Dorint Sofitel
Am Gendarmenmarkt Berlin
The former Guest house for the GDR youth build in the typical pre-fab style, and also the typical, eclectic facade design, for the location in Gendarmenmarkt dating from the year 1981!, stands today under the "ensemble-protection for Berlin-Mitte". We cored the building as far as the steel frame, re-organised a hotel-structure within the existing grid, andimplied a degree of legibility through cuts and changes in material from the modern world of hotels, with 92 rooms, suites and a restaurant. In accordance with it´s melancholy, and the history significance of the place, we quoted traditional values in a minimalist idiom within the rooms.
Pleats and traditional marble, as a reminiscence of childhood, a hidden chiming-clock behind the bed. Some of the rooms offer a furnished loggia to the Gendarmenmarkt, all of them have a transparent relationship to the bathroom area. In the breakfast café, the structure of the steel-frame-construction of the next storey, which penetrates the conference area is clearly legible. Floors and ceilings refer to the existing net-like structure of the building in their construction and contrast of material. This light covering stands directly in contrast to the preserved colour scheme of the GDR hall within the heart of the building.
