Hasta La Ideas

Record a hit when you visit Europe’s first music hotel

In recent years travelers have shied away from traditional hotel chains in favor of more intimate boutique establishments, but the newly-opened Nhow Berlin aims to change this with a Karim Rashid-designed refuge dedicated to music. Billed as Europe’s first hotel with a state-of-the-art recording studio and guitars on the room service menu, the interior’s surreal setting combined with the seemingly physics-defying architecture serve as a catalyst for late-night jam sessions and impromptu DJ sets.

Architect Sergei Tchoban worked with Rashid to implement their lavish design without disturbing the existing industrial style of the surrounding buildings on the river Spree, nestled between Berlin’s Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg neighborhoods,. Tchoban’s solution maintains the building’s stoic lines, but he throws in a shiny section of the hotel—the 8th to 10th floors—that juts out almost 70 feet out from the building for unexpected delight.

The amenity that inspired the idea behind Nhow Berlin is its Music Sound Floor. Overseen by Lautstark, a music agency that runs Hansa Studios where artists like David Bowie have recorded, the area includes analog mixing and 5.1 digital suites that visiting professional musicians can use in the tradition of heading to the city to record their next hit singles.

Fans and the more music-challenged shouldn’t feel left out. Guests-slash-amateur rock stars who would otherwise riff it out on air guitars can just ask reception to bring them a real Gibson.

Rashid brings a whimsy that turns the hotel into what can be best described as an amusement park for lovers of glossy, hyper design. This aesthetic is reflected down to the color of the rooms, where guests have the option to stay in a room outfitted in pink, blue or gray. Furniture throughout the common areas—including the lobby and restaurant—take on a neon color scheme, with wallpaper and carpet patterns clashing in a stimulating way. Everything is so precisely done that the spaces look like computer renditions brought to real life.

Rooms run from €170 for a standard room to €2,500 for the Nhow suite.

Some photos taken by Patricia Parinejad, for Arch Daily.