Fabraum
Designing a ‘bohemian hostel’ in Berlin, Germany.
“Kunsthaus Tacheles” by Suzie Blackman / It's a Stitch Up, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED
This project begins with the notion of ‘establishing a landmark’ with the understanding that a landmark must first be visible. The site is divided by lines drawn from four ‘planes’ of sight to establish the landmark and surrounding landscape.
The modern hostel functions principally as a temporary home for tourists - who roam the city in search of landmarks. This scheme places this accommodation in the centre of an arts complex - and colour is used strategically to evoke emotion and encourage inward reflection. The proposed architecture acknowledges the close bond often shared between people in artistic circles and the buildings of post-industrial heritage that are ubiquitous in western cities and namely Europe.
The building concept imagines light shining through a prism and dispersing coloured light across the site. The key landmark destinations of Berlin including the Brandenburg gate, Berlin cathedral and TV tower are generally colourless but uniformly carry one colour - Teal (the colour of aged bronze and reflecting glass). Teal was split into the colour diad green & blue.
The project meditates on Germany's absent (but not forgotten) ancient forests (namely the Grumsiner) as a place of refuge in folklore and history. The building expresses beech and pine trees as planar cones captured on three dimensional rods (relating to the eye) to instil a sense of realism and clarity in weary travellers. The surrounding glacial landscape lifts with peaks and troughs, colours by hue and nuance, to capture the dynamism of Berlin's artistic underworld.
To further express the themes of this project, the theme of orientation lead to three outputs: 1) printed map 2) VR experience 3) beer mat.
