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Poul Henningsen designed the three-shade system back in 1925-1926. The first lights using the system were designed for an exhibition in Paris. His work with Louis Poulsen continued right up until his death in 1967. Throughout his life, Poul Henningsen sought to create glare-free light, direct light where it was most needed, and create soft shadows, using incandescent bulbs as a light source.Â
However, the luminaire did not enjoy great success until 1979. It was even dropped from Louis Poulsen's standard product range in the 1940s. The 4-shade luminaire was redesigned in 1979 in a larger version by two Danish architects, Sophus Frandsen and Ebbe Christensen, for the Charlottenborg exhibition hall in Copenhagen: the PH6½-6 suspension.Â
To solve the never-ending problem of glare, the two architects decided to add a small blue shade to the construction. They also added a new surface of frosted, white-lacquered shades, thus obtaining a homogeneous, fluid light, highly usable in places such as museums, large hotel lobbies and exhibition halls, or even as ambient lighting in spaces with high ceilings.
In 1984, the smaller version of the 4-shade luminaire, the PH5-4½ suspension, was created for the Concert Hall in Århus, Denmark.
PH 5-4½ Ø46.6 x H31.8 cm – light source 1 x E27 or LED 3000-1800K, DALI, Dimmable or bluetooth
PH6½-6 Ø65 x H50 cm – light source 1 x LED 96W 2700K or 3000K, hard wired (DALI) or bluetooth
Materials spun aluminium shades
Cable 3 m
Weight 2.4 kg
Class Ingress protection IP20. Electric shock protection I w. ground
PH 5-4½ pendant – Ø46,6 x H31,8 cm
PH 6½-6 pendant – Ø65 x H50 cm
from
Born in Copenhagen, Poul Henningsen's mother was the famous Danish actress Agnes Henningsen. He never qualified as an architect, but studied at the Technical School in Frederiksberg (Denmark) from 1911 to 1914, and then at the Technical College in Copenhagen (1914-1917).
He started out practising traditional functionalist architecture, but over the years his professional interests evolved to focus mainly on lighting, which is what he is most famous for. He also branched out into writing, becoming a journalist and author. For a brief period at the start of the Second World War, he was chief architect of Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. But like many other creative people, he was forced to flee Denmark during the German occupation, and soon became a vital part of the Danish colony of artists living in Sweden.
His long collaboration with Louis Poulsen began in 1925 and lasted until his death. To this day, Louis Poulsen still benefits from his genius. Poul Henningsen was also the first editor-in-chief of the business magazine "NYT". Louis Poulsen's CEO at the time, Sophus Kaastrup-Olsen, offered PH the magazine because he had been sacked from the Danish newspaper he was working for (his views were too radical).
Poul Henningsen's pioneering work on the relationship between light structures, shadows, glare and colour reproduction, compared with man's need for light, remains the foundation of the lighting theories still practised by Louis Poulsen.
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