Poul Henningsen's intention with the 4-shade luminaire, as he called it when it was born in 1931, was to make a luminaire that could be mounted high up and become an alternative to the chandeliers that are very commonly used in domestic lighting. The big difference between the 4-shade and 3-shade fixture is the ability of the 4-shade fixture to provide more light to the walls. However, the fixture was not a big hit until 1979. In fact, it was dropped from Louis Poulsen's standard product line during 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: PH 61/2/6. In order to solve the endless 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 and fluid light, highly usable in places such as museums and exhibition halls or even as ambient lighting in high ceiling spaces. In 1984, the smaller version of the 4-shade luminaire, the PH 6 Mini, was made for the Concert Hall in Århus, Denmark.

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PH 5-4½ SUSPENSION