Christoph Hoffmann and his three partners have

Christoph Hoffmann,
Kai Hollmann, Ardi Goldman
Stephan GerharD
PHOTOGRAPHER Steve Herud
WRITER Kim Wood
Christoph Hoffmann and his three partners have taken a
mutual love for grand hotels, modern splendor, and inventive,
almost prankish thinking and come up with a concept
that is perfectly wonderful.
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It’s one thing to say your hotels appeal to those who
favor personalized experiences over cookie-cutter
blandness. But few hoteliers can back it up like the
mischievous masterminds behind the Germany-based
25hours hotels. The four visionaries commission artists
and film-set designers to create interiors that are­
inspired not by hotel convention, but by literature
and pop culture.
Indeed, the quartet behind these high-glam,
value-for-money-minded properties takes
pride in being “ostentatious, sexy, ­cheeky,
and never dead earnest.” This attitude ­goes
a long way in explaining why 25hours provides rehearsal spaces for local bands and
offers libraries dedicated not to books but
to vintage vinyl albums.
Ardi Goldman is their resident instigator,
honing in on everything from real estate
development to the finest details of decor.
Stephan Gerhard keeps his sharp Swabian
eye on the numbers and is the group’s economic conscience. Kai Hollmann serves as
the originator of the 25hours concept and,
as the founders of 25hours would have it,
grand seigneur of Hamburg’s hospitality
industry. And Christoph Hoffmann claims
the title of unwitting captain of this cunning
crew.
The four founders met in person and philosophy, inspired by the zeitgeist of “budget
deluxe.” The CEO of the group, Christoph
Hoffmann, explains how it all came to pass:
“Ardi Goldman and I met through a mu- Eloquent, wry, and quick to laugh, the
tual friend at a dinner party,” he says. “Ardi chestnut-brown-eyed, 45-year-old Hoffwas introduced to me as the most creative mann is also quick to emphasize that the
man in real estate – the dolphin in a pool full inspiration and success of each 25hours
of sharks. Ardi then introduced me to Pro- hotel rest on the shoulders of every person
fessor Stephan Gerhard, who is regarded in involved, from the architects to the staff.
Germany as a highly competent consultant There are currently three properties in
in the field of hotel and travel trade. Gerhard Hamburg and Frankfurt, with four more
would be the one to structure the nascent on the way in Hamburg’s HafenCity, ­Zurich,
25hours Hotel Company. And Kai Holl- and Vienna.
mann is known to be the best-dressed, most
sophisticated, creative, and independent “Our humanistic philosophy inspires our
hotelier in Hamburg and beyond, so natu- team, which is both brave and empowered
rally we were destined to meet him.”
to make decisions,” Hoffmann says. “Each
member feels his or her impact as a vital part
The men finally came together in Copen­ of the whole. We joke that I am the Great
hagen to support the creation of Fox Hotel Dictator over those who don’t give a damn
for Volkswagen, and over a dinner together [about my command] and simply do what
they discovered a mutual passion for what they believe is right. By having this – let’s call
Hoffmann calls “a new level of individual- it fire – each of us feels responsible for and
ity in the hotel and travel trade.” As he ex- passionate about what we are doing.”
plains, “This megatrend of affordable style
was so powerful that we felt we should catch THE CAPTAIN’S TALE
and ride the wave of opportunity together.” Hoffmann developed his passion for hotels
during his formative years when he visited
Taking as a preliminary template the first the grand hotels of Manhattan and Swit25hours project – 25hours Hotel No. 1, cre- zerland. Guests, he believes, should be ofated by Kai Hollmann in Hamburg – they fered an expansive, well-considered
channeled their distinctive characters and experience. And these grand old instituindividual strengths into the enterprise, and tions inspired him to bring back – or rein 2005 a new company was born.
invent – not their pomp, but their pizzazz.
