Cardboard Suite Hotel [installation] de zhdk / Departement Design

From 7.12 - 10.12.2006 an empty house on the site of Zurich’s goods railway station was transformed for 72 hours into a very special kind of hotel: the cardboard suite hotel designed by students Lovis Caputo and Sarah Kueng offered its guests not just opportunities for an overnight stay and relaxation but also a game involving expectations, surprises and discoveries. There were no rooms for people to book but small cardboard suites, which had been created by cutting up and combining cardboard boxes. Every cardboard suite represented a particular experience. Guests were able to choose among six different suites, ranging from the Clochard suite right across to the Royale suite. Each contained a box of materials with which the guest was able to decorate the suite. At the same time the selection of the objects which were made available served to stimulate guests to explore their own fantasy worlds. Guests were able to choose their suites at the reception on the basis of models of the suites. Each cardboard model had a peephole in its base in order to give potential guests a good impression of the space within the suite. After only a few hours the cardboard suite hotel was fully booked for the coming three days. We hope that at the 2007 furniture exhibition in Milan the young designers Lovis Caputo and Sarah Kueng will once more have the opportunity to welcome visitors at their cardboard suite hotel.