project: Andel’s Hotel Lodz
client: Warimpex
location: Lodz, Poland
designer: Jestico + Whiles

A former textile factory in Lodz, Poland, built in 1852 and abandoned in the late '90s, sets the stage for the city's first and only four-star hotel. Created by Polish Austrian executive architect OP Architekten with interiors by London-based Jestico + Whiles, Andel's Hotel Lodz is the fourth property of this brand and an embodiment of juxtaposition. "The building is characterized in its contrasts—old bricks with marks of its past against modern design," notes Alexander Jurkowitsch, a member of the management board at Warimpex, the building owner, based in Vienna, Austria. Jestico + Whiles painstakingly followed the city's strict codes of historic building preservation to honor the tradition of the building that housed a mill for Polish textile manufacturer Izrael Poznanski, while energizing the space with modern designs and contemporary furnishings.

The 200,000-sq.-ft., four-level Andel's Hotel (including 180 guestrooms and 80 long-stay apartments) is a self-contained structure within the greater complex called Manufaktura, a retail and entertainment center that's similar to a small city. James Dilley, associate director at Jestico + Whiles, says that the Andel's is "the most impressive building of the complex." With its long, slender shape, "the building informed the design brief and the functionality, not the other way around," he says.

The vast lobby would feel imposing if it were not for Jestico + Whiles' strategic design touches. "We created a journey, where guests happen upon everything and delight in the surprises," Dilley says. And Jurkowitsch adds, "I highly appreciate sitting in the lobby and watching visitors entering the building, being surprised and keen to explore the building."

The building's original cast iron pillars support the red brick vaulted roof, and three light wells slice through the ceiling with sculptural displays of concentric circles denoting the balustrades of each floor above, each lit with changing colored LEDs. These "light cones," as Dilley calls them, contrast with the rigidity of the brick, concrete, and iron to create visual interest, while the atria channel daylight deep into the space and frame views up to the sky. A key element of the design scheme, the light cones allow guests to read the building three dimensionally.

Carpeted areas in the lobby with soft seating by Fritz Hansen provide spots to meet, mingle, and grab a drink from the ocular-looking bar that is backlit with LEDs. A sandblasted, glass-front, backlit reception desk is set against the opposite wall, counterbalancing the bar. And sculptures in the lobby are changed out monthly to continue to offer elements of surprise. Off of the lobby, the café pays homage to the building's history with concrete walls painted with factory scenes by a local artist, while the restaurant features distressed, exposed brick walls.

"Strange things happen when the building informs the design," Dilley says, noting that the building offered opportunities to create a space full of character. In the long, narrow guestrooms (3 m. wide by 4.5 m tall), for example, the design team purposely chose furniture that would make the rooms feel more spacious. "You can try to mitigate structural issues, which becomes a negative, or you can exploit them, almost in an Alice in Wonderland way," Dilly says. The designers also used brightly colored textiles as headboards to contrast with the brick walls. And in a crafty use of material, designers borrowed textiles from the archives of this factory and played with the scale and enhanced the colors to created "new fabrics with memory of the originals." Another nod to the building's history, the hotel pool was created out of a 19th century fire water storage tank, and OP Architekten elected to contain the pool in a cantilevered glass box on the top floor, overhanging the building's brick façade. "This element becomes a marker," Dilley explains. "From a distance, you can see that something is happening here, and it's not just a factory."

jury comment:
“This a great example of how one can insert a new and dynamic object into an existing space to create a sense of unexpected spontaneity. Strong color and form in juxtaposition with sinewy, rhythmic structure is effective in highlighting the adapted intervention. Each aspect is executed with enthusiasm and respect. Lighting is inspired!”