S_BilledeborgenKøbenhavnsRådhus_1905-2005

Desks and filing cabinets made of solid pinewood and benches or chairs made of stained beechwood. In the main construction and the slats on the back, they are inspired by the traditional Danish Brotterup-chair. The tabletops are covered with green linoleum surrounded by screwed-on strips, and the chairs are upholstered with corduroy. Karlsen emphasises that all the details were given full consideration to be proof against wear and tear. The outer edges of the filing cabinets are furnished with a powerful rounded profile »which partly resists bumps and blows, and partly makes it easier to place the elements closely together on an uneven floor, thereby avoiding that want of precision leaps to the eye«, he explains. The discreet embellishments adorn the horizontal surfaces of the furniture and also the panels of the doors, which at the same time constituted a simplification for the cabinet makers when it came to fitting the corners. The bookcases are divided into lower and upper parts, which eases moving the furniture round the building considerably, and the cabinets are raised on low trestles partly to facilitate the cleaning of the plain linoleum floors, and partly to give a more comfortable height when fetching stuff from the lower placed archives and files. Nyrop’s furniture is extremely unostentatious and most carefully shaped in accordance with the character and function of the various rooms. This also goes for the large faience sinks accessible in the corridors like sanitary springs of refreshing water. They are fitted with golden brass taps and tiles on the walls behind to catch splashing from floor cloths and buckets. And Nyrop’s motto of »Save not, waste not« is marked on the upper edge of all the sinks in the offices. Obviously all sources of light are electric and date from a very early stage in the history of the glow lamp. The bulbs hang in clusters underneath a decorated iron or brass bowl, and in order to prevent a glaring light from the table lamps, short silk curtains of a kind are hung from the edge of the bowls. This type of precaution is not taken with the high-hanging unshaded lamps in the Main Hall and the meetings rooms of the City Council. This was twenty years before Poul Henningsen invented his internationally known and acclaimed anti-dazzle PH-lamp. Throughout the building there are adjustable hanging lamps and brass floor lamps placed conveniently for reading and writing, all with cone-shaped white and green glass or porcelain shades. Altogether the City Hall contains between 1,500 and 2,000 electric lamp units for illumination of the marvellous rooms. Added to this, daylight comes from without and is reflected on the arches of the stairs and filtered through other curves and surfaces. As an architectural feature perhaps even more important than decoration and pictorial imagination, the building is formed in accordance with light and dark like a medieval castle.

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