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    The Hoxton Charlottenburg draws on Berlin’s brutalist and art nouveau architecture

    The Hoxton hotel has opened its first German outpost in Berlin’s Charlottenburg, with interiors designed to blend the contrasting architectural styles that rub shoulders in the affluent neighbourhood.

    Located just off the Kurfürstendamm shopping street in West Berlin, the 234-room hotel was styled on a cross between the area’s Jugendstil mansion blocks and the comparatively rugged concrete buildings of the brutalist era.
    The Hoxton has opened a hotel in BerlinThe result is an aesthetic concept that the company’s in-house design team AIME Studios has dubbed “rough nouveau”.
    “By drawing inspiration from the surrounding area and celebrating the contrasting styles, we were looking to create a unique interpretation of this corner of the city, which will be recognisable to locals and let visitors get a sense of the area,” AIME Studios design associate Charlie Cruickshank told Dezeen.
    Vintage mid-century furniture features in the lobbyBrutalist influences can be seen in the oversized concrete columns that run through The Hoxton’s lobby, which is finished in a textured plaster to match.

    This provides a rough backdrop for more elaborate decorative touches, ranging from mosaic flooring to bespoke Murano glass chandeliers with botanical-inspired forms that draw on the art nouveau ironwork and tiling found in the surrounding buildings.
    Patterned tiles were used to decorate some of the joinery”One of the features we noticed many times while walking around Charlottenburg were the tiled doorways with elaborate designs,” Cruickshank said.
    “Tiles are used in many decorative and creative ways throughout the area and they are also integrated into some of our joinery pieces.”
    The lobby is defined by an airy blue and green colour paletteAt the back of the blue- and green-toned lobby with its vintage mid-century furniture sits the Winter Garden bar, finished with patterned mosaic tiles to create a conservatory-meets-courtyard atmosphere.
    Here, a Delft-inspired tiled fireplace nods to traditional Swedish stoves while fostering a cosy atmosphere during Berlin’s frosty winters.
    “The references to the beautiful tiles in the local area were emphasised wherever possible, and the finely painted botanical designs echo classic art nouveau motifs,” Cruickshank said.
    The Winter Garden bar features mosaic flooring and a tiled fireplaceAlso on the ground floor are the House of Tandoor restaurant and the Teahouse cafe and bar, both designed to fuse the elegant Charlottenburg aesthetic with Indian influences, taking design cues from the grand palaces of Kolkata and Mumbai in the 1920s.
    In the cafe, shell-patterned mosaic tiles pick up the subtle green hues in the bar’s marble countertop while oversized windows flood the space with light.
    “The show-stopping scalloped marble floor tiles feature colours inspired by Indian spices and herbs that are used for the cocktail menu,” said Cruickshank.
    A curved bar with a scalloped countertop features in the Teahouse cafeIn the next-door restaurant, an open-plan copper-and-wood kitchen takes centre stage alongside richly upholstered banquettes.
    Framed vinyl covers and vintage-style gramophones reference India’s jazz era, representing the fusion of Indian and Western cultures.

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    “The concept for the restaurant is to emulate the vibrant colour palette of the spices and textiles found in the markets of Mumbai as well as the quirky curiosities often found within the markets, such as gramophones,” said Cruickshank.
    “This also has a nod to the theatricality of the 1920s Weimar era and the cultural importance of jazz during this time.”
    The House of Tandoor restaurant serves modern Indian fareThe “rough nouveau” concept continues in the 234 bedrooms, where a restrained take on the whiplash curves of art nouveau can be seen in features such as the headboards while the lighting brings a raw, unpolished element to each room.
    A muted colour palette of soft pinks and greens provides a sense of warmth that is amplified by the vintage furniture, herringbone flooring and patterned rugs.
    The hotel has 234 guest roomsBuilding on the hotel’s links to its locale are the illuminated room numbers.
    “Illuminated house and apartment number signs are a quintessential feature you see all over West Berlin,” Cruickshank said. “Using these signs references this distinctive design marker of the neighbourhood.”
    A curved headboard nods to the swirling lines of art nouveauA top-floor party and event space, The Apartment, includes three flexible private rooms arranged around a central kitchen.
    The Apartment’s aesthetic was informed by the life and work of Mary Wigman, a German dancer and choreographer who pioneered expressionist dance and lived in West Berlin in the early 20th century.
    The Apartment offers a space for hosting private parties and events”We imagined the space to be like a 1920s apartment looking out over the vibrant city with art nouveau influences in the floral and botanical wallpapers and the soft pastel colour palette,” Cruickshank said.
    “The location of The Apartment on the top floor of the hotel adds to the residential feel of the space.”
    The space features homey furnishings reminiscent of an apartmentThe Hoxton’s other outposts include a hotel informed by the work of Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill in Barcelona and one housed in Chicago’s old meatpacking area.
    The photography is courtesy of The Hoxton.

