Karim Rashid's new design hotel on the Spree River in Berlin

Curves abound in Karim Rashid's Nhow Hotel in Berlin, but that is no shock for anyone familiar with Mr.Rashid's work.

Starting from the lobby reception desk, which is large, pink and amorphous to the ceilings of the hotel bar which are recessed blobs, the entire design scheme is an exercise in the manipulation of form.

One might not expect there to be any symmetry in such an abstract theme, but going from room to room, there is a precise symmetry at work here--the symmetry of asymmetry. This is quite interesting given the contrast of the hotel's exterior, which is a rather vast looking block situated on Spree River, the historical division of former East and West Germany.

Rather, the angular building owes more to the aesthetics of former East Germany than its old neighbor, West Germany, and by extension the interior does a bit too.

With their flamboyant colors and vaguely dated modular installations that harken back to 1970s cutting edge design, Karim Rashid's interior could have been a very fancy discotheque in East Berlin--the surface decorations of series of repeating curving lines like something out of a psychedelic music video--or an old physics textbook--also has a tinge of the Communist Chic aesthetic

According to Karim Rashid, part of his motivation was to develop a new visual language that reflects back on the new data-driven digital world, and one can see that influence in the consistent theme of curvaceous, Moebius strip-like surfaces. It is what one might imagine what a digital playground to look like, or at least one from the 1970s.

In the guestrooms, the Op-Art flooring is made out of printed recyclable wood laminate and there are two-way mirrors that are designed to hide that most tacky of amenities, the television.
The bathrooms continue the look of "digipop" with customized colors of pink and purple as well as the curved surfaces. Interesting to note that amid this cacophony of color, the lighting can be customized to suit three moods: work, play and relax.

Likewise, in the hotel bar--usually a staid and banal environment--there is a slightly ominous looking "head" situated in the center of the bar. Resembling Italian Futurist sculptor R.A.Bertelli's 1933 "Continuous Profile of Mussolini" where Il Duce' s head is in a continuous spin to produce a bust in the round, this installation is crafted out of gold lacquered fiberglass, and creates a lavish statement in a room dominated by hot pinks and blues.

For a last word in contrast, the hotel contains an art gallery, which like many art galleries, is a rather barren Industrial enclave of concrete and steel with exposed piping. Given the exuberance of the main interior, it is only appropriate that this space be as stripped down and minimalist as it is. In fact, it is coyly perverse and knowing Karim Rashid, that was perhaps his true intention. ★