…
Singular design for a singular hotel: the recently opened Hilton Frankfurt Airport at THE SQUAIRE with interiors by JOI-Design has just been bestowed with the Top Hotel Opening award in the “luxury” category by the leading German hospitality magazine, Top Hotel.
Peter Joehnk and Corinna Kretschmar-Joehnk of Hamburg-based interior design practice JOI-Design have long been known for setting international trends in hospitality style. With their innovative design of Hilton’s new flagship property, they have raised the benchmark for inspired sophistication in luxury hotels. Their intuitive approach of creating holistic, innovative concepts which envelop guests on sensorial and emotional levels was honoured again this week through this important industry award.
The new Hilton hotel has just opened in Frankfurt’s long-anticipated THE SQUAIRE, an astonishing oblong-shaped horizontal skyscraper that sweeps over the ICE high-speed train station, sits alongside the airport against the backdrop of the Taunus mountain range, and is flanked by two autobahns. The Hilton Frankfurt Airport reflects the decision by the operating group to introduce a bolder, sleeker design into their flagship hotel combining luxury details and leisure-oriented elements, still with a strong offering for business travellers.
The sheer scale of the building – 660 metres long and 65 metres wide with 145,000 sq metres of facade that is three-dimensionally curved – ensured its iconic status in Germany even before the doors were open. For the Hilton’s interior designers, the size and shape were both a huge challenge and a great opportunity. JOI-Design’s original brief was to address “mobility” in its proposed concepts, yet, in equal measure, to create places of escape and relaxation for guests, celebrating the building’s form but also translating the interior spaces into a human scale.
Two innovative responses meant that JOI-Design was awarded the project: the large “golden wings” that extend protectively over the reception, dining and retail areas, reducing the volume while allowing natural light to flow through from the atrium, and the silver mirrored globe, a building-within-the-building that accommodates the ballroom and function spaces.
The “Top Hotel Opening” award is sponsored by the leading German hospitality magazine Top Hotel and honours outstanding hotels which have opened in the last year. The prize is awarded in four categories: luxury, business, budget and exceptional; other finalists in the “luxury” sector included the Hyatt Regency Dusseldorf and the Jumeirah Frankfurt. The jury was composed of experts in hotel marketing, sustainability, economics and architecture who unanimously concluded that the Hilton Frankfurt Airport was without a doubt the most important luxury hotel to open in 2011.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
