The Locke hotel chain has expanded its homey hospitality concept yet again, and this time it’s in Berlin. Straddled alongside the Spree river in the happening Friedrichshain district, the property is aptly named Locke at East Side Gallery because it’s also right next to East Side Gallery, the longest surviving stretch of the notorious Berlin Wall which organically transformed into a canvas for the free expression of international artists. As such, New York City-based architecture and design practice Grzywinski+Pons created the premises in the spirit of social interaction, inclusion and new ideas, resulting in a series of welcoming, even homey, public places which, by way of various cozy nooks, also allow semi-private encounters. Mind you, the social spaces on the lofty ground floor have been designed as a microcosm of Berlin itself. Mind you, there are no restrictions to visibility, access or circulation and the entire level presents itself as a legible whole.
Non-continuous walls, like vestiges of the aforementioned wall, are deployed as compositional elements, creating implicit ‘neighbourhoods’ in the space. Monochrome and featuring both built-in seating and a wide range of curated furnishings, in addition to lush planters, the ground floor settings are slightly eclectic in terms of materials, shapes and hues. The 176 rooms, or rather, apartments, exude a similar design approach yet translated to into serenity and privacy for ultimate comfort. The linear plan of Locke at East Side Gallery, with a predominant east-west axis, defines its own taxonomy. The apartments to the north of the corridor face the hustle and bustle of Mühlenstrasse, the vibrant East Side Gallery, and the skyline of Friedrichshain. To the south, apartments face the river and the old, squatted buildings of the Kreuzberg district on the other side. Needless to say, the Locke at East Side Gallery comes with a number of appealing facilities that meet the requirements of today’s savvy traveller, such as a sky-high gym, cocktail bar, restaurant and co-working space.
Locke at East Side Gallery
Mühlenstrasse 61-63 (Friedrichshain)
10243 Berlin
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
