A boutique hotel is a place where the attracting factor is not the touristic scenery but architecture itself. This was the case for a small Hungarian countryside hotel, where the owners wished to transform their existing guesthouse into an inviting guest-attraction with the highest demands. To achieve this Adam Singer and his Budapest based Singer Design Studio designed the Butik Design Rooms.
The exterior and the interior also reflect modernist signs seasoned with the designers’ belief in exciting shapes, a larrikin but homey look, the use of natural thus enduring elements/materials and the communication with the environment. Due to the strict local regulations the building itself remained close to how it used to look with the walls drilled for glazing and some linear openings added to the roof. Materials used are quartzite stone, antiqued flame-burnt and double-tainted three-dimensional wooden boards, rusty steel cladding and glass. The old house comes back in the grey roof and grey plastered facade.
The mini-hotel is accompanied with a large spa-pool and various terraces. At the same time, the most important factor is, as for every hotel, its internal say. “We are hopeful to declare that Butik Rooms is one of the most extravagant, the most thematic hotels in the world!” say the architect. With only 6 rooms it was feasible to make them all diverse. The hotel is situated near the Tisza-lake (artificial lake for Tisza river) so the designers sought inspiration in local uniqueness, the Big Plain’s country life and the Tisza-lake’s savage landscape.
In the Oak Room, everything possible was made of wood. The washbasin, the lamps, the wall coverings, the armchair, the rug, etc. Plenty of unique pieces were collected from all over the world. Its special ambience comes from the cozy materials and the contemporary spirit, which makes it one of the most liked rooms.
In the Water Room the colors, the cool temper, the lights and the changing reflections all recall water. The relaxing depth of the blue color sounds almost the silence. The waving ceiling created of different lengths of blue twines can crown the design once finished (maybe this autumn, as deadline was too short before opening).
The specialty of the Ice Room are glossy white resin floor, shiny white painted walls and the softly lit artificial reed composition put between frozen-looking etched glass walls which reveal their content from the shower and the toilet. Bedside tables are ancient sledges; the glazing of the wardrobe is like frosted ice sheet while all the lights are chosen of the coolest LED options. Warm balance is given back with thick brown blankets, tissues and a very soft fur-rug.
The Fire Room‘s character is based on the rusty wall cladding, which is the continuation of the exterior facade. The visible furniture parts are made of burnt, carbonised real wood and the yellow lights dropped on light-flare glass prints imitate cracking fire. We can enjoy our hot shower with an ethanol fireplace on the other side of the shower glazing.
The Bird Room being a disabled room remains spacious with little furniture and therefore a vague concept. The bedside lamps, made of birdcages, are suspended in front of a custom-designed wallpaper that zooms on bird plumes. Details are important: the lamp on the writing table is made of plumes and stands on copper bird feet and we can comfortably sit on a Jacobsen Swan Chair.
The Boat Room is the biggest of the six, the most beloved for guests, because its inspiration comes from Hungarian traditions and rural life interpreted in a contemporary way. A Jacuzzi-tub is built in a real boat, which stands in the center of the view. The king-size baldachin bed uses mosquito net, the bedside lamp is made of authentic milk cans hanging on traditional forged iron cantilevers. Wardrobe handles are rows, the washbasin is a real cauldron, the walls are whitewashed and the floor is rammed under the white resin. The bathroom is dominated by a shadoof painting printed on the shower.
all images courtesy of SINGER DESIGN STUDIO