Austrian catering firm Do & Co have inserted a modern hotel into Hans Hollein's iconic Haas House building, with interiors by Netherlands-based FG Stijl.
T hanks to some great town planning from Emperor Franz Josef, the real heart of Vienna is enclosed on three sides by an inner ring road and on the fourth by the Danube Canal. This old town, Vienna's District 1, is significantly pedestrianised, and centres on the main gothic cathedral of St Stephan. The cathedral's steep pitched roof of grey, yellow, black and white roof tiles is reflected in the mirrored faŤade of Haas House. Hans Hollein, Pritzker architecture prize winner and grand daddy of modern Austrian architecture, was allowed to bring this highly modern insertion into the middle of the city. A sweep of grey green stone runs into a mirrored jumble of irregular cubists blocks and a cylinder that now house the two suites and Onyx bar of the building's latest occupants, Do & Co Hotel. The building is topped by a glass-boxed meeting / private dining room and a 'wing' detail, not dissimilar to the Soravia Wing, also by Hollein, at the nearby Albertina museum.
Haas House is striking. All the Viennese know it. Well, you can't exactly miss it. But few venture inside; its mirrored face has a slightly exclusive air. Unless you knew why to go, it is not the place you would just pop into. The poured black concrete floor and shiny steel wall grating that greet you at the lift lobby are hardly inviting. Which suits Albrecht Clary, the General Manager of the Do & Co Hotel. "We have created a premium product and positioning is important." Ambitiously aiming for rack rates in the region of 300Euro will put the hotel at the top end for the city.
Completed in 1990, on a former marketplace, the building was originally planned by Hollein as a vertical shopping mall but it never really worked. Nevertheless the ground floor space currently has retail tenants. The curved building must have been challenging for the restrictive quadratic space planners of the offices to which it was converted. Now, Dutch-based interior designers FG Stijl have created clever guest rooms, each with a floor plan not unlike a slice of the local chocolate torte.
In addition to this cake pattern, FG Stijl have employed other local metaphors in the hotel's interior. Colin Finnegan, the 'F' in FG Stijl explains, "The core of our design philosophy is to respect the original architecture but humanise the user experience." To do this parochial Viennese touches reflective of the city's jewel box, retail character have been added. This is evidenced by the glass display cases in the restaurant, a glass sushi 'tower', open wok cooking station and other iced food display areas. At the sixth floor reception is a glass-encased Jugenstil shop.
The humanisation of the guest experience begins when exiting the lift to be greeted by a crackling fire in the far lobby wall. The leather padded columns and piccalili yellow suede panelling of the adjacent Onyx bar add to the sumptuous feeling of comfort.
The bar and restaurant are important in the Do & Co Hotel. This is understandable when you consider the catering and events background of the holding company, Do & Co AG. The company served 47,000 meals in its event catering division alone in the month of May 2006. With a client list that includes British Airways first class and the Formula 1 Grand Prix paddock, it is one to watch. After all it was a brave, but not entirely illogical, step of the Turkish founder, Attila Dogudan to name a luxury hotel after an airline catering business.
The sixth and seventh floor bar and restaurant have created quite a reputation for themselves over the last few years prior to the hotel opening. FG Stijl were tasked also with refurbishing these areas. The main change being in the extension of the restaurant mezzanine over the Onyx bar. This created a more atmospheric feel to the vast atrium space of the bar whilst taking nothing away from its six metre high windows looking directly onto the Cathedral. At the same time, the restaurant gained further banquette seating. The bar of back-lit onyx slab extends to include a DJ station. The bar's furniture is a bit of a mix. Low slung, wing back chairs, upholstered in a crimson floral patterned velvet (from Baker of the US), clubby chairs in shiny pistachio leather, a central boxy U shaped arrangement of sofas in white leather and flirty, grey-green leather two seater sofas with chrome frames. The restaurant is purples and dark wood with the existing compact kitchen based on space saving principles experienced in the airline-catering arm of the business.
The effective use of space does not stop there. The tapered configuration of the majority of the guestrooms necessitates some clever initiatives and genuine craftsmanship. Entering at the thin end of the split-level wedge, guests are immediately drawn to the window and the view of the square. Roller blinds provide privacy, even though the window exteriors are mirrored. Sliding dark wood panels, matching the window surround, provide a total block out. The deep window ledge has a padded suede seat beneath which a plump and cosy Flexform corner sofa begs for company. Most importantly the Giorgetti beds and mattresses from Swissflex, with secondary top mattresses, are just a joy to sleep in.
Yellow suede panelling gives tactile expression to one wall. Recessed into this wall are a Bang & Olufsen flat screen TV, a hinged panel, hiding a multitude of multinational power points and telephony connections, and mini bar display. This display includes half a dozen half bottles of spirits and liquors plus chocolates from Viennese confectionary institution, Demel, recently purchased by Do & Co.
To the other side are the bathroom and wardrobe. Most of the guestrooms only have showers. But good ones - flush mounted large ceiling roses plus a handheld shower. There are niches in the marble wall for the Etro toiletries. The showers are glassed-in, with the under heated pale marble floors having an "infinity" edge drainage gap rather than a central waste. Solid teak shutters afford a sense of privacy but can also be folded back to open up the whole space.
The surface mounted black glass basin looks great but is never that practical with water splashing everywhere. An open hole in the basin surround for the waste bin leaves a constant reminder of what you have just thrown away. Still it beats the soon to be battered chrome Brabantia option.
In a deluxe hotel you would normally expect an enclosed cupboard. The partially open wardrobe / hanging area works here because it is hidden (behind the door) when entering the room and then not really in sight when occupying the rest of the room. The craftsmanship of the cupboards is worthy of mention. Beautifully and lovingly hand made with two small, glass fronted drawers making use of every cubic centimetre.
Whilst the lighting above the basin might not be up to make-up standards there is an edge-lit magnifying mirror. Dimmable lighting throughout the room is a pleasure. The two flexibly mounted bedside reading lamps are positioned strategically at turn down to create a clever interlocking light pattern above the leather bed headboard.
Both suites having stunning cathedral views and curving balconies afforded by Hollein's cylinder. The balconies are like opera boxes for the street theatre below. The suites are designed with their own entertainment in mind. Each has a miniature of the upstairs Onyx bar. Well, a bar counter anyway.
One of the suites has a bathtub at the end of the bed. This can be covered to become a bench when not in use. By removing the bed, the suites become a party venues. Interconnecting guest rooms provide sleeping accommodation for the hosts. Alternatively there are private event spaces under the "wing" and in the topmost glass box, reached by a separate outside lift.
The Do & Co hotel might be at the heart of one of Europe's most cultured cities but there are deliberate references to its Turkish ownership which add a sense of personality to the property.
Hand worked silver-effect coffee trays act as tabletops. (All tables are wheelable to assist housekeeping.) Bedspreads are made from soft killims and coasters are leather-backed and bound scraps of carpet. Each item is unique. Add the more obvious hammam, due to open later in 2006, to the doner kebab rotisserie in the restaurant and the subtle theme becomes clearer.
