Monday, September 1, 2014

From Place To Space: 25 Hours Hotel Bikini In Berlin





Last week I was off on a work mission in Berlin. Not for the blog but for my regular day job. However, I wouldn't be a blogger if I didn't try to squeeze in something that would yield a new story for my Happy Interior Blog. Given the fact that I was working from morning till evening in a studio producing some corporate videos, the only option I had was the hotel. So I did what a good interior design blogger has to do: I picked a hotel I would really love to visit and feature on my blog. Thus, I opted for the recently opened 25 Hours Hotel Bikini in Berlin.





I've already experience the 25 Hours Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, but every hotel of this cool design hotel chain has a different concept and tells a different design story. The new Berlin based hotel is in a historical building complex that is referred to by the Berliners as Bikini. It is located in the city's west between the landmarks Memorial Church and the famous Berlin zoo. Its peculiar location resulted in the hotel's design concept called 'Urban Jungle'. Now you can imagine that I as an Urban Jungle Blogger was all ears when the hotel's manager told me all about the story.





The concept was created by the famous German designer Werner Aissliger with an extended team including guest designers like the Japanese artist Yoshi Sislay who hand drew illustrations in every room and other public areas of the hotel. The juxtaposition of an urban life and the jungle vibe from the adjacent zoo led to a combination of urban materials, vibrant colours and lots of plants. While the rooms on the 'urban side' (facing the Memorial Church) use raw materials like concrete floor screed, copper and cooler colours, the 'jungle side' (facing the zoo) uses natural materials like wood and nature inspired colours with floor-to-ceiling windows and a hammock to relax and watch the monkey jump around in the zoo. 







It is the monkeys that also triggered the naming of the top floor hotel bar, the Monkey Bar. A big rooftop terrace and a relaxed atmosphere with warm hues, colorful furniture and lots of kilim cushions invites every guest to enjoy a drink while enjoying a bird's eye view over Berlin. For the hungry ones there is the wonderful Neni restaurant placed in a greenhouse on the top floor with an abundance of houseplants and delicious Middle Eastern influenced cuisine. 






The public area on the third floor includes a cool reception area made of old Berlin metro tiles, a bakery for a grab & go breakfast, working spaces, a music area, conference facilities, funky green public restrooms and a little design shop of the Berlin based Gestalten publishing house. On the ninth floor guests will find a little gym, a relax zone and a sauna overlooking the Berlin zoo - fancy!

All the above mentioned facts, the attached pictures and the very reasonable prices for a design hotel make the 25 Hours Hotel Bikini a perfect home base for your next Berlin trip. Thumbs up from my side!

Happy new week!


Photography by Igor Josifovic, design products shot by Gestalten

25 comments :

  1. this hotel makes me to fly right now to Berlin!!! :-)

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  2. I'm really looking forward to visiting one of those hotels! I've passed along the 25 hours Hamburg a couple of times and I've always felt curious!
    xx,
    E.
    www.theslowpace.com

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    1. I stayed at the Hamburg hotel too - it is completely different. I loved that this one is all about an 'urban jungle'.

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  3. Totally in love with this hotel. Love the abundance of colour and texture throughout, and those slated wooden loungers, amazing!

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    1. Not to mention all the plants, Cara! I was really like at home there!

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  4. Hey Igor - I l.o.v.e it, what a fab hotel, and how clever you are, making business pleasurable :-) Happy Monday my friend,
    Ax

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    1. You gotta make life pleasurable to the max, right? :-) This is such a cool hotel and if you ever plan a weekend trip to Berlin, you should give it a chance Anya!

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    2. ...also fab for the kids as the zoo is just next to the hotel and you can see the monkeys jumping around out of the hotel windows!

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  5. Looks like a cool hotel and totally up your alley! Never heard of this chain of hotels so I'm going to have a peek at the others now. Thanks for the tip!

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    1. You should check them out, Louisa. I stayed at their Hamburg hotel, now in Berlin and later this year I will stay at their Zurich hotel, too.

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  6. I'm looking forward to my first trip to Berlin in November. I'm not at the Bikini but love the idea of watching monkeys from their windows! I am visiting to view the decorative paint work in Scloss Charlottenhof

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    1. Oh wonderful Helen! Hope you gonna enjoy! But you know, you can still enjoy the monkey view by having a drink in the Monkey Bar on top of the hotel - this area is open to all visitors:-)

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  7. Hi :) After reading your post and looking at the pics I totally understand why you felt so comfortable there. Next time in Vienna you should visit "our" 25 Hours Hotel as well. Here it's all about circus and Arena - I'm curious, wether you like it that much as well or not. I generally like your pictures a lot. Which camera and editing software do you use? Glg, Marcella

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    1. Thank you Marcella! Let's see, maybe I'll get to the Vienna hotel too one day. As for Vienna I also wanted to visit the cool Hotel Daniel one day. Let's see! Thanks for the compliment too - I actually use a very simple DSLR camera for beginners, the Nokia D3100 with a 35mm objective. For editing I work with Photoshop Elements - all easy and simple for beginners!

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    2. The Hotel Daniel is for sure worth visiting it. Erwin Wurm's installation on the roof is great. Also the airstream very cool (always reminds me of the photorealist Ralph Goings) - you can even book it for your stay. But they are also experimenting with an urban garden - this will certainly catch your interest. Anyway, only the quality of the restaurant stays back at times, but maybe that changed in the meantime. But if here, you should definitely give it a try... and then a short visit at the 21er Haus, a great contemp space. Ah, I think will do this program these days :) Have a nice evening, M

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    3. Thanks for all the tips, Marcella!! I need to plan a trip to Vienna soon:-)

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  8. Great place!
    Ο κουνιστός καναπές ειναι τελειος :)
    Kαλό μηνα Igor.

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  9. Quel bel endroit!! j'espère aller prochainement à Berlin et séjourner dans cet hôtel!!

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    1. Je le recommande forcément - c'est super cool, le site est idéal et le personnel est très attentif et aimable. En plus, les prix sont imbattables.

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  10. I never thought this sentence would come from me but you'll find me at the bar, by the windows! Look at those textiles!

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  11. Berlin war schon immer eine Reise wert, und dieses Hotel ist es auch!

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  12. Ein toller Bericht über ein tolles Hotel.
    Berlin und 25hours, wir kommen im November!

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  13. I actually think I don't like it... your pics are cool btw! I think it's just trying too hard to be hip? Not sure. Just a thought.

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