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right —
Four partners, four
visionaries, four individual
stories:
1 — Christoph Hoffmann
2 — Kai Hollmann
3 — Ardi Goldman and
4 — Prof. Stephan Gerhard
are a very strong team.
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“A hotel can simply be a functional building
to sleep in or a place of discovery, people,
and secrets,” he says. “In the old hotels, the
walls can tell stories of what happened there.
A 25hours hotel – not being a deluxe grand
hotel – represents these emotions in a laidback, youthful, and slightly ironic way.”
Or consider the group’s first expanded
project, Goldman 25hours. Set in the repurposed Henninger Hof of Frankfurt’s
Ostend district, the property was inspired
by the Oriental Bangkok, a hotel famous for
Grand hotels aside, Hoffmann carved an hosting literary greats such as Somerset
unconventional path through academic, Maugham, Graham Greene, Joseph Conrad,
travel, and hospitality worlds that helped and Noël Coward. Ardi Goldman explains,
lead him to where he is now. His childhood “For twenty years I wanted to visit the Oriwas spent as the youngest of four siblings ental Bangkok because of the legend that
in a small town near Stuttgart. Studies took surrounds it. When I finally arrived, I closed
him first to the Glion Institute, in Switzer- my eyes and thought of the history, the age,
land, and later to Cornell University, in the guests, the books that were written, the
Ithaca, New York. Along the way, he worked stories. I felt the legend. For my first hotel,
in a French wine shop, a Swiss restaurant, Goldman 25hours, I wanted a hotel with a
a New York tourist agency, and hotels in lot of stories, and I didn’t want to wait a
Switzerland, Germany, and Jerusalem.
hundred years!”
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1—
Skyline views of Frankfurt are guaranteed from
the rooftop of the 25hours
Hotel Frankfurt
Tailored by Levi’s.
www.designhotels.com/25hours_levi_s
2—
“When will Rome
see you again?” – this
unusual name for a suite at
the Goldman 25hours
Hotel Frankfurt is based
on the teenage love of a girl
for Charlton Heston.
www.designhotels.com/goldman25hours
3 — The
25hours Hotel
Frankfurt Tailored by
Levi’s is a playful nod to
American popular culture
and the role Levi’s plays
within it.
4—
Even the occasional
visit to the restrooms is
turned into a rock-and-roll
experience at the Goldman
25hours.
5—
Delphine Buhro and
Michael Dreher created the
“Time is a Thief” suite
at
the Goldman 25hours and
decorated it with … well,
sheep.
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The four years he spent living in New York’s And so Goldman invited his friends and
Lower East Side, in the early 1990s, were colleagues to contribute those stories. The
in some ways the most broadening of these results inspired him to create 49 suites
experiences. Submerged in the English spread over seven floors. “The hotel is like­
language, he also discovered a new lan- a Christmas Advent calendar; each ­door
guage of street smarts – after being mugged opens to reveal a different story inside.”
three times. Together, this wisdom, sophis- The suite named “When Will Rome See You
tication, and rough-and-tumble experience Again?” is based on the starry-eyed love
provided him with the courage, humor, and that Goldman’s assistant entertained for
instinct required to helm the 25hours Hotel Charlton Heston as a young girl. The room
Company.
is papered in her endless letters penned to
the actor. Another room explores the story
of a friend who was overworked, fled the
THE FIRST HOURS
city to spend half a year traveling with a
The company is fueled by the four founders’ sheepherder, and discovered that time is the
common passion for experimentation and ultimate thing of value. The suite, entitled
freedom, as well as a radical belief that form “Time Is a Thief,” tells of her revelation, and
follows emotion rather than function. For is decorated – by interior designers DelArdi Goldman – the company’s creative phine Buhro and Michael Dreher – with
force – this belief is a guiding principle. “We sheep.
