Bold red-and-white checkerboard tiles and colourful upholstered banquettes lend an Italian feel to the atrium of this Copenhagen hotel designed by local studio Tonen.
Malene Bech-Pedersen and Mette Bonavent of Tonen oversaw the design of Hotel Bella Grande, which occupies a historic building close to Copenhagen City Hall.
Constructed in 1899, the five-storey building retained many characterful features but was in need of refurbishment to maximise its potential and bring it up to modern standards.
Tonen has refurbished a hotel informed by a Venetian palazzo
Tonen aimed to create interiors for the 109-room hotel that are timeless yet contemporary and combine a sense of nostalgic charm with modern sophistication.
"For the interior of Hotel Bella Grande we had two important pointers," said the designers. "First of all to create a design hotel that is a true treat to the eye, and second to highlight the historic and very classic architecture of the building." "The hotel rooms should be luxurious, with high-quality materials and references to midcentury Italian design," they added. "The interior design plays with a nostalgia that is utterly elegant, but also unexpected."
The hotel occupies a historic building close to Copenhagen City Hall
Inspiration for the project came from a trip to Italy, where Bech-Pedersen and Bonavent were impressed by a Venetian palazzo with an open-air central courtyard and peach-coloured walls.
The atrium at Hotel...