Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Hotel Jaz in the City opened in Stuttgart in 2018, combining the features of a design hotel, gastronomic hub and music venue: 166 rooms and suites, restaurant, rooftop terrace cocktail bar, wellness area as well as conference and seminar rooms are available for guests interested in music and culture, as well as business travellers. After Amsterdam, Stuttgart will be the second city in which the new hotel concept is realized. Vienna will follow in 2020, and Dubai in 2022.
From (self) check-in to the sundowner on the bar terrace, Jaz in the City promises a relaxed sojourn in an urban atmosphere that conveys the authentic lifestyle of the respective guest city. For instance, the hotel sources local music and cultural offerings in the form of live music, prominent DJs and rotating exhibitions. To ensure the concept is implemented holistically, the brand relies on cool design, innovative technology and functional equipment. Häfele, the internationally operating company for hardware solutions and electronic access control systems, accompanied the decision-makers involved in construction right from the start as a competent planning partner. They used Häfele’s 360° comprehensive project solutions to select a wide range of products for implementing comfort and a high degree of functionality throughout the whole hotel.
Music, design and interior comfort
Rising 61 metres above Stuttgart’s valley basin, the skyscraper titled “Cloud No. 7” is the highest building in the inner city, not far from the main train station – and with 18 storeys, it certainly lives up to its name. From 2016 to 2018, it was constructed according to the design by tecARCHITECTURE Swiss AG while the hotel interior was designed by Stuttgart firm GEPLAN DESIGN. While the upper floors house luxurious condominium apartments, the first seven storeys offer hotel guests a stunning view of the State capital of Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart.
GEPLAN DESIGN found creative ways to incorporate characteristic features of the automotive and technology hub, Stuttgart, into the interior design of the hotel; this puts guests in the right frame of mind to enjoy their stay in the city. On the entry level, different zones each with a distinct design are arranged in a sort of “box in box” system. For instance, the reception desk in the lobby is made of metal and designed in the style of an autobody; open on all sides, it is arranged in front of the large digital information wall. Its shape recalls the Mercedes star while the benches and stools were designed with a nod to leather car seats. Colourful sofas reflect the city’s cultural diversity while in the restaurant area, warm materials like wood and copper enhance its rustic cosiness. An aluminium pad “sky” recalls the leaves of the outlying vineyards and references the world famous Cannstatter Volksfest and its hospitality: Swabian tradition in a highly modern building.
Dialock: Open doors with an app or key card
Attractive temporary living space and highly modern hotel operations beyond all expectations await discovery by visitors at Jaz Stuttgart. This includes the option of quick, convenient and straightforward (self) check-in: Booking, check in, check out as well as payment can all be done digitally, if desired. In combination with the Jaz app, the user’s smartphone serves as reception and room key in one.
In this system, the door and wall terminals of the Dialock electronic access control system by Häfele are centrally integrated and offer outstanding convenience with maximum security.
Guests not wishing to take advantage of digital check-in can also check in at the reception desk in the usual fashion. Such guests are then provided at reception with the branded Dialock Key Card, which is used to touchlessly open their guest room as well as the doors of all booked areas – thanks to transponder technology.
While the battery-operated DT 710 door terminals equipped with Bluetooth interfaces are installed in the guest rooms, seminar rooms and hallways, the main entrance and elevators were equipped with the cabled WT 210 wall reader. To consistently implement the smartphone key concept, these wall readers were also equipped with a Bluetooth interface.
WT 200 online wall readers were installed at an additional 130 access points.
For these doors, access authorisations can be issued and revoked directly from a PC. Every instance of access is logged online and the doors can be unlocked and locked online.
Häfele engaged a service partner to take care of the switch cabinets housing the complex electronics. In the end, they were all installed in the equipment areas of the basement level where they remain hardly noticeable, organised and easily accessible. The electronic access control system is enhanced by a mechanical locking system for subordinate areas.
A very special and convenient solution was found for the letterboxes of the condominium apartments above Jaz Stuttgart: Each of the 50 letterboxes is equipped with a DT 510 electronic profile cylinder by Dialock that here, too, enables touchless and quick opening with no need for a key.
