citylikeyou — Bellevue Beach and Skovshoved Petrol Station

If you like beautiful architecture and want to escape the city for a few hours, head north of the city along the coast. Bellevue beach is one of the most popular beaches in the Copenhagen area, on the northern outskirts of the city. The Beach is a sandy beach, approx. 700m long, and feature characteristic blue-striped lifeguard towers and a geometric kiosk, all designed by the Danish architect and furniture designer Arne Jacobsen in the 1930s. The beach is used by everybody – from young families to nudists, they all share the same space (this is Denmark after all). If you take the coastal road up to the beach you will pass the Skovshoved Petrol Station designed by the same man. The functionalist style Petrol Station built in the early 1930s is still in operation. Whilst the pumps still functions as a petrol station, the building now functions as a cafe. The roof of the station is oval-shaped, hence the nickname ‘The Mushroom’, and is illuminated at night to highlight the beautiful designed building.

Address
Bellevue Beach and Skovshoved Petrol Station, 24 Kystvejen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Graphic Designer

Current city: London

Other cities: Trondheim Copenhagen

lianolsen.com

Johanne Lian Olsen is a Graphic Designer working within type design, editorial design and illustration. She is flexing between working at projects in the UK and Norway.

More Places in Copenhagen 69

Copenhagen / Place

The old cranes of the docks has survived modernisation. In the background the buildings of The Royal Danish Academy of Design and Architecture.

Copenhagen / Museum

Whenever I feel uninspired I visit the (now genericly named) Design Museum, formerly known as Kunstindustrimuseet. Sort of the V&A of Copenhagen. An old museum filled with gorgeus fabrics, weird artifacts and a cozy library filled with books about arts & crafts from around the world. If you're still uninspired after a visit here you're not able to. Don't forget to have lunch in the beautiful center garden surrounding by the overgrown buildings, statues and old trees.

Copenhagen / Place

A Kilometer stone (circa 1925) stands directly outside Nørreport station, in Copenhagen K. It's easy to pass by, but definitely worth noting if you're in the area — The typographic work on it is incredible.

Copenhagen / Place

Assistens Cemetery is one of the only cemeteries in the center of Copenhagen and beside from being a beautiful calm place to hang out, sunbathing and having a picnic, it is the final resting place for many great people through times. H.C Andersen, Søren Kirkegaard, Niels Bohr, Henry Heerup is just a few of them.

Copenhagen / Museum

When in need of some inspiration The Design Museum is an obvious choice living in Copenhagen. What is not that well known to the visitors is that the Design Museum has a great poster collection not open to the general public. If you plan your visit and make an agreement with the Museum beforehand, you will be able to visit the collection archived in the attic above the Museums’ library (which is also a must-see, but expect to be ‘shushed’). The Design Museum has since its founding in the 1890s collected posters, and the collection documents commercial, cultural, and political developments in poster history both in Denmark and around the world, from the boom in posters in the 1800s to today. And all of the stars of poster history are represented. The curator of the department will be able to find posters relevant to the subject you are interested in, and is very knowledgeable of both printing techniques and cultural history.