Hotel interior should offer a delicate balance of luxury, beauty and irony – this is the way to invent a conceptual space for all times. The renovated Pullman Berlin Schweizerhof hotel is a bold project of Moscow designers Irina and Olga Sundukov, founders of the Sundukovy Sisters design bureau.
In 2016, an international competition for the renovation of public areas of the Pullman Berlin Schweizerhof was announced, and the Russian design bureau won. The task was to create an interior that would transform the former image of the hotel, built in 1998 in East Berlin. At the same time the interior and layout was set to be renewed without affecting the existing communications and without closing the hotel during renovation.
“The design should be concise, meaningful, unobtrusive, but individual, so that each guest could feel the attention, as if the interior was created specially for him. At the same time to win the contest we needed a wow-effect. After all, Berlin is in the forefront of design even among European cities,” the authors Irina and Olga Sundukovs say.
This area formerly was popular with businessmen, but recently it has become a fashionable place for young people because of the large number of parks, shops and design hotels. It's not easy to come up with something truly original. But the Sundukovy Sisters design office succeeded. The intrigue begins already at the main entrance, where guests are met by a luminous giraffe, who peeps into the lobby. In the restaurant, the guests dine at the company of a large zebra, “hollow, but filled with meaning”, which can be seen even from the outside. It was created specially for this interior as a reminder of the nearby zoo.
“We decided to expand the lobby space, making it a friendly part of the city space. So there was an idea to connect the interior with the nearest attraction to the hotel – the zoo. We did it in Bauhaus style – the famous German architectural school of the early 20th century, adding a touch of luxury and irony. Collected from geometric figures – circles, lines and triangles – fantastic animals, shimmering fish and carpets with hoof traces arose here,” – the designers say. “In combination with large color spots and luxurious trim of marble, onyx, leather and velvet, they created a memorable image of the hotel, and thanks to the link to history this place will not lose its relevance for a long time.”
The LED-screen became the main lighting solution. The ceiling is interactive. It displays patterns in style of the hotel, but may also be used for promo during conferences and other events. The ceiling works as an art object: attracts attention from the outside, and creates a relaxed, warm atmosphere inside.
The designers managed to renovate the Pullman Berlin Schweizerhof, creating a friendly and comfortable place that attracts not only hotel guests, but also passers-by from the street.
Photos by: www.sundukovy.com © Maarten Willemstein