will views of the SAS Royal Hotel be lost?

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from the forecourt of the railway station ….

Although the towers to be built over the railway tracks at Vesterport would be beyond the hotel, they would fill the space seen here to the right of the hotel and one of the towers, if built as proposed, would be 30 metres higher than the hotel

The proposed development at Vesterport would be built over the railway tracks with four towers. One of the towers would be 30 metres higher than the hotel so this view would be blocked completely and the new towers would also dwarf and throw a wide shadow over buildings to the west. They would be visible and dominate the skyline from many points in the historic centre

If the development at Vesterport goes ahead as proposed then this view would survive but the cinema, the pink building, will be demolished

The SAS Royal Hotel was designed by Arne Jacobsen and opened in 1961. It is an iconic building … one of the best known Danish buildings from the 20th century … and it deserves to be respected and protected.

Yes, it is tall and yes it was controversial when it was built and not loved by all - then or now - but, when it was built, there were clear reasons for the height and for the form of the building.

It is in a prominent position on the north side of Vesterbrogade and close to the railway station but developers seem to have avoided the site because it was a difficult narrow triangular plot hard against the railway track that there is set down well below the road level.

From some accounts it appears that the development went ahead as a trade off for also being able to develop another and easier site. Jacobsen's master stroke was to build in part across the rail track to square up the plot. And the building was tall and novel to attract foreign interest and to promote Danish design and to house visiting businessmen and foreign politicians when they came to the city.

So the SAS tower was there first and had a clear function and purpose so it should not be cited as the excuse for developers who want to be allowed to build higher and build bigger on nearby sites.

Views of the tower by Arne Jacobsen have to be protected and the building is too important to be surrounded and hustled and lost in a huddle of towers with little architectural merit but simply the novelty of a bewildering mixture of cladding.