For the 54-room Hotel Sanders from former ballet dancer-cum-hotel owner Alexander Kølpin, London studio Lind & Almond was inspired by the golden age of travel and focused on “creating a level of detail and warmth, using a lot of timber flooring—common in most Danish houses—[and] mixing the use of classic patterns and straight boards,” says director Pernille Lind. Located adjacent to the Royal Danish Theatre in a Neoclassical Jugendstil building, the warm and inviting interior recalls old Danish colonialism with rattan and bamboo and corridor walls covered in jute paper, “which was a material used in Danish homes in the ’60s and ’70s,” she explains.

To set a tone of relaxed, residential luxury, golden and brown Italian marble are laid in a checkered pattern in the ground-floor corridor and elevator lobbies. Walls and floors are framed with raw brass trims and much of the furniture leans toward dusty velvets and linens, along with pillows bearing designs reminiscent of grandparent-era abodes. “This is a project where the interior surfaces have had as much attention as the details of tassels on cushions and the print on napkins,” Lind continues. The muted guestrooms, dressed in green walls and wooden floors, move away from Copenhagen’s signature midcentury aesthetic to a more sophisticated and moody one. Five bars, including velvet-clad Tata and casual dining spot Sanders Kitchen, adorned with white subway tile and wooden accents, continue the vintage thread. “We have gone for the aged look, tying the hotel in with its context and location, which is in one of the oldest parts of the city,” Lind adds. “Nothing should look new. Everything has to feel like it’s been there forever, as if it’s the most natural thing, which will stand the test of time.”