Luxury boutique hotel reflects industrial origins

Designed by Arkitema Architects

From the architects:

Essential aspects of a boutique hotel are excellent service as well as individuality, charm and character – all attributes that the Hotel Ottilia in Copenhagen has in spades. 

Originally, the building was part of the Carlsberg Brewery, which brewed world-famous beer in the district of the same name from 1847 to 2008. 

After extensive renovations, the 4-star-plus-house Ottilia – belonging to Denmark's leading boutique hotel chain Brøchner – was opened in spring 2019 in the listed building ensemble. 

The architecture by Arkitema Architects and the interior design by Brøchner's design team have an industrial look to match the historic location: It is unspoiled, unadorned and rough, but at the same time reflects typical Scandinavian elegance, casualness and sense of style.

Integration into a pulsating environment

The Hotel Ottilia, named after the wife of Carl Jacobsen, the founder and master brewer of Carlsberg, is located in the district of the same name in the centre of Copenhagen. 

Otillia district features an exciting mix of modern architecture, cool shops, restaurants and old buildings. 

Within walking distance are the Meat Packing District and Vesterbro – a district known for its lively cultural and gastronomic scene.

Karim Nielsen, managing director of Brøchner Hotels, sees the historical surroundings as a great locational advantage, but also as an obligation:

In line with this objective, the industrial architecture has been sensitively reinterpreted and redesigned: the hotel has a café on the ground floor, conference and meeting rooms for 200 persons, two bars and a roof terrace with a restaurant open to the public. And a first-class health and spa area is to follow.

Building concept makes history visible

The hotel's approximately 150 suites and rooms are located partly in a historic building designed by the architect Vilhelm Dahlerup and partly in a former warehouse planned by the architect Svenn Eske Kristensen at the end of the 1960s.

The primary goal of Arkitema Architects was to focus on the history of the buildings and to underline their historical value. 

Inside, therefore, the steel and concrete structural elements of the existing buildings are particularly important in terms of surface aesthetics and overall visual impact.

The rooms are fairly restrained and elegant, with dignified, simple furniture, oak parquet floors, and white walls – set against the sandblasted and dust-absorbing coated fair-faced concrete structure. 

This design language continues with stainless steel and glass elements as well as ceramic tiles, which the architects see as a reminiscence of the existing ceramic facade in the base area of the former warehouse in terms of colour and format.

Fascinating contrasts

During the conversion, the original building fabric in the form of warehouse buildings, malthouse or grain silo was skilfully incorporated in all areas. The same applies to the façade with its distinctive round panoramic windows.

Elsewhere in the shell of the building there are over 60 large gold-coloured panes with a diameter of 2.2 metres. They were designed by Svenn Eske Kristensen and symbolise in form and number the beer tanks once housed in the building. Today, the panes are framed by new, narrow windows in front of which bricks are arranged in a zipper-like manner. This detail was created by carefully removing old bricks.

These numerous historical components form an exciting contrast to the luxurious furnishings and contemporary interior design which are also threaded through the design.

The hotel Ottilia attractively enriches the cultural life in Copenhagen’s lively Carlsberg district and offers the opportunity of staying in an architectural “contemporary witness” and an icon of Danish industrial history.

Story by: Trendsideas

Photography by: Hotel Ottilia