Louis - Munich

Did you sleep well?” asks Andreas Hild of Hild und K, the architects and interior designers of Munich’s centrally located Louis Hotel. Of course he is also interested in the impression in terms of design, layout and so on the first hotel he and his 25-strong practice have conceived. However the fact that he focuses first on the fundamental of hospitality, sleep, suggests an understanding of what makes a hotel work. The hotel’s operators, Rudi Kull and Albert Weinzierl, have something of a monopoly on the fashionable hotel, restaurant, and bar scene in the Bavarian capital. Kull is at pains to explain the attention paid to the natural rubber composition of the mattresses, by Sembella, and to detail the advantageous thermal regulating properties of the cashmere, and unbleached cotton filling of the duvets. Between the Frette linen sheets, the Louis Hotel delivers highly on this fundamental.

As the sequel to their first hotel, the nearby Hotel Cortiina, Kull and Weinzierl have collaborated with Hild und K to deliver a more complete hotel product that includes a restaurant, Emiko, serving the best Japanese food in town. Hild und K were already appointed as architects by the building’s owners, the Kustermann family that own the quality department store that abuts the hotel when Kull and Weinzierl got involved. Believing in the importance of one vision for the exterior and interior they kept Hild und K on to do the interiors with “art direction” provided by Weinzierl, who designed the interiors of the Cortiina and their other hospitality outlets. The former 1960s insurance office buildings stretch between the Viktualienmarkt, Munich’s oldest fruit and vegetable market that still operates on an individual stallholder by stallholder basis, and Rindermarkt, a small side street that leads directly to Marienplatz, site of the city’s town hall and the twin towers of the Frauenkirche, Munich’s symbolic church.

Hild und K have added an inverted L-shape stucco detail to the window surrounds on the façade of the hotel. For Hild this is a “familiar yet new” interpretation of a traditional façade feature seen around the market. A former courtyard created by the existing buildings has been in-filled to create the 72 guestrooms. The different floor levels had to be retained. The walls of the retail passageway under the hotel are lined with curved stone sections jointed with anodised aluminium that together create a sense of flowing movement along the walkway.

The interiors of the Louis Hotels have a “less is more” design aesthetic that reflects a move towards simplicity. “Our approach is far from simple,” corrects Hild when as much is suggested as a compliment, “Our design may look simple but is the result of complex thinking.”  One that delivers a calmness, reinforced by the subtle yet encompassing attention of General Manager, Andre Garcia, and his team.

The narrative behind the hotel is that of a well-travelled gentleman, Louis, referencing the Bavarian King, Ludwig. The hotel brings together a variety of elements from his imaginary travels. Kilims from Iraq and Tibet, Parisian Metro tiles, handcrafted coloured-glass lamp bases from India, and a Czech cubist slant to the faceted planes of the dark, walnut guestroom furniture. The piece de resistance however is the travelling trunk, “a remembrance of travel” for Hild. The grey linen-covered trunks, bound with wooden straps, stand vertically; leather door pulls reveal a flatscreen TV, minibar and safe.

The strap-like feature of the trunk is repeated with a series of stucco bands that cross the walls and ceiling. “This artistic element (the guestrooms have no wall art) is important to the architecture of the guestrooms,” explains Kull, “the shadows ‘hold’ the room together.” This detail was also important for Hild, “It was hugely expensive and so was an important business decision.” The hotel may have opened later than expected but the budget was maintained. Straps designed to hold clothes hung in the full height cupboard that cleverly slides out of the wall were omitted in a moment of value-engineering. Like the construction budget, Garcia’s targets have not changed despite the more troublesome business environment in which the hotel opened.

Louis’ story also includes a strong sense of authenticity, seen in locally sourced materials such as oak and cherry wood furniture, Muschelkalk stone in bathrooms, copper and leather details. The solidity of the brass guestroom door handles manufactured by FSB are a case in point. Hild have chosen materials that due to their very quality, will age well and develop a more interesting patina over time. Guestroom colour schemes of grey green tones reference the multiplicity of awnings and weathered copper roofs of the stalls in the market.

The public spaces of the hotel are organised around the only possible site for the kitchens. From the check-in desks, guests can immediately see across a lounge, through the restaurant to the windows overlooking market. The bar occupies a somewhat difficult thoroughfare to the lifts. Effectively the lounge and its open fireplace are the place to be, with the bar used more as a dispensing area than a seating zone. “We are observing how this area works in practice and like all our other concepts we are not static in our approach,” explains Kull. A flexibility that saw the replacement of a complete, high dividing unit, seen during an earlier construction site tour, with a lower, more open one. “The original looked alright on the plan but just didn’t work and needed to be changed,” states Hild.

The Emiko restaurant is furnished with pale maple furniture motivated by its Japanese associations; wide and deep one-armed chairs with grey-green crushed velvet cushions can be set together in a banquette style. The inlay of the angular furniture has something of a Biedermeier touch; wall inlays of padded horsehair fabric are beautiful sound absorbers.

“In Japan the food itself shines and the lighting is subdued,” explains Hild of a lighting composition that combines both indirect and direct lighting for a Western audience. Large, square lampshades of stitched rice-paper-effect material are matched with discrete downlighters. In a space with an already low ceiling, these protrude no further than a service track hidden by fine rattan weave.

“I am pleased with the quiet design of the hotel,” confides Rudi Kull, “it has a strong concept yet is respectful of the customer. The customer is our star, not the designer. The haptic sensations within the hotel provide a depth to the experience, an experience that is both near and yet also far away from the buzz of Munich.”

Louis Hotel
Viktualienmarkt 6, 80331
Munich, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)89 411 190 8-0
www.louis-hotel.com

Rooms 72 guestrooms
Dining Emiko Japanese Restaurant
Drinking Emiko Bar, Lounge bar and terrace
Leisure Fitness room
Facilities Rooftop terrace, 100m2 event space