through to the stainless-steel cutlery used in the restaurant and the Swan and Egg chairs gracing the lobby was designed by Arne Jacobsen. Since most of his work has been replaced by corporate standard fabrics and furniture, the hotel is referred to as Jacobsens' Lost Gesamtkunstwerk. Only a single room has been kept in the original design. It has all of the original, green furniture and the wood panels on the wall. This room, with the number 606, is still available for booking.

Jacobsen, who was also working as a landscape architect, pursued a "modern garden" theme. He implemented this theme using green textiles and furniture combined with "organic shapes" and rigid geometric forms. Jacobsen has created several furniture, lighting and textile designs. Some models were later adopted into mass production and have become design classics, which are exhibited in museums worldwide. Others, however, remained unique pieces.

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 emanates from its Lever House-inspired form with a two-story base supporting its lofty "punch card" tower. The reinforced concrete frame structure erected in the tower has a curtain wall of aluminum profiles and transparent green and gray anodized glass. The windows can be opened to the inside stories in all.