The men in grey suits may be startled to find that this new business hotel in Bonn has the high-design touches usually reserved for boutique -sized establishments, but here the fantastic imagination of Marcel Wanders has been given free rein

Details

Project: Kameha Grand Bonn
Client: Lifestyle Hospitality & Entertainment Group
Architect: Karl-Heinz Schommer
Interior Design: Marcel Wanders
Size: 19,000 sq m

When it came to finding the right interior designer for the Kameha Grand, a business hotel in Bonn, Marcel Wanders might have seemed like an odd choice. The flamboyant Dutchman once stated that functionality is ‘highly overrated’, and his extravagant, ornate furniture pieces seem to have more in common with the rococo façade of Bonn’s old town hall than with the Kameha Grand’s ultra-modern, glass-fronted building, designed by architect Karl-Heinz Schommer. But the whole point is that this is not an average business hotel.

‘Corporate and event hotels should be exciting, stimulating and inspiring,’ says Wanders, who adds wryly that most other hotels of this type are ‘very serious and practical and usually very boring too’.

Once described by fellow designer Ross Lovegrove as ‘a free-flowing river of creativity’, Wanders hasn’t held back on his scheme for the hotel. Naturally there are plenty of Wanders-designed furniture pieces scattered around the 253 guest rooms, nine meeting and event spaces and 10 restaurants. They include his Pig Table, designed for Moooi, a company co-founded by Wanders, as well as red semi-circular sofas for the Casa son Vida in Mallorca.

But Wanders’ involvement in this project goes much further than choosing furniture, fabrics and finishes: to ‘warm up the hardness of the architecture’ in the public areas of the hotel, Wanders hung long, flowing pieces of material from the ceiling that create what he calls ‘private meeting islands’.

The building itself is hugely impressive, with vast panels of glass meaning that much of the interior is visible from the outside, while those inside get stunning views over the river Rhine. It’s also large enough for Wanders to indulge his fantastic imagination in a way that makes you feel like you’ve ‘fallen down the rabbit hole’.

In the atrium, for example, he has installed four enormous gold-coloured flowerpots planted with trees. The lobby is dominated by 10m-tall pillars, which resemble giant vases and are decorated with one of Wanders’ beloved ornate patterns. A colour palette heavy with red, black and gold references the German flag.

The designer’s trademark patterns, often inspired by traditional Dutch Delft pottery, can be seen everywhere, from the walls and carpets to the floor of the rooftop infinity pool and even bed headboards. The patterns contrast with other more modern looking surfaces like the bevel-edged, triangular mirror panels used on the circular Stage Bar in the lobby or a high-gloss red wall whose shape resembles blocks of chocolate.

Wanders has given visitors to the Kameha Grand the kind of unique experience usually reserved for a boutique hotel. Each of the 63 suites has its own theme, from the Beethoven Suite for music lovers to the Fair Play suite, where Wanders has created his version of a sports-themed room, complete with pinball machine, putting green and giant dart board.

But there’s a serious side to the frivolity. As Wanders says: ‘The Kameha Grand Bonn is a place full of surprises, of beauty and energy.’ The basement contains one of Europe’s largest geothermal plants that uses six underground water storage units to regulate the building’s temperature through the seasons, storing summer heat for use in the winter and using the cold of winter to cool the hotel during the summer months.

It’s clearly a successful combination of architecture, interior design and eco features and, unsurprisingly, that hasn’t gone unnoticed. The hotel won a Design And Architecture Award at MIPIM 2010 and there are plans to enter it in the future visions category at next year’s MIPIM awards, says Carsten Rath, the founder and CEO of LH&E Group, which owns the hotel.

With its bold and colourful patterns and design, a stay at the Kameha Grand might not be for everyone, but it’s proof at least that business needn’t be boring.

This article was first published in fx Magazine.