White solitaire with views over the Alster:
Hotel “The Fontenay”

Three fluid circles”, this is how the architects describe the ground plan of their five-star superior hotel “The Fontenay” in Hamburg.

In the premium city location on the southwestern bank of Hamburg’s Aussenalster Lake, the eight-storey solitaire building with free-flowing contours blends elegantly into the park-like grounds. The elegantly curved façade is structured into horizontal bands of glass surfaces and large-size, brilliant white-glazed ceramic panels in compliance with the Alster building ordinance. This fits in with the design approach of architect Jan Störmer, for whom white buildings always have something of a maritime character. The Fontenay interprets the specifications of the ordinance in a modern way with a rainscreen facade of ceramic panels. With eight different, individually adapted radii from 1 500 mm to 22 000 mm, 1 200 m² white-glazed façade tiles were manufactured to order. The clay tiles were fixed with a system that does not require a specific fixing sequence and consequently offers great time savings. Accordingly, the substructure is mounted with all panel holders and the panels hung without tools. This system also prevents the unwanted removal of panels.