Coco Hotel's Design
Coco Hotel is warm and welcoming with a cosmopolitan feel and the kind of boutique hotel that treasures some of the old vibes we all love about staying in a hotel: the heavy tassel-key with your room number on it, crispy white organic cotton sheets, the possibility to watch TV and eat in bed, long hallways with patterned carpets, and mirrors in the elevators. The hotel offers 88 new rooms, a beautiful café and a serene green courtyard open for hotel guests and visitors, designed to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome, whether you are traveling for business, pleasure or just stopping by for drinks with friends.
“The intention was to create an atmosphere very much like a curated Parisian apartment where every design is chosen with love, not as a unified concept”, says Christian Lytje, Cofoco CEO. "We wanted to create a cozy hotel with a natural personality where sustainability is a focus, and of course at a price range that is reasonable (which is exactly the same mantra Cofoco successfully applied to all of their 16 restaurants since 2004). We see a strong synergy between our restaurants and the hotel, and we believe that by opening the hotel, we can give people an even better experience when they visit Copenhagen."
Coco Hotel is owned and operated by Cofoco - the Danish restaurant group Copenhagen Food Collective.
DESIGN BRIEF
For the interior, Coco’s design brief had three key points: Lytje wanted to respect the architecture of the building, reuse and recycle as much as possible, which meant mixing vintage with new and finally, to meet the needs of the multifunctionality of the space. The space functions as a reception, hotel, café, a cozy hang-out, an office and at night, a cocktail bar. Built in the 1880’s the building has a long history as a hotel. The property was acquired by Cofoco in 2018 and had undergone a renovation for one year.
TONEN agency was chosen for the curation of Coco’s interior – a collaboration between Malene Bech-Pedersen and Mette Bonavent – both Copenhagen based designers. As a team, they explore and reflect on architecture, design, people, art, and words, and are always looking for a contemporary and meaningful understanding of each project.
DESIGN RESULTS
The atmosphere of the ground-floor café turned out very much like a Parisian apartment adhering to the wishes of owner Christian Lytje. TONEN decorated the space exclusively with materials that age beautifully in leather, wood, brass, and marble. “These materials are meant to be used and will only get more charming when aged,” says Malene. Upon entering, you are met with the feeling of a classic cosmopolitan hotel bar, highlighted by the smiling receptionist welcoming you at the front desk, where you find the heavy tassel-room keys.
Mette adds, “We also found old chairs in the hotel basement that had been in the building for decades. They were still in good shape, and after a new green paint and new striped upholstery, they became a playful iconic Coco element.”
The bar and several pieces of furniture are custom built for the hotel by a local joinery. The Danish artist FOS made brass lamps, mirror tables. Global icons like the Thonet chairs and classic bistro tables add to the mix.
One of the major assets of the hotel is the interior beautiful green courtyard where even if you are not staying as a hotel guest in one of 88 guest rooms, it is still a perfect spot for a glass of wine and light lunch. The private courtyard was turned into a green oasis where guests and locals enjoy a glass of wine after exploring the city or a day at work. Coco Café is a café and wine bar. A chic oasis in the heart of Coco Hotel, where guests and locals cross paths to enjoy a coffee, a drink or a light meal and the natural place to hang out and listen to well-designed playlists that help create a great atmosphere. No one should underestimate the power of music and what it can do to a place. Coco knows very well that we respond emotionally and immediately to music.
The 88 accommodations are situated on five floors and range in size and style, some are suites, some have gardens, some have connecting rooms, others have a garden or street view, and some are simple – offering perfect options ranging from solo travelers to families. TONEN chose to make them seem less generic by painting different wall colors on each floor, mixing vintage with new and putting different art on the walls. Throughout the hotel you will find vintage prints and posters combined with art photography by Danish born Jesper Palermo and Copenhagen based Lasse Bech Martinussen.
Coco’s rooms offer different colors, textiles, books, and pictures on every floor. The first-floor walls are painted a bright blue; second floor walls are a deep vivid green, the third floor is creamy white, and the fourth and fifth floors walls are a smokey grey. Some guests see a green garden and some rooms look to the busy city life with shopping restaurants and people. In addition to standard rooms, family rooms have PlayStations and toys for the little ones to enjoy.