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    The Hoxton opens Ricardo Bofill-informed hotel in Barcelona

    London-based hospitality group Ennismore has opened a hotel in the Poblenou neighbourhood of Barcelona that draws on the bright colours and architectural style of Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill.

    Named The Hoxton Poblenou, after the neighbourhood in the east of the city that was once a hub for the production of textiles where it is based, the 240-room hotel is The Hoxton first Spanish location.
    Ennismore’s design team looked to the work of the late architect Bofill, whose studio is situated nearby,  for the hotel’s interiors. The Spanish architect, who passed away earlier this year, was known for his use of colourful geometric forms and conversion of a dilapidated cement factory into his own studio.
    The Hoxton, Poblenou has opened in Barcelona”Our chief inspiration for the entire project was the infamous late architectural designer, Bofill,” said Ennismore senior designer Charlotte Flynn.
    “His ingenious way of reframing and reimagining old industrial buildings led to many of the architectural features,” she told Dezeen.

    “The use of simple local materials such as ceramic tile, terracotta and concrete was also something that rang true to us from Bofill’s aesthetic.”
    It is the first Spanish site of The Hoxton hotel seriesAlongside the guest suites, the hotel has a rooftop with a pool and bar, pizza restaurant and a bodega. Three meeting and events spaces make up an area named The Apartment, while a basement space called La Cave hosts local events.
    The Hoxton Poblenou’s lobby was framed by floor-to-ceiling windows and curved doorway arches. The focal point of the space is a curved all-day bar serving coffee and drinks that is fronted by a colourful hand-painted mural.
    The designers used colours and forms associated with architect Ricardo BofillElsewhere in the lobby, potted plants, rattan chairs and other seating upholstered with tactile fabrics and patterns can be found.
    Lobbies at The Hoxton’s range are open twenty-four hours to both guests and members of the public as they are designed to be social, community hubs.
    The hotel also houses a pizza restaurantAccording to Flynn, the designers opted for Mediterranean colours in the common areas, as in the peachy plastered walls and tan-hued leather sofas because The Hoxton Poblenou was their first opportunity to design a hotel in a hot and sunny climate.
    Similarly, material choices such as vivid toned glazed tiling were inspired by local Spanish building materials used for roofs and floors.
    Three meeting rooms are located on the ground floor”Bright, sun-drenched palettes, swathes of sheer materials and Mediterranean planting were an absolute must to provide some exotic escapism,” said Flynn.
    “The colour palette ties all the spaces together; reminiscent of a typically Spanish vista featuring terracotta, ocean blues, sunny yellow hues, olive greens and our own addition of pastel and raspberry pinks.”
    Rooms are furnished with natural materials and vintage sourced furnitureUpstairs in the guest rooms, faded floral prints embellish the soft furnishings while bespoke tapestries handmade in India hang above every bed in a nod to Poblebou’s fabric-making past.
    In many of the rooms, the designers departed from their usual choice of timber flooring, which can be found in The Hoxton Southwark. Instead, they opted for terracotta, in an echo of traditional Spanish homes.

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    “Typically, we’ve always designed bedrooms with a timber floor, but it felt like an appropriate and natural departure point for us given the location,” explained Flynn.
    “We layered the space with plenty of rugs in natural Jutes and a deep saturated jewel-toned blue natural wool,” she added.
    “Earthy and oceanic tones are chief in the fabrics and artwork sat against a breezier green and white backdrop.”
    Bedrooms have a muted colour palette and faded floral furnishingsNatural materials like wool and rattan were used throughout the suites in the furniture and lighting, as an ode to Esparto weaving – a traditional Spanish craft. In the bathrooms, several of which have bathtubs, terracotta tiles line the floors and walls.
    A large majority of the furniture and lighting at The Hoxton, Poblenou was designed in-house and produced in Spain and Portugal.
    The hotel bathrooms have terracotta-tiled floorsKey vintage items were sourced from around Europe such as a pair of woven armchairs from the Dutch department store Vroom & Dreesman and a floor lamp from the 1960s by Vico Magistretti for Artemide.
    Contemporary items include a Gustaf Westman Blob Table coffee table and Tino Seubert’s Corrugation Pendant light.
    The first hotel in The Hoxton series was opened by Ennismore in 2006 in London. The Hoxton now has 11 locations across Europe and the US, three of which are in London.
    For The Hoxton Portland, Ennismore transformed a historic building in Portland, Oregon, into a hotel with refreshed modernist-influenced interiors while The Hoxton Chicago which is located on the site of an old meatpacking facility references the industrial nature of its past.
    The photography is by Heiko Prigge.

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