Hotel Superbude

European Hotel Design Award 2008

With the Superbude in Hamburg Kai Hollmann succeeded in creating an innovative combination of hotel and hostel.

The design of the new property was awarded to Armin Fischer from dreimeta, a design company based in Augsburg, Germany.

Beer crates from a well-known brewery in Hamburg were upholstered with genuine leather and transformed into stools. Pallets serve as frames for the couches, vases are made out of wine bottles, and paper cups were transformed into chandeliers. Plungers were converted into coat hooks and mousetraps were recycled into a pin board. Hundreds of used jeans were cut up and sewn together again as sofa covers giving the cinema lounge a cool denim ambience. On the opposite end of the spectrum Fischer installed premium mattresses, high-quality sinks, and a Ron Gilad lamp in the lobby to create a quality standard that is not typical for a hostel.

Another highlight of the Superbude is the stackable bed concept: the rejuvenated design classic of Rolf Heide from 1968 helps convert a two-bed room into a four-bed room in an instant. Consequently, the 74 room hotel caters for up to 240 guests.

The Superbude has successfully entered a niche within Hamburg’s hospitality industry. And after only four weeks the hotel had an occupancy rate of more than 80 percent. Why? The friendly and playful design as well as several entertaining elements attract a diverse crowd: from backpacker to business traveller everyone meets up in the Kitchenclub, the dining-hall, to prepare meals. And whilst some people are cooking the others are breaking virtual records on one of the Wii consoles. The hostel-hotel experience turns into a social event pretty fast!

Kai Hollmann

Dreimeta, Armin Fischer