AJ Royal Pendant

Overview

Louis Poulsen makes the AJ Royal Pendant for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. Its en-gb product text dates the segmented spherical design to 1957, while the en-us version gives 1958. The page describes ridges on top that allow a gentle light to exude upwards; in the LED version a diffuser offers a smoother, 100% glare-free light.

Construction

• Shade: spun aluminium
• Rings: steel
• Diffuser: frosted acrylic
• Finish: white or black, wet painted; the white version is supplied with a white cable and the black version with a black cable
• Mounting: 4 m cord, canopy included (EU cut sheet)

Specifications

• Ø 370 × H 181 mm, weight 4.8 kg (EU version); also Ø 500 × H 225 mm, 7.9 kg
• Integrated LED, 2700 K or 3000 K; 16 W (Ø 370) or 30 W (Ø 500), delivered lumen from 930 to 2309 across the variants
• DALI or phase (mains) dimming variants; compatible with leading and trailing edge mains dimmers
• IP20, electric shock protection I with ground

A lamp for the SAS Royal Hotel

The page places the AJ Royal among Arne Jacobsen's 1957 designs for Copenhagen's SAS Royal Hotel. A copper version hung over the snack bar tables behind the atrium, in the 1st-floor lounge and in the Panorama Lounge on the 21st floor. The hotel opened in 1960, and the lamp was then called simply the AJ Pendant.

First steps back to basic geometry

The page regards the segmented spherical design as Jacobsen's first steps back to the basic geometrical shapes that characterise his later designs (the en-gb page dates the design 1957, the en-us page 1958). The AJ Royal was originally produced in light grey, dark brown and black. Today it is available in white in its two original sizes; a smaller variant was introduced in 2020 for the 60th anniversary of the hotel's opening, when the series was reintroduced in black.