Spring 2017, Meininger opened a new hotel in Leipzig, a city world famous for its artistic dynamism. Following the concept “Art in Progress”, Ester Bruzkus Architects together with Batek Architects, created a comfortable, homely environment, brought to life by the guests and staff.
The visitor enters on the ground floor directly to the reception desk of black metal construction, onto which guests are invited to put coloured stickers, gradually altering the appearance of the piece as the days pass. The office area is located in a mirrored enclosure just behind the counter, the outside of which has coloured niches carved in it for the bar buffet, self-service refrigerators and storage lockers. The look of the area constantly changes with the reflections from the mirroring.
Still on the ground floor is the breakfast room, with the GameFrame, a scaffolding-like piece made of box-section steel tubing, with matt lacquered plywood panels. The same material is used for tabletops that are painted with accessible game boards for the guests to play with. On the walls are overlapping layers of tapestry, referencing the city’s colourful history.
The entrance to the elevators leading to the guest rooms is located inside a plywood-clad wall, reminiscent of chests used to transport sculpture. Each floor presents a different explosion of colour on stepping out of the elevators, with vibrant primary colours swirling away down the corridor drawing towards the rooms therein. The different colours also aid in orientation, providing a code for each floor, and providing an exciting backdrop to a stay in this hotel.
