The hotel is easy to reach on foot from the train station, and a visit to the castle is no problem either. However, the walk at night under the winding highway feeder roads is a test of courage, especially as the hotel in the Rhine harbor only draws attention to itself with an inconspicuous flag. You should actually arrive by boat, then you can see the huge photovoltaic field from the river, which gives the building, clad in corrugated Corten sheet metal, a face. Architects Schmucker + Partner reside on the top floor with its surrounding band of windows – they converted the 1950s warehouse and added two hotel floors.
The lobby welcomes you as a dark bar; if you arrive during the day, you can’t imagine that it could ever be full here. But in the evening, the place is buzzing (although the tapas tastes like light fare), the guest book brings together celebrities from film, radio and television, even the German President has paid his respects here. The interior is very reminiscent of the 25hours in Hamburg’s HafenCity (see Baumeister B3/2012), except that in Mannheim we are actually dealing with an authentic warehouse. The conversion of the 20 hotel rooms does not displace the crude charm of the industrial architecture; technical relics of the former use can be found everywhere. The concrete skeleton has only been repaired, but not made homely, and there are carpets on the cement screed. The heating is concealed in the ceiling. It is supplied by a heat pump that gets its energy from the photovoltaic façade. The water required for this is taken from two wells and fed back into the Rhine. All the new fixtures and fittings are clearly visible, with light oak wood forming a sober contrast to the rough contours of the warehouse.
The furnishings in the rooms are what we would now call vintage. It is second-hand furniture that we know from the 1950s and 60s: aha, the Eames lounge chair, the String shelf, the Saarinen chair. There are also lots of games, toys, books and magazines scattered in and on the furniture, which is complemented by the rough everyday objects of the show people. However, this creates a strange feeling in these unpeaceful times. You feel like you’ve been bombed out, as if you’ve found makeshift accommodation in a bunker with your salvaged household goods, where you can still see the bullet holes in the hallway. Each room has a different bulky charm, it can offer endless mattress cushions or a bathtub with a view, one of them has a golden balcony volute on the façade. You’re lucky on the Rhine side, where you can sit in a deep triple-glazed window alcove and watch the ships. The fact that there is only Ludwigshafen opposite is acceptable. The beds are faultless, as are the entertainment electronics and the yoga room with sauna, which is to be expected given the reasonable room prices. The breakfast in the gloomy bar is on a par with the tapas efforts, and the staff respond to criticism with courteous helplessness.
Address
Speicher 7 – Hafen-Hotel & Bar
Rheinvorlandstaße 7
68159 Mannheim
Phone +49 621 1226680
www.speicher7.com