by Michael J. Crosbie

Two new hotels, one small and one very small, are explorations in the use of light and reflection to transform space — and to create a world unlike anything hotel guests might inhabit day-to-day.

The interior design of the 160-room Innside Premium Hotel in Munich by Jahn Lykouria Design was inspired by the outside of the building it occupies: a pristine glass container by Helmut Jahn, principal of Murphy/Jahn. Two continents away, the 16-room boutique Hotel Kassel Grimm in Shanghai, by MoHen Design International, is otherworldly with its intense colors, mysterious light, reflective surfaces, and a slick material palette. Both designs explore the notion of the hotel as primarily a nighttime experience.

German Angelic

For the envelope of the Innside, Jahn excelled at the use of glass as the prime material in his quest for an architecture of transparency and order. The hotel, which also includes a restaurant, a bar, and conference rooms, overlooks a highway. A never-ending river of auto lights streams across the glistening facade at night.

Farther away, on the horizon, is a panorama of the Alps. The hotel capitalizes on a sweeping view of these distant peaks and of the nearby "peaks" of the city's two tallest towers in the High Light Development. The hotel's interior, created by Yorgo Lykouria, principal of Jahn Lykouria Design, captures the hard, sharp edges of both the near man-made environment of the city and the distant snow-shrouded mountain crests.   >>>

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The Innside Premium Hotel in Munich, Germany inhabits a glass container designed by Helmut Jahn. Photo: Tom Vack A glimpse into the Innside reveals an interior designed by Jahn Lykouria Design. Photo: Tom Vack   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.