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Lageplan • Site view
© Wilmina | Foto: Robert Rieger
Im Hinterhof: Hotel Wilmina und Restaurant Lovis • Backyard: the Wilmina hotel and the Lovis restaurant Grundriss ehemaliger Zellentrakt – heute Hotel • Floor plan former cell wing – today, the hotel
playfully emphasizes the height of the open space. The principle of the strung-together Restaurant in the prison entrance courtyard
cell modules can still be experienced in the hotel rooms as well. The former prison cells
were turned into 44 spacious guestrooms ranging from comfortable sleeping berth of With additional features – a library, a bar, a spa and a gym – the owner-operated hotel
with eleven square metres to the large Garden Loft measuring 75 square metres. All the offers its guests a high degree of calm and comfort with the standard regarding design.
guestrooms combine historic authenticity with modern luxury and comfort. No room In the Lovis restaurant, the worlds of gastronomy and architecture meet in a unique way.
resembles the other but in all of them, bright colours, soft textures and warm, high- Concealed behind walls, the restaurant is located in a former outside area, the entrance
quality materials are calming spaces for retreating. The architects enlarged the origi- courtyard of the prison. The prison yard is now an interior – panorama windows have re-
nally small and high-up windows towards the floor the so that a view of the courtyard placed the old gates and open the view of lush gardens, a fascinating interplay of the past
is now possible. At the back staircase, one cell was kept in the original condition. Col- and the present, the inside and the outside, of what is public and what is private. The re-
lected documents give the visitors insights into the complex history of the building. A staurant is accessed through a new extension building which links the former courtyard
completely different atmosphere welcomes the guests on the new penthouse floor. and the prison. The latter’s new, space-building wall fits quite unnoticeably into the me-
Here, there are clear lines and the very best views. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide a anwhile lush vegetation of the large garden courtyard. The wall consists of old bricks
view into the courtyards and the gardens. The new rooms have been designed to look which had been removed in other places in the course of the transformation. The eye-
minimalist, clear and calm; all the same, they have a poetic touch. In front of the pan- catcher in the room is a small, enclosed garden which, through a large glass wall, appeals
orama windows, a curtain of delicate metal chains ensures a high degree of privacy with rare ferns, vines, climbers and an old, tall birch tree. All the roof surfaces of the re-
and, at the same time, protection against insolation. The filigree chains are mounted staurant and the kitchen have been planted. The unique location and the sensible trans-
on springs and slightly move in the wind. Whenever the metal sparkles in the sun, the formation rich in details turn this place into a special experience in Berlin. Wilmina is a
curtain envelops the historic building with an elegantly shimmering veil. The roof ter- place for discovering surprising visual connections, ambiguous architectural spaces and
race offers a view of the roof gardens and inner courtyards of the ensemble as well as traces of the past. Wilmina is, however, also a place of calm, relaxation and comfort close
of the surrounding Charlottenburg roofscape in the distance. to nature – an oasis in the middle of the city – awarded with the BDA Preis Berlin 2021.
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