Bar seating spills out into the Reception lobby. Click to see a detail of the seating and fabrics
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Externally the building is a conservative, modernist building in cream cintra stone. The architect had apparently never worked on an hotel before, and as one enters the hotel there are the usual columns coming down through the public areas, bringing incoherence to the space and making any sense of theatre difficult to achieve. The Victorians managed beautiful arching roofs over large spaces, but modern architects and structural engineers seem to think a space full of columns is beautiful – certainly too many hotel entrances are embellished with concrete columns in all their unlovely cylindricality.
Two beautiful desks for reception and concierge flank the entrance, but the space then dies into the darkness of a bar between the columns, darkness emphasised by the roof light at the column's flank. The simple purity of the architectural statement seems to overwhelm the interior design with seating contrasting occasionally uncomfortably with the architectural details.
Lighting is a major tool in creating the 'wow-factor' for an hotel and here the lighting is not well-handled. Some very nice classical oil paintings in the bar and lobby are not lit and are lost in the space, whilst the bar which appears to have a decorative ceiling is a dark backdrop to the lounge. The result is a space where serpentine seating breaks out from the bar, breaking up a space already broken by columns. Despite quality materials and strongly patterned fabrics, it fails to provide a unity or a heart to the hotel entrance. In the evening, twinkling candles provide a lift but fails to impart an atmosphere.
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The architecture is pure in its lines, and colours are deferential to the architectural stone, with the result that the whole is so refined that it lacks any emotional resonances. The coldness continues with the corridors boasting pure white doors and grey walls. Munich is a corruption of the word for monk, and there is an almost monastic simplicity to the way the spaces are handled here – dominated by architectural concerns and lacking the warmth and comfort of, say, Browns or the sense of theatre in other grand hotels.
Polizzi interiors in my experience previously have had humour and warmth, but here in the public areas this only comes through sporadically. An example is in the statues guarding the doors to the conference rooms, where one has its melting heart in a pool of brass at its feet, a touch of witty sculptural pathos which, combined with wood and more effective lighting makes this space more welcoming. In one of the smaller meeting rooms too, the antique paintings are displayed above an antique piece of furniture in a typical set piece that works effectively, if looking a little at odds with the architectural nature of the rest of the space.
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Boardroom uses antique furniture and paintings. Click to see the use of sculture in the lobby to the ballroom area
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