Having never before journeyed to Denmark, I can’t vouch for the appearance of a typical Copenhagen sky, though—if my time in Northern Italy and France during the winter is any indication—I’d guess it’s often rife with murky clouds. Doubtless these shall part with the onset of frolicsome May, so just now would seem to be the perfect moment to debut the Bella Chandelier at Copenhagen’s Bella Sky Hotel. The massive light sculpture/geometrical chandelier will be one of the initial entities guests lay their eyes on as they enter the hotel’s exquisitely modern foyer and cast their eyes skyward.

Bella Chandelier. Designed and Manufactured by GXN (3XN Architects).

The Stunning Bella Chandelier on View Beginning May 16

The Bella Sky hotel opens May 16—as of this writing, a mere week hence. But this has been no rapid appointment. Designed and manufactured by Copenhagen’s GXN (the R&D arm of 3XN Architects), Bella is not only a visual tour de force but a technological one as well. The chandelier is constructed of upwards of 7,000 energy-efficient LEDs, arrayed along the slim contours of the central custom-milled aluminum rods. At a mere 36 mm in diameter, these illuminating lynchpins are the leanest of their kind, and, thanks to Bella’s “tensegrity structure… where a perfect equilibrium of forces is reached through a precise balance of the elements,” the chandelier is able to contain so many little lights in a relatively small space. That may seem paradoxical, since the impressive span of this luminescent sculpture rivals that of a fair-sized sperm whale, but never before have so many tiny LEDs glowed so very beautifully, so very brightly.

Via Dexigner.

About the Manufacturer: GXN, the research and development arm of Copenhagen’s 3XN Architects, lives to exploit the inherent synergy between “knowing” and “doing”: “The idea is that the expertise and know-how from the department should be implemented in the work of the office.” Another way of saying this is that GXN’s work with materials science and digitalization technology feeds directly into 3XN’s architectural achievements. One can see the pragmatic outcomes of this holistic approach in 3XN’s NOMA Foodlab, Icosahedron Sculpture, and Bella Chandelier.