Geometric rigour in Berlin

Andel’s Hotel in Berlin stands out for its open-space layout, the quality and elegance of its materials and its sophisticated minimalist design.
This hotel complex is located in Europa Park on the site of an old disused shopping mall 15 km from Berlin’s Central Station.
Andel’s Hotel was designed by Berlin-based practice Seeger Muller Architekten, while the interiors were created by Jestico + Whiles architects of London. Based on an investment of 100 million euro, the work was completed in the spring of 2009 and comprises a total floor space of 90,000 sq.m in a 60 metre high, 9,000 sq.m plan building.
The hotel offers a high standard of design and comfort and caters for large corporate events, for which purpose it has set aside a floor space of 3,800 square metres.
Outside, the structure is dominated by a white tower consisting of a plinth, a rationally designed trunk with green and blue openings and a superstructure with ribbon windows.
The minimalistic interiors have a spatial composition based on order and geometric rigour. The spaces are boldly, resolutely pragmatic, adopting a form of elegance based on sobriety and shunning all excess in the name of purity and essentiality of quantities, forms and colours.
The combination of natural lighting from the windows and artificial light serves as a stimulus for observation. The eye is guided by the movement of the false ceiling with its amoeboid-shaped light sources.
The overall vision is one of outstanding order and elegance, where the technological systems are invisible and perfectly integrated.
The floor covering plays a major role in creating a sense of regularity, linearity and purity. In particular, white large-format tiles from Imola Ceramica’s Time collection extend over a 2,000 square metre space in the lobby area and on the first floor, creating a powerful sense of seamless uniformity.
The furnishings adopted in Andel’s Hotel also obey the rules of a minimalist style, espousing for example white surfaces shorn of any kind of decoration. The only exception is the counterpoint provided by the large grey sinuously-shaped carpets dotted like islands and the orange chairs that are set on them to create splashes of colour.
The same function is performed by the large white vases containing bunches of blue irises and by the large abstract artworks hanging from the walls.
Divided up by screens, the lobby space is dominated by the visually striking reception area, whose organic shape stands in stark contrast to the rigour of the structure. The impression is that of a golden spaceship with a scaly surface that opens up to reveal an enigmatic black interior.