John F. Kennedy made a historical visit to Berlin and this line in his speech became famous because when translated the phrase ‘Ein Berliner’ was actually colloquially known as a jelly donut.]
Large photomurals were also imported from Germany depicting scenes of the Neuschwanstein castle and Gustav Klimt artwork to continue the ambience in the bathroom and hallway areas.
East Berlin
The transition from the West Berlin room to the East Berlin room was initially intended to be constructed as a ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ gateway but instead it was decided to downplay it and keep the transition minimal by using a large framed artwork of a woman as the threshold overseer. It takes about 10 seconds from stepping passed her to find yourself transported to a totally different place where chic opulence is entirely replaced by an industrial ‘under occupation’ feel.
Rather than recreating an authentic East Berlin replica interior of drab beige and brown, the design became focused on creating a hypothetical military resistance movement hide-out, complete with queen size bed for lounging, a lavish throne for plotting, a record player hutch for reminiscing, and three recycled bathtub tables with maps embedded in resin for interrogation and escape-planning.
The giant bulb interrogation lights were designed and supplied by German ex-pat Volker Haug. Stacked military shell cases topped with thick bronze tinted glass act as casual seating areas around the bar and projector screen.
The bottle-green brick walls are adorned in murals and second-hand artwork that has been deliberately graffitied with German symbols and text by local artist Claudio Manteca, also responsible for the hot-air balloon stencil suspended over the bar to allude to the historical escape attempts to the West made by some crafty East Berliners.
The bar is finished in textured black surfaces as the unobtrusive central divider between East and West to keep the attention centered within each room.
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