As with every element of The Circus Hotel, the design of the rooms and public spaces was influenced by the overall philosophy of the company. At its core our philosophy is a simple one: to welcome travellers to our city in the way we would like to be welcomed when we travel ourselves.

This includes a commitment a quality-orientated approach, travel as a social activity, and an attempt to minimise the negative impact of our activities whilst at the same time making a positive contribution to the life of our staff, guests, the neighbourhood and the wider society. When it comes to the design approach at The Circus, this overall philosophy is reflected in a commitment to individuality and authenticity, design that is simple without being minimal, helpful and self-explanatory, and that hopefully makes you smile.

We want The Circus Hotel to be a warm and comfortable place for a guests, and a memorable and valuable part of your trip and not simply a place to rest your head. Travel is all about experience, and your time in the hotel should be a positive part of that.

Click through the gallery on the left for more examples from inside The Circus Hotel, or read more below.

The interior of The Circus Hotel was designed by Sandra Ernst. Originally from Reutlingen in the south of Germany, Sandra has lived in Berlin for over fifteen years. She studied product design in Potsdam, before becoming involved with a number of different projects at The Circus.

Sandra is not only responsible for the overall look of The Circus Hotel, but also the sister Hostel across the street. Apart from her work here, Sandra also produces glassware (chandeliers, bowls, jewellery) which she sells through her company “gifted”.

In Sandra’s own words, the atmosphere and ambiences she was creating in the hotel was based on her personal design philosophy:

“I wanted to create something out of the ordinary – bright and cheerful – with individual elements that are hand-crafted and carefully selected. Each room should be a space that I myself would like to live in.

Most of all, design should not be ‘in your face’...it should be there to discover and to explore, as long as you take the time to look.”

The defining element of the room design at The Circus Hotel is that each room is different and individually designed, but with some common elements such as the consistent use of bright and cheerful colours. Individual pieces of furniture were selected with a preference for individual, hand-crafted pieces, whilst common elements such as beds, tables and benches were custom-made by Andreas Rüter to Sandra’s specifications.

Each room has a theme, but the nature of the theme is shown in different ways – often subtly – with gives the guest something to discover. This could be in the form of a re-occurring motif in the decoration, or in the style of the furniture selected. More often than not Sandra began the design of each room with a single detail – a small picture, or an individual piece of furniture – and built the theme around that. This bottom-up approach to design is characteristic of her work.

In the Restaurant Fabisch Sandra worked extremely closely with Elisa Strozyk (see below) to create a design theme that reflected the history of the building and its former incarnation as a men’s clothing store – which was also the inspiration behind the name. If you would like to read more about the history of the building and the reasons behind the choice of name “Fabisch”, please click here.

The history of men’s clothing at Rosenthaler Platz 1 is reflected in the restaurant design in a number of ways. The photo-wallpaper (by Eliza Strozyk) depicts surrounds the back end of the restaurant with images from a classic men’s tailors, whilst a number of elements in Fabisch were based on Pepita (Hound’s Check), such as the light-boxes and wall-coverings, the cushions and the 3D elements on the facade, as well as on the logo.

Elisa Strozyk was born in Berlin and has studied textile and surface design in Berlin, London and Paris. The winner of the Samsonite “Future Travel” award in 2008, Elisa’s work has been exhibited in the UK, Poland, Germany, Korea and Japan, and has appeared in publications in Italy, Germany and the UK. Elisa worked with Sandra Ernst on the concept for the restaurant Fabisch, including the creation and installation of the wall-coverings and photo-wallpaper. You can find more information about Elisa and her work on her website: www.elisastrozyk.de. .

Nina Stähli divides her time between Zug (Switzerland) and Berlin and has been involved in too many projects, awards, collaborations, exhibitions and publications than we have space for here. Her work has been exhibited around the world, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Japan and Austria.

During her career she has won awards to studio and project stays in Berlin, Genoa and Tokyo and her most recent solo exhibition was called “Touching Heroes and Catalysis” at the Gallery Art/Seefeld in Zurich. Nina created “The Sparrows” which live in the winter garden of the Restaurant Fabisch. You can see example of her work and more information on her website: www.ninastaehli.ch.

Haleh Redjaian was born in Germany and studied and worked in Antwerp, Belgium, before moving to Berlin. An artist that has worked in many mediums, Haleh has exhibited across Europe, including in Ghent, Antwerp, Cologne, Berlin, Breda, Amsterdam amongst others. One of her more recent exhibitions was as part of “Common Ground”, which featured five different artists at the secondhome projects here in Berlin. At The Circus Hotel Haleh made wall-paintings on three of the upstairs corridors as well as wall-mounted sculptures for the WiFi system.