The starting point for the interior design was the constriction of the round architectural envelope. A circular double height volume to the base of the building was topped by five three-quarter circles of bedroom floors, projecting over the base and wrapping inwards on one side to create the main entrance from the terminal. All the public spaces – reception, lounge, bar, spa, fine dining restaurant, breakfast area and workspace – were to be accommodated within the round, ground floor.

 

Two considerations governed JOI-Design’s response. It was impractical, if not impossible, to divide this space up with conventional solid walls, and this led naturally to the notion of open, but zoned, spaces designed to generate the interactive environment favoured by many business hotels today. Also there already was a Radisson in Hamburg and the new hotel needed to be differentiated from this through design. As a consequence, the interior design concept for the airport hotel celebrates, rather than obscures, the orb of the building form.

 

The designers were concerned to avoid the potential pitfall of creating a single central hub within a large, but under-utilised circular area. They therefore introduced a series of organic oval forms. These play across the strong and structured concrete space in its entirety like a layered series of discs that are harmoniously related but separate from one another. Inter-relating oval shapes are everywhere – in the form of the reception desks, the design of the bar and in the striking spiral staircase leading to the conference areas. They are painted boldly on the walls, reflected in the choice of furniture and repeated in the carpet design. In the heart of this dynamic space, a sphere accommodates the restaurant with two satellite spheres, bar and breakfast room, on facing sides.

 

Flooring is in “roasted” oak interspersed with areas of limestone slabs and carpet to define particular areas and their usage; timber panelling is combined with coloured and lit acrylic sheets and the imposing buffet bar is in black granite. A particularly intriguing feature is the door surrounds to two large wine chillers. With hundreds of inset wine bottle bases, back-lit to glow through the space, they are transformed into witty pieces of “glass-art” commissioned by JOI-Design from the acclaimed German glass sculptor, Sybille Homann.