Carl Hansen & Søn Revives an Icon of Danish Functionalism

The Vega chair, first designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen for Copenhagen’s Folkets Hus, finally gets its due.  

By: Jaxson Leilah Stone

In December 1999, David Bowie played his last show of the millennium to a crowd of 1,500 fans in the wood-paneled halls of Denmark’s VEGA music venue. If those perfectly Functionalist walls could speak, perhaps they would hum the tune to “Life on Mars.” Maybe they would recall the set lists of Prince or Björk, or they would share the wild stories of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll that unfolded in the building’s magical arrangement of variously sized concert halls, moody midcentury bars, and labyrinthine staircases. To be sure, the walls would tell the story of how Danish architect Vilhelm Lauritzen’s 1956 Modernist masterwork was transformed into the country’s most iconic concert hall. 

Lauritzen (1894–1984) designed the building as a universal meeting place for Copenhagen’s labor movement. Originally called Folkets Hus, or “the People’s House for the Employees’ Association,” the structure fell into disrepair and faced threats of demolition before it was restored and inaugurated as a music venue in 1996, when the city was designated a European Capital of Culture. 

Known for designing buildings as total works of art, Lauritzen had a signature approach to craftsmanship that contributed to VEGA’s timelessness and durability. The architect meticulously designed everything from the paneling, friezes, and chandeliers to the lighting fixtures, door handles, and even sockets. But today, one object stands out from the rest: a simple, stackable chair. Designed for the original People’s House in 1956, but now referred to as the Vega Chair, it has never been released in serial production until this year.