try not to answer questions, but to create
them,” says Goldman. “They are ideas that It is Goldman’s receptivity to inspiration
can grow in a person’s mind. We aim to give that invites this element of surprise. “I am
people the possibility to think in a big way, always thinking about the next hotel – what
or to think in a small way, but always to is the theme, the punch line – but not in a
think. What is important is how you create calculated way. I trust that the idea will
come during a walk, on a train, dreaming,
and tell a story. We like to tell stories.”
reading, watching a movie. I move through
Take, for example, 25hours Hotel Tailored the world with open eyes.”
by Levi’s, situated next to Levi Strauss’s
German headquarters in the heart of Hoffmann, too, is a man in motion, and
Frankfurt. A playful nod to American when he’s not in meetings with collaborapopular culture and Levi’s place within it, tors, designers, and artists, he often can be
each floor tells the tale of a single decade in found on his bike or at his home in HamAmerican history – from the 1930s through burg with his wife Petra and their 12-yearthe 1980s – complete with its own sound- old daughter Paulina. He does not have an
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track and period furnishings in shades of
Levi’s blue.
“There are ideas in life that are just solid. When you have such
an idea and you honor it and rise to the occasion by matching
it with the right ingredients, you don’t have to worry too much
about the realization. You just have to go for it.”
Christoph Hoffmann
The walls explode in colorful
confetti from one of Germany’s
best-known ­illustrators:
Berlin-based Olaf Hajek
has created fanciful, haptical
circus-themed visuals in
which fantasy and reality,
space and time seem to blur.
www.olafhajek.de
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office, and that’s how he likes it. Instead, he
divides his work time between visiting the
various 25hours and exploring new possibilities for the company. He does his best
work in a café, hotel lobby, or on a train – all
places where he can bask in the company
of others.­
TRIMMING THE SAILS
Among the projects that now have Hoffmann’s attention are the 25hours hotel set
to open in Hamburg’s HafenCity in the
spring of 2011, and another new hotel in
Vienna, which will be unveiled in two
­phases – spring of 2011 and autumn of
2012. HafenCity is currently one of Euro­pe’s
largest development projects; this old harbor’s revival will include new offices, shops,
residential areas, and the Herzog & de
Meuron-designed Elbe Philharmonic Hall.
The 25ho urs hotel here is the first to drop
anchor in this up-and-coming district, and
is modeled after a traditional seamen’s club.
the maritime history of the site. For example, 25 personal chronicles collected
over several months by author Markus Stoll
have been gathered in a “ship logbook” that
is found in each of the 170 rooms. More
elements of maritime life and history were
found at Hamburg’s Duckdalben, a mission
to this date dedicated to the accommodation of international sailors. Meanwhile,
photo­graphs­ from the collection of Nikolaus Gelpke­, founder of the acclaimed seathemed magazine mare, grace the hotel
gallery’s walls.
Film-set designer Conni Kotte, known for
her “rooms with character,” scoured flea
markets for vintage furniture and naval
accessories to complement the re-imagined
sea chests that grace each room and serve
as a desk and minibar. The beds are designed as sleeping berths, the bookshelves
are built in a classic rope-ladder-style, and
the rooms’ bespoke wallpaper is illustrated
with adaptations of seafarer tattoo art.
“We didn’t want to bring in the typical interior architect who creates rooms but not The hotel is also inspired by northern Geratmosphere, who creates too mathemati- man novelist Joachim Ringelnatz’s 1920
cally, too structurally,” says Hoffmann. “In- classic Kuttel Daddeldu, a funny and ironic
stead, we assembled a team that comes from collection of verse about an anarchic sailor
Hamburg and truly understands the city.”
living within the harbor’s underbelly. Hoffmann and Goldman both admire the work’s
The hotel’s narrative was put together un- humor and authentic voice, which are, says
der the design direction of the multidisci- Goldman, “so real because he speaks in the
plinary firm Stephen Williams Associates, language of sailors. So our idea was to make
in cooperation with creative agency Event- a real sailor story. Our hotel is not the Dislabs. And it’s an eloquent story inspired by ney version of a harbor.”
