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J ohanne Nalbach, the Seehotel am Neuklostersee in northern Mecklenburg was
founded in 1993. It‘s a unique hotel project that has grown steadily over the
years. How did you and your husband, Gernot Nalbach, both architects, come to
open and run such a hotel?
Johanne Nalbach (JN): I’m originally from Linz, and I’ve always admired the beautiful
farmhouses of Austria. In my opinion, they are the best energy-saving houses ever
built – created through generations of experience and in harmony with nature and its
forces. Holidays in the Salzkammergut shaped my childhood. Then, in 1991, we came
across a newspaper advert in Berlin: two farmhouses by a lake for sale. Rosi and
Horst had managed the manor house for the agricultural cooperative LPG Morgenröte
for 14 years and were about to lose their jobs. So my husband and I decided to turn
it into a hotel. After all, we had designed many already! The Seehotel opened in 1993,
starting with eleven rooms, still under Rosi’s management. Lena Nalbach (LN): Ano-
ther way to look at the story is perhaps through the longing for land and space that a
family locked inside the island of West Berlin felt – and the desire to design and ma-
nage a hotel down to the last detail, rather than hand it over and then “suffer” from
the operational changes that inevitably follow. Or, to put it positively, maybe it was
also a way of improving one’s karma. We were certainly inspired by the many travels Foto: Pastoriusz
we took as a family to idyllic places around the world – from Austrian farmhouses to
New York design hotels, and even to faraway eco-tourism farms in Brazil. Suite 5 im Kavaliershaus: Vier Meter hohe, liebevoll gestaltete Räume ... • Suite 5 at the Kavaliershaus ...

r How did the historical buildings of the Seehotel develop over time?
JN: The old barn, a beautiful timber-frame structure from the 19th century – now our
Kunstscheune (Art Barn) – together with the stone farmhouse built in 1914 and the
boathouse, were the beginning. In front of the stone house stood eleven dachas –
former weekend or summer houses – in diagonal alignment, and three more were
located elsewhere on the property. We extended the latter and added pitched roofs,
creating our three holiday houses. Over the years, we added winter gardens to the
barn and expanded the restaurant with a new kitchen area, as we needed more ca-
pacity in view of the planned Badescheune (Bathing Barn) with swimming pool, three
saunas and eleven suites. The Bath Barn opened in 2004. In 2010, on the foundations
and cellar of one of the dachas, we built the Wohlfühlhaus – our wellness house for
beauty treatments and massages. Next to the Art Barn, we created our small Gänse-
bar in memory of our four white geese. At the back, an accessible room became the
hotel’s final addition. That’s how the ensemble came together. The business became
somewhat more profitable through these continuous architectural expansions, the
quality of our restaurant Allesisstgut, as well as the wellness centre offering massages
Foto: Ben Donath
and cosmetic treatments.

r And what would you describe as the biggest challenges? How do you manage to
balance your two professions in terms of time and organisation? ... mit individuellen Bildmotiven für das Badezimmer • ... with individually themed bathroom artworks
JN: Both hotels and architecture demand a strict organisational approach. There isn’t
much time left, but alongside my children and grandchildren, they are my life. Many
wishes remain for my next one... LN: It’s indeed difficult, especially with the time Auftragsarbeit: PierDrei Hotel in Hamburg-HafenCity (2019) • PierDrei Hotel in Hamburg’s HafenCity (2019)
constraints that come with my children’s schooling. But the team at the Kavaliershaus
takes on much of the work – when it’s fully staffed – so we can focus on the ongoing
challenges: improving, observing, expanding...

r In 2010, you – mother and daughter – opened the Kavaliershaus Schloss Blücher
on Lake Fincken. The estate had previously been used as a school. What attracted
you both to this project?
JN: This beautiful, elegant 18th-century building was in danger of falling into disrepair.
So I bought it in a ten-minute telephone auction. My architectural eye was probably
the reason... And so the little sister of the lake hotel was born. LN: The village of
Fincken and its residents were a surprise to me—that you come from outside and are
greeted, that there is an appreciation for the fact that the building is being “saved.”
Generations have fond memories of this place as a school for more than 60 years.
We also have guests whose relatives taught in Fincken as early as 1930, and there is
a strange magic about this place. Guests keep coming back, even from far away. We
have gradually brought the history of the building to life – old clay construction me-
thods, exposed layers of paint on the walls that reveal the passage of time, artifacts
from the school‘s inventory... It is the sum of all these details that has given the “new” Foto: Piet Niemann
a framework and a completely different value.

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