Architecture

Langelinie Pavillonen is a light, bright and blue building aligned with the horizon, understated in its beautiful surroundings.

Two of the most prominent postwar architects, couple Eva and Niels Koppel, designed Langelinie Pavillonen for an architectural competition arranged by the City of Copenhagen in 1954. The pavilion was finalized in 1958. The rigid cubistic form and simple composition is inspired by the international style of the Mies Van der Rohe-school and others.

Langelinie Pavillonen is made in the form of three boxes of different sizes, stacked one on top of the other in a simple, clear form language with lines aligned with the horizon. It is light and bright architecture with lots of windows that provide air, light and outlook. The materials steel, glass and reinforced concrete are also typical of the time.

The massive, low ceilinged ground floor is made of concrete walls with sea stones and serves as a sort of foundation for the main floor with high ceilings. With its 30 x 30 meters the main floor floats like a light box of glass and steel. Above it is a smaller secluded floor.

The building is characteristic in the way that it is attached to its surroundings. An almost unnoticed path takes you through the building and the guests can easily move around the house, with direct access to the terrace and boardwalk along the harbor.

The graphic division of the facades in rectangular surfaces divided by vertical and horizontal lines through identical modules of steel and glass and spandrel panels means that no side of the building appears more significant than the other. The hierarchy of the building is in the different floors and emphasizes how the ground floor weighs down towards the underground while the glass windows of the large, light main floor reflect the nature, the sky and the sea and its forms.

In its simple form language Langelinie Pavillonen assimilates to its surroundings and tones down the building. The architects’ original choice of a blue color had the same purpose and today is yet again the color of the façade.