3XN's Bella Sky Hotel Opens Today as the New Nordic Home

If you're in Copenhagen these days, make sure to swing by the brand-new Bella Sky Hotel in Ørestad which was officially opened today by Danish Minister of Economic and Business Affairs, Brian Mikkelsen and Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen. Last week, we already posted first photos of the newly completed hotel exterior, today, we can also give you an insight view of what 3XN designed to impress arriving guests as a tasteful and warm Scandinavian home.

"Although Bella Sky is the Nordic region's largest hotel, we have done everything to ensure that the hotel doesn't give the typical impersonal and formal feeling that so often defines large hotels," says 3XN Architects’ founder and partner, Kim Herforth Nielsen. 

"Therefore, we decided to interpret the overall theme as New Nordic Cool.  We looked at how Scandinavians approach the design of their homes, how they live – and then chose the best of our design tradition for the Bella Sky Hotel.  Key words for us were simplicity, functionality and high quality, both in design and materials."

Therefore anything synthetic was banned in the selection of materials for the hotel’s 814 rooms.  Carpets are in wool, bed sheets in high thread count cottons, and there is a prevailing use of natural materials such as smoked oak and leather found throughout the décor.  The smokey color palette gives the rooms warmth and at the same time creates references to the Nordic nature, which is evident from the hotel views over the nature park, ‘Amager Common.’

3XN has chosen the best from the Nordic tradition in terms of furniture designers, and has used a strategy comprising both new and classic design from a selection such as Hay, Arne Jacobsen and Finn Juhl.  The common thread running through the chosen furniture, textiles and lamps, are round organic forms, which underline the relaxed mood.

In the Hotel’s lobby, guests are welcomed by a specially commissioned light sculpture from 3XN’s research and development department, GXN (earlier on Bustler). The Bella Chandelier contains over 7000 LED lamps, reflecting a changing program of cool and warm colours which are reminiscent of Nordic light.  The warm reception area is framed by a golden wooden wall, textured to give the impression of a bundle of logs.  Compact and mobile reception desks ensure a more personal service, where the hotel’s employees can welcome guests in an informal manner.

Kim Herforth Nielsen describes further: "We wish to give the Hotel’s guests an experience of walking into a warm, relaxed and friendly space when they arrive at the Bella Sky Hotel.  The décor and the interior strategy aim to complement the personal service level, thus giving the guest an informal feeling of freedom from the very first impression."

Project Details:

Architect: 3XN Architects
Interior (Rooms, Reception, Conference Rooms):  3XN Architects (Copenhagen)
Interior (Five Restaurants and Lounges):  TEA Arkitekter (Stockholm)

Address: Bella Center, Center Boulevard S, Copenhagen S

Client: Bella Center A/S
Size: 42,000 m2
Height: 76.5 m (23 floors)
Rooms: 814 rooms and 30 conference rooms

Engineer: Rambøll

Find more interior shots in the image gallery below. All images courtesy of 3XN.