In 2015 Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Munich underwent an extensive refurbishment of its public areas for which dpa lighting consultants provided a new lighting design.
The hotel is located in Munich’s Old Town near, near to Maximilianstrasse, famous for its luxury boutiques and designer shops and the famous brewery Hofbräuhaus. The building that houses Mandarin Oriental, Munich was originally constructed in 1880 and served as the city’s opera house.
In 1990, the building was converted to hotel use and was eventually purchased by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in 2000.
dpa have worked closely with the Interior Designers at FG Stijl on the Public Areas including a signature restaurant on the first floor as well as meeting rooms, and the refurbished hotel entrance lobby, reception, lobby lounge and hotel bar on the ground floor.
In November 2015 the hotel opened ‘Matsuhisa, Munich’, a restaurant offering the renowned ‘New Style Japanese-Peruvian’ cuisine of starchef Nobuyuki (Nobu) Matsuhisa.
The lighting design provides drama, depth and fluidity to the various interconnecting spaces with carefully placed and concealed lighting that draws on the various interior details such as backlit decorative perforated wall panels, illuminated drinks display units, a feature Sake counter and illuminated shelving for the Sake barrels, backlit Onyx panels behind the restaurant show kitchen, and integrated lighting to showcases and furniture such as counter and banquette seating.
The double height space in the new reception lobby is accented by a feature illuminated ‘tree-shaped’ column providing connectivity between the two floors, with the column being visible from inside the restaurant. A grand illuminated stair curves around the column and connects the two floors.
The ‘Bar31’, which is located on the ground floor, features library shelves with integrated concealed lighting and a focal, semi-circular bar counter with illuminated champagne cooler in its centre as well as glowing back bar shelves. A mixture of decorative lighting elements chosen by the Interior designers and architectural downlighting provides the ambient lighting.
Photography courtesy of George Apostolidis/Mandarin Oriental