Chameleon concept. Interior design for Casa Camper Berlin by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave
02/10/2021.
[Berlin] Germany
metalocus, EDWIN GUAILLA
metalocus, EDWIN GUAILLA
MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave have been in charge of designing the new Camaleon Café in Berlin, located on the ground floor of the hotel called Casa Camper Berlin, a hotel developed by the Mallorcan shoe brand Camper.
The Café Camaleon combines a hotel lobby, a restaurant and a business in the same space. Using details with carefully selected materials, the design creates a color gradient that serves as a strong visual appeal to organize the interior.
The Café Camaleon combines a hotel lobby, a restaurant and a business in the same space. Using details with carefully selected materials, the design creates a color gradient that serves as a strong visual appeal to organize the interior.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Café Camelon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave. Photograph by Daria Scagliola.
Concept diagram. Café Camaleon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave.
Programme diagram. Café Camaleon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave.
Public private diagram. Café Camaleon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave.
Occupancy diagram 1. Café Camaleon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave.
Occupancy diagram 2. Café Camaleon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave.
Floor space diagram. Café Camaleon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave.
Axonometric. Café Camaleon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave.
Floorplan. Café Camaleon by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave.
In the outside, MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave design a 12-metre-long openable glass façade creates a clear, welcoming connection to the street. Inside, the colour gradient is achieved with different materials and in different manners: from resin colour panels in the counter to printed wood for the walls and cement-based floor tiles, mixed with different ratios of red, clear and brown recycled glass – making use of a traditional technique from Mallorca, Camper’s hometown.
Three programs are established, a lobby for the hotel, a restaurant and a business, however, they all share a common and necessary element: a counter to interact with customers. The main feature of the space is therefore a single 18 meter long counter serving all three programs. Each program was given its own color: red for the hotel lobby; white for the shop window, following the specifications of Camper Lab stores; and brown for the restaurant, inspired by the color of the German Milchkaffee.
Three programs are established, a lobby for the hotel, a restaurant and a business, however, they all share a common and necessary element: a counter to interact with customers. The main feature of the space is therefore a single 18 meter long counter serving all three programs. Each program was given its own color: red for the hotel lobby; white for the shop window, following the specifications of Camper Lab stores; and brown for the restaurant, inspired by the color of the German Milchkaffee.
Description of project by MVRDV, GRAS Arquitectos, Laura V Rave
MVRDV’s interior design for Casa Camper in Berlin unites three functions in a single space with a striking colour gradient.
Today MVRDV and GRAS Arquitectos, together with Berlin-based co-architect Laura V Rave, celebrate the completion of Café Camaleon, combining a hotel lobby, restaurant, and retail showcase in the same space. Occupying the ground floor of the Casa Camper Berlin – the second hotel developed by Mallorcan shoe brand Camper – the design uses carefully selected material details to create a colour gradient, which serves as a strong visual motif to organise the interior.
Casa Camper Berlin opened in 2009, situated in Berlin Mitte, close to a vibrant shopping area. Alongside the hotel lobby, the ground floor of the building originally included a separate commercial space. Camper approached MVRDV and GRAS Arquitectos to design a new concept for a lobby, retail showcase for Camper shoes, and restaurant that would better align with the brand’s strong design reputation.
The occupancy patterns of the three programmes are very different, meaning they are unlikely to be busy at the same time. There was therefore an opportunity to combine all three programmes in a single room, creating a flexible space that could adapt throughout the day, as well as for future needs, taking advantage of synergies between the different functions. Though the three areasoperate very differently, they all share one necessary element: a counter for interacting with customers. The main feature of the space is therefore a single, 18-metre-long counter serving all three functions.
Each function was given its own colour: red for the hotel lobby; white for the retail showcase, following the specifications for Camper Lab stores; and brown for the restaurant, inspired by the colour of German Milchkaffee. To show the interaction between the different programs, the colours merge into each other, creating a colour gradient throughout the length of the space that is visible in the floors, walls, and counter. These vibrant colours were the inspiration for the project’s name, Camaleon, as the appearance of the space will be very different depending on one’s vantage point.
Camaleon also references the brand’s first shoe from 1975, the Camaleón. “Flexibility is a key design principle for sustainability, you need to make things that can be changed without using resources”, says MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs. “But in architecture this type of flexibility is often represented as a kind of blandness or boringness. So for Camper we introduced an outspoken colour gradient to illustrate that the different activities could shift and merge inside one long room.
It is flexible, but it also grabs your attention. Outside, a 12-metre-long openable glass façade creates a clear, welcoming connection to the street. Inside, the colour gradient is achieved with different materials and in different manners: from resin colour panels in the counter to printed wood for the walls and cement-based floor tiles, mixed with different ratios of red, clear and brown recycled glass – making use of a traditional technique from Mallorca, Camper’s hometown.
