The lifestyle hotel Bretterbude at Perlebucht in Büsum shows how fittings, ceramics and accessories from Ideal Standard play their part in a highly creative hotel design that is geared towards the unconventional spirit of surfing and skate sports.

Heimathafen Management GmbH & Co. KG, based in St. Peter-Ording, opened the Bretterbude hotel in Büsum in December 2022 based on a self-developed concept in which the name Bretterbude says it all: the architecture and interior design - some of which are individually handcrafted - are themed around the surfing and skating scene as well as the leisure facilities at Perle Bay. The interior design of the bathrooms consistently reflects the overall style of the hotel. The numerous details, which come together to create a very unique, distinctly individual image, include not only tried-and-tested large-series products from Ideal Standard in conventional designs in 112 rooms. Fittings and accessories with Ideal Standard's Silk Black surface in a matt black colour contribute to the charm of the rooms in this somewhat different hotel.

Heimathafen Management GmbH & Co. KG has been operating a group of hotels on the North Sea and Baltic Sea under the name Heimathafen Hotels since 2013, which aims to offer the right hotel for every holiday wish. As ‘snotty-rock surfer and skater shacks’, the Bretterbude in Heiligenhafen and the Bretterbude in Büsum (www.bretterbude-buesum.de) are particularly aimed at a clientele that appreciates an authentic environment in the spirit of the surf and skater scene. Following the great success of the Bretterbude in Heiligenhafen, which opened in August 2016, Heimathafen Hotels opened the Bretterbude in Büsum in December 2022 with a concept adapted to the local location. The Bretterbude is located close to the Perlebucht family lagoon, the Wadden Sea and Büsum itself. Architect Jan Ruempler, who was involved in the planning of both Bretterbude cabins, explains: ‘For almost half of the rooms, we used the floor plan of the standard rooms initially developed for the Bretterbude Heiligenhafen. We enlarged the remaining rooms to make balconies possible, as we wanted the rooms to be a little more upmarket.

A total of 112 rooms are available. Of these, 102 have been developed in the standard design. 10 rooms are intended for the co-operation partner room concept. This concept runs through all Heimathafen Hotels. It means that external companies and non-profit organisations are involved in the design of a room together with the architect. For example, a cooperation room at the Bretterbude Büsum is dedicated to the organisation Skate Aid (www.skate-aid.org). The non-profit organisation from Münster promotes meaningful and identity-forming skateboarding for children and youth projects for personal development worldwide.

Echo of subculture in creative design

According to architect Ruempler, the design concept of the rooms as a whole ties in stylistically with the original idea of the Bretterbude as a low-budget hotel specifically for the skater and surfer scene: ‘Sport, surf and skateboards per se, the subculture of the scene resonate here. We have chosen the materials in the new Bretterbude in Büsum accordingly.’ The most striking materials are concrete, wood and steel. In the interior, wood in the form of construction veneer panels, which may have an unfinished, raw appearance, but are actually high-quality construction elements made of solid wood. Black steel was used for the steel: Raw, untreated steel that has simply been painted. The floor is sealed concrete. ‘Overall, this results in a rough charm, which we naturally wanted and which is reflected in the bathroom design,’ comments the architect.

In the bathrooms, the floor tiles also have a concrete look, the wall tiles are warmer and change color. Depending on the processing, they sometimes appear deliberately restless. A cooperation partner takes the design to the extreme and installs bathroom tiles inclined by 15° in changing colors. The washbasins are essentially made of former oil drums. They were cut open and openings were made for the connections. Stainless steel basins, manufactured in small series especially for the hotel, were then inserted into these barrels. The deep-drawn basins also had the logo of the shack etched into them. The washbasin top, which encloses the barrel, is also an untreated step plate, as is otherwise used as an anti-slip surface in industrial environments, for example. It is simply clear-coated.

"The combination of all these details is what we worked on for a long time to make sure it was suitable for a hotel. The color of the fittings and accessories was also discussed intensively. A black surface was chosen for aesthetic reasons. This means that this sanitary equipment goes very well with the steel components and forms a unifying, leitmotif element in the overall picture of the bathroom design. Black is not always black, sanitary products differ in this respect, but economic reasons were probably also the deciding factor in the choice of fittings," says architect Ruempler. And last but not least, Rolf Petersen GmbH in Osterrönfeld, the installer, recommended Ideal Standard products. This is proof that Ideal Standard is also highly valued in the sanitary trade.

Black and white furnishings

Ideal Standard collections are represented in the Bretterbude in 112 guest rooms as well as in the bathrooms in the public and employee areas. The most important products: The wall-mounted washbasin fittings for the custom-made washbasins are from the Ceraline collection in Silk Black. The Tonic II fitting in Silk Black was used for the bathtubs, and thermostats from the Ceratherm T25 series in conjunction with the Ideal Rain shower set in Silk Black were used in the showers. Accessories also in Silk Black are from the IOM collection: towel hooks, brush set and spare roll holder. Silk Black is a matt black tone in which selected products from various Ideal Standard collections are available. Silk Black also offers the option of being combined with the white ceramic collections. In the Bretterbude, the choice fell on toilets from the Connect Air series and the Connect Freedom series.

Architectural Board Game

Just as the bathrooms and rooms of the Büsum boardroom form a seamless stylistic unit, the visual concept around the leitmotif of "boards" is also continued in the facade. The architectural trick here is to make the building appear as if several small gabled houses had been placed next to one another, using three different window sizes and three different types of facade material. The wood - which is applied in overlapping shingles, among other things - is untreated. The material turns grey over the years due to the weather, giving the hotel the unconventional charm on the outside that it has on the inside in the interplay of numerous details. In this respect, Ideal Standard collections prove that they contribute to a harmonious overall picture even in a particularly creative design context.