Next time a budget trip to Berlin is in the offing, consider lugging your rucksack to Generator Berlin Mitte, a super-smart new flashpacker hostel with an arty outlook and a bob on central location – just steps away from sadly shuttered-up art-squat icon Kunsthaus Tacheles. This latest addition joins branches in the city’s Prenzlauer Berg, Barcelona and Venice, and it’s little wonder it turned out looking so fine, with a team of creatives on the case led by chief designer Anwar Mekhayech, partner in Toronto’s The Design Agency. Anwar worked with Mark Asipowicz from WAF Architects of London, and Ester Bruzkus from Ester Bruzkus Architekten was brought in as guest consultant to give the hostel an authentic Berlin flavour, having delivered some of the city’s best boutique hotels and restaurants. Bruzkus has gone for contrasts of age, texture and colour in her materials and furnishings – contemporary but not overly showy.
The design team was joined by a second group who made a telling contribution to Generator Berlin: the artists who gave the hostel it’s urban edge. The mural pictured here was created by Londoner Luke Embden while in Berlin on a residency, and Thierry Noir has brought his “heads with big lips” to stay as well. The café string installation is by Sebastian Preschoux, and the Urban Art Clash collective is to run a studio on the hostel’s top floor and curate an open exhibition in the basement gallery. Blimey, will there be time to see the city?
@GeneratorHostel
@thedesignagency
@lukeembden
