Opening 21 August 2001 Number of rooms 318 | Height 45 metres (148 ft) | |
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Location Augsburger Strasse 44
10789 Berlin
Germany Management Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts Architect Gerkan, Marg and Partners | ||
The Swissôtel Berlin is a luxury hotel in Berlin, Germany. The hotel overlooks the crossing of the Kurfürstendamm shopping avenue with Joachimstaler Straße, in the city's Charlottenburg quarter. Both the Zoo railway station and Kurfürstendamm U-Bahn station are nearby. As well as hotel and conference facilities, the hotel includes Restaurant 44, which features Swiss cuisine and overlooks the Kurfürstendamm, as well as the Palermo bar and the Grande Gallerie cafe.
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The hotel has won two awards, the 2008 Germany's Leading Business Hotel and the 2007 Germany's Leading Conference Hotel. It is managed by Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts, which is part of the FRHI Hotels & Resorts group.
History
In early 1991, the Hamburg architects Gerkan, Marg and Partners were retained to draw up a plan for the new Swissôtel Berlin and the commerce building, which led to a pre-notification in 1993. A number of versions with solutions for different unitizations were developed between 1995 and 1998. These plans coordinated between the Charlottenburg district office of Berlin, the building owner, and the architects. The planning and building permissions were finally received at the end of 1998. The hotel was under construction from August 1998 until 2001 and opened on 21 August 2001.
In October 2013, the hotel received a facelift of the public areas.
Architecture and artwork
The building is 45 metres (148 ft) high and has a 70 square metres (750 sq ft) video screen outside the hotel, facing Kurfürstendamm. The lower three floors of the building are occupied by a branch of the fashion retailer C&A, with the hotel above. The hotel's street level entrance hall faces Augsberger Strasse at its junction with Joachimstaler Straße and has a height of 11 metres (36 ft). Dedicated elevators link this hall with the hotel lobby, which is located on the third floor above ground level. Meeting rooms, restaurants and bars open off and surround the hotel lobby, which is two storeys tall and is lit by a glazed roof.
The hotel’s 316 rooms are located on the fourth to tenth floors, and are accessed by a separate bank of elevators from the hotel lobby. The rooms surround an interior courtyard, which is floored by the glazed roof over the lobby.
Swissôtel Berlin has an art gallery with changing exhibitions, and each of the 316 guestrooms feature the art of Markus Lüpertz, one of the best known German artists. His group sculptures The Judgement of Paris and Three Grazies are found in the hotel hallways, and the main sculpture Paris is in the restaurant terrace.