Café Camaleon is MVRDV’s first completed work in Berlin – a timely completion as, after a long connection to Germany through projects such as their first project the Berlin Voids, the Expo 2000 building in Hannover, and the recently completed WERK12 in Munich, MVRDV opened an office in Berlin last year.
More information
Architects
Dates
2021.
Location
Berlin. Germany.
Photography
Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV
MVRDV was founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The practice engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues. A highly collaborative, research-based design method involves clients, stakeholders and experts from a wide range of fields from early on in the creative process. The results are exemplary, outspoken projects, which enable our cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.
The products of MVRDV’s unique approach to design vary, ranging from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban plans and visions, numerous publications, installations and exhibitions. Built projects include the Netherlands Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover; the Market Hall, a combination of housing and retail in Rotterdam; the Pushed Slab, a sustainable office building in Paris’ first eco-district; Flight Forum, an innovative business park in Eindhoven; the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam; the Matsudai Cultural Centre in Japan; the Unterföhring office campus near Munich; the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam; the Ypenburg housing and urban plan in The Hague; the Didden Village rooftop housing extension in Rotterdam; the music centre De Effenaar in Eindhoven; the Gyre boutique shopping center in Tokyo; a public library in Spijkenisse; an international bank headquarters in Oslo, Norway; and the iconic Mirador and Celosia housing in Madrid.
Current projects include a variety of housing projects in the Netherlands, France, China, India, and other countries; a community centre in Copenhagen and a cultural complex in Roskilde, Denmark, a public art depot in Rotterdam, the transformation of a mixed use building in central Paris, an office complex in Shanghai, and a commercial centre in Beijing, and the renovation of an office building in Hong Kong. MVRDV is also working on large scale urban masterplans in Bordeaux and Caen, France and the masterplan for an eco-city in Logroño, Spain. Larger scale visions for the future of greater Paris, greater Oslo, and the doubling in size of the Dutch new town Almere are also in development.
MVRDV first published a manifesto of its work and ideas in FARMAX (1998), followed by MetaCity/Datatown (1999), Costa Iberica (2000), Regionmaker (2002), 5 Minutes City (2003), KM3 (2005), Spacefighter (2007) and Skycar City (2007), and more recently The Vertical Village (with The Why Factory, 2012) and the firm’s first monograph of built works MVRDV Buildings (2013). MVRDV deals with issues ranging from global sustainability in large scale studies such as Pig City, to small, pragmatic architectural solutions for devastated areas such as New Orleans.
The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. One hundred architects, designers and urbanists develop projects in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative design process which involves rigorous technical and creative investigation. MVRDV works with BIM and has official in-house BREEAM and LEED assessors.
Together with Delft University of Technology, MVRDV runs The Why Factory, an independent think tank and research institute providing an agenda for architecture and urbanism by envisioning the city of the future.
Guillermo Reynés Architecture Studio GRAS
GRAS. Guillermo Reynes Architecture Studio is an office based in Palma de Mallorca with a satellite office in Madrid. The company produces designs in the fields of architecture and urban design. A wide range of projects are under the design at the moment: from housing complexes, office buildings and hotels to masterplans; In Spain and abroad. Collaboration and multi-disciplinarity are a must in GRAS designs. Since the beginning GRAS has gained a reputation as an innovative company by winning a number of high-profile projects and prices.
LAURA V RAVE
Laura V Rave is a Berlin-based office/studio for architecture, interior and outdoor spaces. Laura V Rave originated from Rave Architekten in 2003. In strong collaboration with its clients, the studio creates exceptional design with an individual and subtle atmosphere. Unique clubs, hotels, bars and restaurants, sophisticated living and working environments, exceptional shop, event and exhibition design all belong to the portfolio of the office.Laura V Rave’s architecture reveals great sensibility for the interaction of light, materials, and space. Strong concepts within the given premises build a core competence and enable to portray identities and target values.
The client base ranges from fashion labels such as adidas, Hugo Boss and Petra Teufel, to trade and fashion fairs like the Bread & Butter and the Premium, for which the office conceived runway shows, booths and pop-up restaurants. The office also designed working spaces for Unicorn.Berlin Mitte, as well as for companies such as Daimler AG, Axel Springer SE and SAP loT. Yet the heart of the project portfolio beats for the tasteful design of gastronomic institutions, such as Data-Kitchen for SAP, the Crackers Restaurant, the Cream, the Cookies and the Jack Rabbit in Munich.
The client base ranges from fashion labels such as adidas, Hugo Boss and Petra Teufel, to trade and fashion fairs like the Bread & Butter and the Premium, for which the office conceived runway shows, booths and pop-up restaurants. The office also designed working spaces for Unicorn.Berlin Mitte, as well as for companies such as Daimler AG, Axel Springer SE and SAP loT. Yet the heart of the project portfolio beats for the tasteful design of gastronomic institutions, such as Data-Kitchen for SAP, the Crackers Restaurant, the Cream, the Cookies and the Jack Rabbit in Munich.
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