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

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