Top left: The reception building of the national horticultural show in Trier. Photo: Palladium Photodesign Top right: The hotel expansion with 12 suites for the Hotel Ruland. Photo: Dominik Ketz Bottom left: The wine-growing estate Stodden in Rech. Photo: Palladium Photodesign Bottom right: The residential estate ‘Ahrarkade’. Photo: Palladium Photodesign
‘Being home (+) on the road’ The Bad Neuenahr-based architectural office Hans Jürgen Mertens likes to use this formula for staying in hotels. While being at home means security and a sense of well-being, one also wants this in a hotel where the guest is also on the road. While the guest is en route to new goals and new impressions, their hotel should also reflect this. TEXT: ARCHITEKTURBUERO MERTENS; TRANSLATION: NANE STEINHOFF
The architectural office Mertens from Bad Neuenahr always factors these two above-mentioned aspects into its planning processes. For example, the office managed to work for the renowned chef Hans Stefan Steinheuer in Heppingen who was already awarded with two Michelin stars. The result was the ‘Landhaus’ with six suites. Here, the restaurant was converted and, in another part of the 106 | Issue 43 | October 2016
building, the bowling alley was made into a lounge with a large opening to the terrace and a view on to the local mountain of Landskrone. Another impressive project of the architectural office’s portfolio is the conversion for the wine-growing estate Stodden in Rech, which was awarded a prize for the Architecture Award Wine
in 2010. At the moment, an expansion of the wine-growing estate Stodden is being completed which, once again, creates sensational interior design. A new nomination for the Architecture Award Wine, which will be awarded in Stuttgart in autumn, is also currently in the pipeline. For the jury, the conversion of the winery Neus in Ingelheim, for which Mertens’ architects designed an elegant interior, is worthy of the award. In Altenahr, on the other hand, a hotel expansion with 12 suites for the Hotel Ruland was completed in 2014. The 45-square-metre-large units orientate their sleeping and living areas, as well as their balconies towards the river and the