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1 — The seafarer theme
of the 25hours Hotel
Hafen­city – captured in
illus­trations by Jindrich
Novotny – is found
throughout the hotel.
www.designhotels.com/25hours_hafencity
www.jindrichnovotny.de
2—
At the 25hours Hotel
HafenCity, drop anchor
and submerge yourself in
the city’s maritime­history
and the modern groove of
Europe’s most burgeoning
cityscape.
3—
A seaman’s feast: the
laid-back Heimat Kitchen
& Bar serves international
fare with local ingredients.
4 — The
ground floor
recreates a
­­ rough world of a
contemporary harbor, with
old import/export crates,
timber planks, and stacks
of oriental carpets scattered
like the detritus of a shipping
warehouse.
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Christoph Hoffmann
1
The ground-floor lobby, restaurant, mare Working in cooperation with local architeckiosk, Two Wheels Good bicycle shop, and tural firm BWM Architekten, interior arbar recreate a rough world reminiscent of chitect Armin Fischer – founder of the
Ringelnatz’s harbor, with old import/export studio dreimeta – has created an ambience
crates and stacks of oriental carpets scat- of improvisation, contradiction, and eclectered like detritus in a shipping warehouse. ticism, where sawdust speckles heavy velvet
Nearby are the “Radio Room” (business curtains and hand-selected antiques stand
center), a “Club Room” (lounge), and a on raw concrete floors. The walls explode
“Vinyl Room” – a redux of the typical grand in a burst of confetti thanks to Berlin-based
hotel’s library – dedicated to rare, classic, illustrator Olaf Hajek’s whimsical creations
and local grooves. And to great effect, a in which fantasy and reality, space and time
shipping container – a gift from Hapag- seem to blur.
Lloyd, which is headquartered in Hamburg –
has been installed with a hydraulic system Still, put together as a whole, the hotel –
that raises and lowers its walls, transforming indeed, the entire 25hours concept – seems
into an intimate or an open meeting space. anything but blurry. Every new hotel
springs from a healthy amount of chance,
THE FLYING TRAPEZE
luck, and gut instinct. What is consistent is
The other much-anticipated project, 25hours­­ each team member’s deep faith in the overHotel Wien, is located in the heart of Vienna’s all vision. Christoph Hoffmann sums it up
artistic 7th district – and here, too, imagina- nicely: “There are ideas in life that are just
tion, fantasy, and perhaps just a touch of solid. When you have such an idea and you
madness reign supreme. The design is in- honor­it and rise to the occasion by matchspired by the golden age of the circus, which ing it with the right ingredients, you don’t
peaked at the beginning of the 20th cen- have to worry too much about the realiza<<
tury and was a mainstay in Vienna. The tion. You just have to go for it.” ____
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hotel incorporates, with mesmerizing effect,
memorabilia from the city’s three permanent circus buildings, as well as treasures
from the Empress of Austria’s own circus.
1 – 6 —
The 25hours Hotel
unveils a spectacular
stage for a traveling troupe of
modern nomads, smartphone
tamers, and digital acrobats
in the heart of Vienna’s
­creative hub.
25HOURS HOTEL HAMBURG NO. 1 www.designhotels.com/25hours_hotel
25HOURS HOTEL HAFENCITY www.designhotels.com/25hours_hafencity
3—
GERMANY FRANKFURT
Wien
GERMANY HAMBURG
Augsburg-based designer
25HOURS HOTEL TAILORED BY LEVI’S www.designhotels.com/25hours_levi_s
GOLDMAN 25HOURS HOTEL www.designhotels.com/goldman25hours
Armin Fischer of Dreimeta
created the playful circus
aesthetic of the 25hours
AUSTRIA VIENNA
Hotel Wien.
25HOURS HOTEL WIEN
www.dreimeta.com
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www.designhotels.com/25hours_wien