Kameha Grand Bonn: Marcel Wanders Gives Glass Architecture a Theatrical Interior

Kameha Grand Bonn places two different scales of hospitality inside one building: the expansive spaces required by a business hotel and the more personal settings associated with a boutique stay. In the interior recorded in Marcel Wanders’ 2010 project archive, patterned surfaces, enormous light fittings and curtains give character to the transparent architecture beside the Rhine. The river remains a reference throughout, visible beyond the glass and from the elevated pool terrace.

Trees in monumental planters establish smaller seating areas beneath the patio’s transparent roof. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

The building was designed by architect Karl-Heinz Schommer. Its broad glazed volumes provided the interior team with a distinctive challenge: how to make a setting conceived around openness also accommodate a conversation, a meal or an afternoon at the spa. Wanders’ response introduced elements that could be read across a large room, then used softer boundaries to create places within that larger space.

A glazed framework, softened from within

Curtains were central to that approach. The studio’s project description explains how these generous fabric divisions temper the hardness of the glass architecture and give the large rooms a more intimate scale. The original hotel press material also describes meeting islands separated with flowing textiles. Rather than enclosing every activity in a conventional room, the design used furnishings and fabric to establish its settings within the open interior.

Oversized bell lights mark the hotel entrance within Karl-Heinz Schommer’s glazed building. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

In the patio photographs, tall trees rise from oversized, gold-coloured planters beneath the glazed roof. Seating is scattered around their bases, so a visitor encounters both the height of the atrium and smaller arrangements close to the floor. The contrast between architecture, planting and furniture makes the different scales visible in a single view.

An ornamental chandelier and botanical partitions bring the hotel’s enlarged decorative motifs into the dining area. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Pattern becomes a point of orientation

A stylised bouquet of German flowers served as a recurring motif in the project. Applied at a large scale, the pattern connected an otherwise eclectic mix of materials and surfaces. It also gave decorative detail a role beyond an individual cushion or accessory: flowers became part of the hotel's spatial identity.

A white floral screen contrasts with the saturated red pattern of the corridor. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

The archival photographs show how that language changed from room to room. A corridor pairs a saturated red patterned surface with a white floral screen. In a dining area, botanical booth partitions sit beneath an ornamental white chandelier. These variations give each setting its own atmosphere while retaining the broader vocabulary of enlarged decoration and emphatic colour.

Suites as individual settings

The hotel’s original programme included themed suites alongside its guest rooms. Contemporary project material described different configurations for entertaining, play, work and dressing, treating the suite as an opportunity for a particular experience rather than a repeated furniture package. Those themes extended the idea of hospitality as a sequence of distinct environments.

Reflective surfaces and a chandelier give the suite bathroom its own theatrical character. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

A photographed suite bathroom demonstrates the approach at a smaller scale. Reflective, gold-toned surfaces, a freestanding basin composition and a chandelier turn an everyday ritual into a conspicuous part of the interior. The glazed connection to the adjoining bedroom also carries the building’s broader interest in transparency into a private setting.

A quieter encounter with the river

The spa shifts the emphasis towards reclining, filtered light and views. White curtains and oval woven loungers provide a softer register than the hotel’s richly patterned corridors. Chandeliers preserve the decorative continuity, but the arrangement leaves room for the bodies and pauses associated with a lounge.

Curtains and woven loungers introduce a softer register in the spa. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Outside, the rooftop pool places the water surface against the surrounding landscape. The archival evening view shows the pool glowing blue beside a timber deck and glazed lounge. It completes the project’s progression from large public interiors to more secluded spaces, keeping the Rhine setting present throughout the experience.

The rooftop pool extends the hotel’s spa sequence onto an open terrace. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.

Project information and sources

Project: Kameha Grand Bonn. Location: Bonn, Germany. Interior design: Marcel Wanders. Building architect: Karl-Heinz Schommer. Project archive date: 2010. Programme: hotel interiors, restaurants, meeting and event spaces, suites, spa and outdoor pool. This article describes the original design documented in the studio’s archive.

Archive credit: Kameha Grand Bonn, an iconic interior by Marcel Wanders, operated by the global hospitality company L&H Group, 2010.

Project information and archival images: Marcel Wanders’ official Kameha Grand Bonn press room and the original English project release.