More romantic penthouse suites have sofas, a rooftop view, and large bathrooms. Each room has its own visible personality composed of furniture that is new, classic, and vintage, patterned textiles, picture walls, selected art books, magazines, printed textiles, and lamps. Guests will meet Thonet Bentwood chairs, Prouvé chairs, locally handmade wooden tables, Bauhaus-inspired trolleys, Michael Anastassiades lamps, handsewn leather seats and handmade lamp shades by Helle Thygesen Art & Antiques. The materials are mostly brass, white, and pink marble, steel, fumed oak, glass, leather, and cotton creating a distinct style and approach in each room.
Christian, Mette and Malene handpicked all of the Murano lamps and sconces found throughout the hotel, spending hours in vintage shops, online and in flea markets. the lamps all have a different look and can be found in the café, main staircase and in some of the rooms.
The use of interior and graphic design is used as an interplay rather than as single elements, and they have been involved in everything from choosing the furniture to design bedspreads, carpets, art pieces, illustrations, and city maps. The design for brass knobs, the toilet roll holder, wardrobe stand, the bar and some of the furniture in the lobby was a collaboration between TONEN agency and Københavns Møbelsnedkeri specialists in custom built handmade furniture. Everything from this company is handmade in Copenhagen and the company’s aesthetics was a natural match for TONEN and Coco Hotel.
Added touches include all signage on the windows, the façade, toilets, and the rooms have been hand-painted by a skilled local sign-painter where it has taken 1,000 hours, but the slow process shows and can be felt.
DESIGN CHALLENGES
For a multi-functional space - as the reception and café are one - good acoustics can make a major difference in the guest experience. In addition to choosing enough soft furniture, adding vintage rugs to the floor, a high-quality acoustic ceiling can do an eminent job, so that when the space is filled – or being utilized for check-ins - to enjoying a glass of wine with friends, or resting on the sofas playing chess, everything can happen at the same time. While hotel guests are checking in, locals meet for lunch or enjoy an intimate concert after dinner. These encounters should be beneficial rather than annoying to all parties.
For the rooms, TONEN worked with the idea of how to combine a classic hotel with a fresh, updated appeal. The building dated to 1889 (which they saw as an advantage) and the intention was to reuse, recycle and respect the place, but also give it a total makeover.
ABOUT COCO
Coco Hotel is in one of the coolest neighborhoods in Copenhagen – not because we say so, but because Time Out Magazine and Lonely Planet said so in 2020. Vesterbro reflects diversity, and whether it’s art, music, design, fashion, or the culinary arts that brings you to the city, the team can guide you to where you want to be and what you want to see. The 88-room property satisfies those travelers looking for exceptional value, as well as those seeking a bit more luxury, offering what every big city should have: bikes, toiletries, a Pilates studio, Ping-Pong room, but the hotel’s café and bar catch most of the attention. All guests have the opportunity to mix and mingle during the complimentary wine hour where guests (and locals) can enjoy good conversation and gentle mingling.
LOCATION
Coco Hotel is located in the heart of Vestebro at Vesterbrogade 41, 1620 København V. You can call us at +45 3321 2166, reach us at info@cocohotel.dk or visit our website at www.coco-hotel.com
WHO WE ARE
Coco Hotel is owned by the Danish restaurant group Copenhagen Food Collective, popularly known as Cofofco and is the first hotel in the group to open. Cofoco owns 16 award winning restaurants in Copenhagen, all with unique concepts and cuisines, offering high quality food from all over the world at affordable prices.
SUSTAINABILITY
At the heart of Cofoco is our desire to make a positive difference for people and our planet, that is why sustainability is such a big priority in everything we do. Coco Hotel is no exception and we have taken multiple steps to secure that the hotel lives up to the highest standards in the industry and has achieved Green Key Certification.
Café Coco primarily serves organic products, and you will find no plastic bottles in the minibar. All towels and bed linens in our rooms are made from organic cotton. The entire building has been renovated with energy and water saving solutions, and like Cofoco's restaurants, the hotel is covered by sustainable energy from Cofoco's own solar park in Nees, North West Jutland. The solar power park is the size of 9 football fields and produces more solar power than the restaurants and the hotel use combined, which means that we are self-sufficient with sustainable energy.
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