Carpets help to tell the story

One of Copenhagen’s absolutely finest and most historic buildings was brought into a modern up-to-date context with neoclassical designs and custom-designed carpets.

By ege and Tom Dixon for

ege

October 15, 2017 | 10:00 pm CUT

From the very start, Brønnums Hus has framed the lives of creatives and intellectuals having a big influence on Danish cultural history. H.C. Andersen is a perfect example of a member from the cultural elite frequently visiting families living in the building being so rich on picturesque elements drawn by architect Ferdinand Vilhelm Jensen that it was listed in 1995.

Old school and neoclassic designs

Britt Christiansen and Mikkel Küster, the two designers behind the prestigious project that took more than a year to complete, explain: “Brønnums Hus was an old, distinctive lady in need of a facelift. It offered so many unique, historic details that we wanted to bring to life. At the same time, it was important for us to bring them into a modern up-to-date context that would complement a dynamic, contemporary office environment. It would have been obvious to continue the historic interior of the house, but instead we set out to create a fine balance between the old-school traditions mixed with neoclassic designs, such as Tom Dixon, Moooi and Muuto.”

Old meets new. The round meeting room with delicate blue walls features designs by Tom Dixon, Moooi and Muuto. The working title for the room was the PowerRoom.

The oval shaped reception provides a luxurious hint of what to expect when exploring the rest of this beautiful house. The carpet shows an abstract flower from a preserved wallpaper in the Gold Salon dating back to 1830.

Custom-designed carpets

All the carpets were designed in collaboration with ege carpets to help create the unique character of each individual room. The designers always knew that bespoke carpets would be part of the story: “We love our wooden floors but in terms of expression and practicality, carpets were right from the beginning an important part of the project. The fact that we were able to develop floor designs that carry motifs and stories from the house underlines the identity and completes the experience. Each carpet is a work of art. The freedom to transfer our vision onto the carpet gave us the possibility to create a complete and coherent space. And basically, good quality carpets are just a gift when it comes to achieving an atmosphere where delicate acoustics are essential.”

With the Royal Theatre next door, ballet and ballerinas were part of life at Brønnums Hus and beautifully relived with a wallpaper by artist Mette Boesgaard who worked closely with ege to recreate the artwork on carpet.

Four conservators from Københavns Konservator spend 6 weeks restoring the original Japanese leather wallpaper in what used to be the dining room for the Hirschsprung family. The wallpaper is in fact not made of gold nor leather, but of paper, tin foil and golden lacquer. The wallpaper dates back to 1866 and fashion at that time was about imitating a material, which in this case was golden leather.

ege designer Karen Lund Hansen took photos of the radiator cabinets and transferred the symbols into an imperial style carpet design for the Gold Salon. The inspiration came from the Oval Office of the White House.

The Villa Nova meeting room excels with a beautiful wall and ceiling painting of the Hirschsprung family’s summer residence by Arnold Krog and Thorvald Niss. The Hirschsprung family were one of the first families to live in Brønnums Hus and this room was their bedroom. Conservators fell upon a newspaper dated 28 May 1897 that advertised the villa for sale and helped to identify the scene of the painting.

The neutral colour of the carpet is precisely the same as the base colour of the ceiling creating a silent backdrop to the impressive wall paintings.

As you move up the floors, the look becomes more light and edgy. This is also how the house worked in its old days. While the cultural elite of Denmark occupied the first floors, young ballet students lived in rented accommodation on the top floors.

As we reach the fourth floor, white walls are finally allowed in to make room for vibrant ege carpets designed by Tom Dixon.

Brønnums Hus is an office hotel with rooms of individual sizes, altogether comprising 140 seats that share general services as reception, secretary, personal host, lunch buffet as well as exclusive meeting and conference rooms.

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Herning, Denmark