Paustian House, Modernist furniture showroom building in Nordhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Paustian House is a three-story furniture showroom on Copenhagen's waterfront that stands out with its white columns and geometric archways throughout the structure. Inside, the space is divided across multiple levels with sections for furniture displays, lighting departments, and office areas, all tied together by the building's distinctive vertical lines.
The renowned architect Jørn Utzon designed the building in 1985 when Ole Paustian commissioned a modern showroom for his furniture business next to an existing warehouse. This project marked an important moment in contemporary Danish architecture and set a new standard for how design could be presented to the public.
The building reflects how Danes approach design as part of everyday life, with careful attention to materials and forms that feel natural rather than imposed. Walking through it, you sense that the showroom treats furniture not as luxury but as something connected to how people actually live.
Visitors should explore all the floors to grasp the full design of the space, as each level offers different functions and views of the vertical structure. The open layout with its many staircases and transitions makes navigation easy, and natural light from above creates the best experience when walking through it.
The white columns do not end sharply at the top but are crowned with curved fan-like shapes that resemble umbrellas. This detail is easy to miss but gives the otherwise stark modernist design an almost playful character that softens the harshness of the building's architecture.
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