Berlin, Hotel Das Stue

The Hotel Stue Berlin in the embassy district of the German capital consistently focuses on contrasts. The fauna as an architectural cipher is unmistakable.

The Hotel Das Stue in Berlin next to the Capital Zoo connects times and worlds. A boon for the still somewhat lifeless embassy district. The start is not very impressive. Anyone approaching the Hotel Stue Berlin in the embassy district by cab first sees an unadorned firewall. This is because you drive up to the side of the five-star hotel. The road that leads head-on to the capital city’s new inauguration is a one-way street. Unfortunately. Because the front of the building, which opened at the beginning of the year, makes quite an impression – and wants to. The front building, dominated by four double pillars, exudes much of the hard granite quality of the time in which the building was completed – in 1940. The bluish glass entrée, which has now been integrated into the front building, does nothing to change this.

Overall, however, the building, which is originally attributed to the KaDeWe architect Johann Emil Schaudt, does not look like a classic Nazi palace of terror. The semi-circular shape of the Hotel Stue Berlin at least gives it a small touch of lightness. And the windows on the second floor with their almost expressionist ornamentation also counteract the impression of Germania-like heaviness.

But of course, from today’s perspective, Schaudt’s building represents an architectural challenge. Accordingly, both the extensions by Potsdam-based Axthelm Architects and Patricia Urquiola’s concept for the interior spaces should ultimately be seen as a counter-statement to the original building. Annette Axthelm has opted for a curtain wall made of photo concrete for her extension. With a floral-royal pattern, this is intended to impregnate the concrete material with a spirit of flowers and gardens. Urquiola, for her part, provides an eclectic interior concept that combines elements of Danish design with Spanish colorfulness. This in turn must have appealed to the owners, a group of Spanish families.

A zoo in the Hotel Stue Berlin

The lobby is characterized by two massive open staircases that lead to the second floor, the “Beletage”. These are lined with thick, not particularly high balustrades. This does not appear aggressive – unlike the bronze crocodile head that snarls at visitors right at the beginning of the Hotel Stue Berlin. French artist Quentin Garel created this striking prelude in the foyer of a hotel that otherwise exudes a sense of bustle rather than dignified calm due to the constant clash of old and new. It is no coincidence that the crocodile refers to the animal kingdom. The Stue consistently plays with its immediate proximity to the zoo. Antelopes can be observed from the bar. The fauna thus becomes an architectural cipher.

Address

The Stue Hotel
Drakestraße 1
10787 Berlin Tiergarten
Berlin Tiergarten Germany
das-stue.com

Architect Johann Emil Schaudt
The German architect Johann Emil Schaudt (1871-1957) mainly designed commercial and administrative buildings and commercial buildings such as the KaDeWe department store in Berlin, which opened in 1907. His style was initially based on historicism and pre-modern architecture until he finally reduced his formal language to a functional neoclassicism.

Designer Patricia Urquiola
Patricia Urquiola, born in 1961 in Oviedo, Spain, studied design and architecture at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid until 1979. She then studied and graduated from the Polytechnic in Milan in 1989 under the mentorship of Achille Castiglioni. Urquiola worked as an assistant to Achille Castiglioni and Eugenio Bettinelli in Milan and Paris. She was head of product development at De Padova until 1996, before heading the Lissoni Associati design group. In 2001, Urquiola founded her studio “Studio Urquiola”. In 2015, she was an ambassador for the Milan Expo and was appointed Art Director by the traditional company Cassina Urquiola. Urquiola has received several awards as Designer of the Year and prizes for various product designs.

Artist Quentin Garel
Quentin Garel, born in Paris in 1975, graduated from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1998. With his sculptural work, the artist creates a bestiary: his sculptures made of bronze, iron, wood or porcelain depict animals from very realistic to reduced to a skeletal state. In doing so, he focuses on the theme of the trophy and on denouncing the character of man’s sign of victory over the animal world. The fauna in the hotel thus creates a reference and contrast to the adjacent zoo.

Architect Annette Axthelm
From 2008 to 2011, architect Annette Axthelm and her Potsdam office Axthelm Architekten (now Axthelm Rolvien) revitalized the “Former Danish Legation”. She extended the 5-star hotel Das Stue with a new building.

The design concept behind the remodeling at Hotel Das Stue Berlin is described online as follows: “The spirit of the design was to create an island of comfort and tranquility in the heart of the city and with a direct contact to nature. The concept reinterprets the identity and history of the building in a respectful yet contemporary way. A central aim of the redesign was to restore the public areas (lobby, restaurants, lounge and bar, spa, libraries and the Bel Etage). These communal areas were given the feel of a communal living room across the floors, a place where guests can meet, relax and interact or rest. The original marble contrasts with the materials (wood, travertine stone, resins, concrete, opaque tiles and copper) and emphasizes the intimate atmosphere of a harmonious ensemble.”

Read also about the Munich Grand Hotel Bayerischer Hof and the rooms designed by Axel Vervoordt.