The brief for the competition that Priyank Mehta, principal architect of Studio PM, participated in was succinct and inviting. Candidates were advised to create a new architectural expression to re-interpret the building typology. “The competition seeks the creation of a contemporary, edgy and quirky hostel in the city of Berlin that redefines the idea of co-living. The aim of the competition is to create an innovative architectural and spatial environment that enhances the experience of the traveller and breaks away from the conventional building typology of travelers’ hostels.The hostel should strive to create a new space that emphasises on people-oriented design in behavioural terms as they interact and use spaces and embodies the bohemian way of living together.”
The competition encouraged participants “to change their conventional narrative towards hostel design and create an interesting, fresh and unorthodox vision for the living spaces of the future.” That Studio PM won first prize, is a testament to their innovation and our choice of Mehta for our iGen hotlist.
Mehta shares with us the project description that he sent to ARCHASM for the competition:
“Dissolving the walls that separate, going beyond colours that distinguish, and distorting shapes that define, lies a paradise for the free spirit. A nest for the Bohemian. A design that exudes freedom and tears down all masks, reflecting the poignant yet inimitably colourful nature of the artist.Â
“The scheme metaphorically compares the outer shell that encompasses the habitable volume to the society we live in and the non-platonic protruding shapes within it to the bohemians, the artists, the misfits, the ones that provide identity to the space and are trying to break out. While the arched brick facade connects the built form to the street and the surroundings, the glass membrane showcases the playful, artistic, literary and spiritual pursuits within. Shapes expressing colours, form usable furniture modules and sliding screens.
“No rooms, no walls, no boundaries permit the user to shape their own environment through means of transformable furniture and bed modules. Playful undulated floor plates make the space dynamic. The screens acting as shields from the sun, also serve the purpose of privacy and can be moved in multiple permutations to form a different facade every time. The habitable installations outside the building can be moved to any desired location spilling the nature of the said playful shapes out of the structure.
“A home so versatile, abstract, boundless, colourful, and most importantly transparent – akin to the nature of art itself, gives more impetus to communal living. Creating an unconventional hostel experience, in the heartland of the stone and concrete of Berlin is an abode where the Bohemians ponder.”
