VL 45 Radiohus Pendant

Overview

The VL 45 Radiohus Pendant is credited to Vilhelm Lauritzen, who made it for Radiohuset (The Radio House), the building of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, and is produced by Louis Poulsen. Louis Poulsen dates the design to the late 1930s and the building's inauguration to 1945; the practice Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects names 1945 as the launch year. The first name of the pendant was the Office Lamp. The page describes uniform, general and diffuse illumination, with downwards directed light from the opening at the bottom of the glass.

Construction

• Shade: hand-blown three-layered opal glass, sandblasted inner side
• Top plate, base and stem: brass, brushed and untreated; the page says the untreated surface is not lacquered and will develop a patina over time
• Glass colours: Glossy White Opal, Pale Rose, Pale Yellow, Amber
• Mounting: 4.4 m white textile cord (E14/E27 versions), 4 m for the LED version, canopy included

Specifications

• Ø 250 × H 328 mm, weight 5.7 kg (E27 socket, bulb not included)
• Also Ø 175 × H 246 mm (E14) and Ø 370 × H 448 mm (E27, or integrated LED 3000K / 3000-1800K dim-to-warm; DALI, phase dimming or wireless Bluetooth)
• Opal White in Ø 175, 250 and 370; Pale Rose, Pale Yellow and Amber in Ø 175 and 250
• IP20

The Office Lamp of Radiohuset

According to Louis Poulsen, the VL 45 dates from the late 1930s and belongs to Lauritzen's total work of art, Radiohuset, which opened in 1945 for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. The pendant and every other lamp of that building came from his collaboration with Louis Poulsen; the pendant was first called the Office Lamp and had a glossy shade of three mouth-blown glass layers with untreated brass details. The page adds that today the pendant is as well known as the building.

Glass in four colours

The page says Opal White is the original version, with Pale Rose, Pale Yellow and Amber as variants. Louis Poulsen says its multi-layered glass shades are mouth-blown individually, so the hue can vary slightly from shade to shade and lamp to lamp. The architects' page describes a brass frame with a shade of three mouth-blown glass layers: clear transparent glass inside and outside, with white glass in between.