Crazy Life
Business travelers, artists, city tourists – Gekko House really is aimed at all manner of different customers. As a consequence, the hotel’s claim is that – “life is crazy.” The basic requirements certainly are favorable for this because Gekko House is situated in the heart of the Gallus district in downtown Frankfurt, between the main railway station and the trade-fair complex, in other words where business and pleasure go hand-in-hand. Correspondingly, the hotel’s interior has a feel to it that is both sophisticated and relaxed at the same time. For the bathrooms, the choice fell on “Kartell by Laufen”, the fruit of collaboration between Laufen and Kartell. Specifically, the “bespoke service” by Laufen was chosen allowing architects and designers to create customized solutions for the bathroom. What’s more, it’s possible to not only to have alternative versions of existing products such as different colors, surfaces or dimensions but also tailored items for all product areas.
Gekko House boasts more than 128 rooms and suites across seven stories – and depending on the category with a freestanding bathtub and a view out over the skyline of this financial metropolis. The hotel’s interior design is consciously full of contrasts – “practically every room has a high fair-faced concrete ceiling and walls – for a hotel, something very special indeed. We combined these rough stylistic elements with cozy chic, which made for the kind of contrasts that have given the place its own particular personality, one that is anything but run-of-the-mill,” explains Thomas Tritsch, proprietor of MORGEN Interiors, the company that came up with the design concept for the Gekko.
For the washstands and WCs, the interior designers opted for “Kartell by Laufen” which have been staged in such a way as to contrast with the fair-faced concrete of the walls and ceilings. The collection’s clear stylistic vocabulary, with its refined design and delicate rims, fits in seamlessly with the bathroom designs, which features tiles that look like glass bricks. The pale gray ceramic washstands are mounted on black consoles made of pulverized steel, something that further accentuates the lightness and its rectangular look of “Kartell by Laufen”. The pale gray ceramic WCs, their bases tapering at the bottom like cones, also give the interior a natural feel. The range’s design boasts a pared-back, timeless quality, thus fitting in perfectly with the atmosphere at Gekko House,” comments Tritsch.
The color of the washstands and toilets was specifically requested by the interior designers who took advantage of Laufen’s “bespoke service”. The objective here was to come up with the kind of washstands and WCs that would fit in with the industrial concrete charm of the tiles, with their different shades of gray. This is why the color of the sanitary elements was custom-matched and specially produced for the project in pale satin gray. “Thanks to the bespoke range, we were able to subtly present the Gekko’s special aura – something that, in a hotel, very much amounts to a brand promise – in its bathrooms.” (ar)
