94
House no. 31, designed by Hans Scharoun, the right wing corridor, 2014. Photography by Natalia and Ernest Dec
hotel, it's unusual to be able to prepare
also taken care of the landscaping. The
a cup of coffee or a light meal in your
grounds were designed by specialists.
own room. Usually, you have to go to
The plants look better and better each
a restaurant or bar. Here we don't have to
year and I think that in a few years it is
run a typical restaurant.
going to be really impressive. Recently, I've even seen families with children
GHL: That would be my next question.
sitting on the benches in front of the
Is it popular for visitors to visit your
hotel enjoying a sandwich during a break
café?
from sightseeing or a walk. Outside
JG: In the afternoon the café is run by
night hours the hotel area is open to
a concessionary.
visitors, so during the day people can walk in the hotel garden. Yet, for security
JG: The newly restored corridors are
GHL: Recently you've renovated the
reasons, we don't allow non-residents
fantastic; it looks as if there are ship
terrace?
to visit the hotel. Besides, it'd be hard to
cabins along them. Nonetheless, a full
JG: Yes. We have installed an awning,
keep the place clean if people walked in
tour around the hotel should also include
so that in summer our guests can
unsupervised.
a visit to the restored room.
enjoy their coffee in the shade. We've
Taking into account the modern facilities,
tried to organise longer opening hours,
GHL: Well, I’ve seen a hotel room after
the fact that people spend a few days,
for example, at the weekends it was
being visited by twenty students and
two weeks or more here, we believe that
open all day long, but there were no
I scratched my head in disbelief.
after full renovation the building is going
customers and it was hard to expect the
JG: Right, we always have to be mindful of
to fully meet the requirements of the
café management to keep its employees
this. We can't keep additional staff which
National Labour Inspectorate trainees. On
staffing an empty café.
would generate unjustified costs and we
the other hand, we aren't going to depart
On fine weather days our guests use the
don't sell entrance tickets as in a museum
from Scharoun's original idea when it
terrace a lot and spend their time in the
either. We're doing our best to make the
comes to its functions, or even those
shade of the awning. Admittedly, it wasn't
building available for visitors to enjoy.
unique colours. We can easily say that
an original idea of Scharoun's, but the
the accommodation here is even superior
awning fits the building well and makes
GHL: Recently you've made some
to a typical hotel’s. At a conventional
a stay at the hotel more attractive. We've
moves to make the building more
WuWA 1929 2014 127