Access authorisations are granted individually with Dialock. This means that each user can only unlock the areas they have been authorised to enter. For instance, the elevators automatically only stop at floors relevant to the specific guest, making orientation easier and additionally ensuring security within the building.
To electronically open the doors, hotel staff use practical key tags that can be attached to a key chain.
Slido sliding door fittings: Space-saving doors in guest rooms
Although guest rooms vary in size between 26 and 32 square metres, and even the suites range in size between 42 and 67 square metres, there’s no difference at all when it comes to the overarching design statement and furnishings. Yet the building’s dynamically shaped footprint, from which arose very different room geometries overall, confronted the interior design planners and joiners with certain challenges. This was because each new room shape made it necessary to individually adapt the furniture and fittings – in other words, the entire room concept had to be adjusted.
Friendly, fresh and clear – this is probably the best description for the design of the hotel rooms overall: Floors, walls and ceilings as well as the fittings were kept in bright tones or neutral white, which allows the colourful and cosy upholstered furniture pieces, as already introduced in the lobby lounge, to serve as accents.
Friendly, fresh and clear – this is probably the best description for the design of the hotel rooms overall: Floors, walls and ceilings as well as the fittings were kept in bright tones or neutral white, which allows the colourful and cosy upholstered furniture pieces, as already introduced in the lobby lounge, to serve as accents.
Spacious cabinets have been dispensed with, while instead airy shelf zones with an integrated safe provide sufficient storage space and secure safekeeping. Certain room categories offer more spacious, walk-in closets featuring a luggage bench and shelf compartments – which can also be divided with sliding glass doors.
“The Häfele product range offers an entire selection of products for fitting out closets and wardrobe areas according to functional yet aesthetic design principles,” says Patrick Wiest, Head of Planning at GEPLAN DESIGN. For instance, when it came to aluminium and stainless steel wardrobe hooks, a total of 470 of these found their way into the guest rooms at Jaz Stuttgart.
In guest rooms and suites, a smart TV, soundbar and other entertainment tools arranged on a curved desk board positioned along one room wall ensure guests have access to all the communication and entertainment they desire. The dynamic shape of this furniture piece mirrors the architectural language of the entire building in the language of interior design.
Large-format mirrors in the room and on the inner sides of the doors visually expand the rooms and emphasize the play of light in the room.
All work & all play: Slido Wall makes rooms flexible
Two boardrooms on the sixth floor are available for meetings. On the basement level titled “The Base,” a large interconnecting conference area directly across from a spacious foyer with wardrobe and food & beverage service capability can be divided into three conference rooms.
“Here in the basement, we placed especially high value on flexible multi-functionality so that the large conference area can be used in as many different ways as possible,” explains Patrick Wiest. When no longer required, the room-height panels of the Slido Wall partition wall systems by Häfele stow as compact packages in the cabinet zone – from where, if needed, they can be moved together easily and without much effort into soundproofed walls. In the version with an electronic semi-automatic/automatic seal, this system conveniently seals the partition walls. The mobile partition wall is also integrated into the Dialock access control system.
Contact switches are invisibly mounted inside the wall posts, where they serve as an interface to the building control systems and indicate the locking status of the wall. Moreover, the surfaces of the Slido Wall sliding walls can be designed in a variety of ways, so as to suit the respective rooms.
Whether at work or afterwards, guests should feel very comfortable in the hotel and experience world-class comfort. The Wellbeing Area, featuring fitness machines, sauna, steam bath and relaxation zone, is equipped with state-of-the art systems to ensure rest and relaxation – the perfect place to gracefully bring one’s day to a close. The Roof Bar offers opportunities for amusement and is a place to balance out meetings and events and it’s also open to external guests at all times.
Tags: Design Hotel, Dialock, gastronomic hub and music venue, Hafele, Häfele’s 360°, Head of Planning at GEPLAN DESIGN, Hotel Jaz, Patrick Wiest, Slido Wall, stuttgart, tecARCHITECTURE
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