Carbon Genk - Belgium

Stepping into an Amsterdam warehouse to avoid a downpour, Peter Cornoedus stumbled across the tiles he had been looking for to complete the Taste restaurant at the Carbon Hotel in Genk.

Cornoedus’s PCP Architects is the designer of the hotel situated in Limburg, the most easterly of Belgium’s five Flemish provinces. A former mining town with winding gear and (landscaped) slagheaps to prove it, Cornodeus was recreating the terrazzo flooring he remembered as a boy in the kitchens of long-disappeared migrant mineworkers from southern Italy. The tiles cover the dropped ceiling above the open kitchen of the hotel’s restaurant that won the 2008 European Hotel Design Award for best restaurant interior design.

The cement tiles, subtly coloured with a multiplicity of matt patterns arranged haphazardly across the ceiling, are from Morocco. Neither the colour nor the provenance are typical for the hotel. As the hotel’s name implies there is a strong use of black, internally and externally, that is far from overbearing. Furthermore the hotel is a celebration of local Limburg design. Owner, Peter Geurden, has already strongly promoted the region with five other hotels in his Different Hotels Group. At the Carbon Hotel as much as possible has been made, sourced and designed locally by locals.

Cornoedus is joined by other Limburgians, fashion designer Stijn Helsen who designed the staff uniforms and beds, and Pieter Stockmans, responsible for the beautiful hand-finished china, a range for the hotel that goes as far as delicate napkin rings. Guestroom seating is from Indera and large pouffes, upholstered in black and gold Baroque material are by Le Couchon; both Limburg based. The wallcoverings, including ridged wallpaper, are by Arte whilst the majority of the lighting is from Kreon; both internationally focused companies headquartered less than 15km from the hotel.

“I was delighted to be able to define the design concept from beginning to end, right down to the glassware”, explains Cornoedus. “The most difficult thing was finding, and defining, that concept.” Interpreting the machismo-mining environment led in part to the angularity of the vast bulk of the new building, an L-shaped construction set around a raised courtyard. Here, offsetting the dark brick mass, are the graceful curves of a huge tensile black awning by Velum, yet another Belgian manufacturer.

Strong materials are used. Broad stained wood floorboards, the Moroccan tiles, iron plate lining the lifts, metallic-effect floor mosaic defining the guestroom bathrooms. Textures are also varied: woven vinyl flooring, the ridged Arte wall covering, matt and gloss paint finishes, cowhide upholstery.

And whilst black is the predominant colour – from the teaspoons to the loo paper – there is contrast too, “like the whites of the coalminers’ eyes showing through their coal dusted faces, the hotel could never be all black”, explains Cornoedus. Red splashes of furnishings on the mezzanine lounge overlooking the restaurant with its gold gauze curtains provide subtle contrast.

The hotel’s black yin is countered by the white yang of the top floor Sense spa. Over 700m2 and with six treatment rooms, some of which include thoughtful relaxation niches, the spa is a calm space stretching over the entire top floor. The wide terrace, shaded by metal louvers and accessed by large, centrally pivoted glass doors along the glazed exterior wall, overlooks the stressed canopy of the agora below and some unremarkable residential blocks. Within are a mellow yellow restaurant, lit with bunches of golden-hued globe pendant metal lamp shades, and a raised podium of footbaths. Centre stage is the Badhuis (bath house) that includes two saunas (65˚C and 90˚C), between which is a crushed ice dispenser, plus a real Turkish hamam with heated treatment slab or sicaklik. The Ottoman inspired rasul massages on the sculptural chocolate-brown treatment table are hard to beat.
All guestrooms are separated from the street by a wide corridor lined with the woven vinyl carpet. Even the smaller rooms at 29m2 are amply sized if a little dark on arrival before the scrolling LED recessed light installation comes into play. This ‘mood setter’ can be controlled by the patient guest.

“I have used zones instead of rooms to create a feeling of transparency and a lack of separation within the guestrooms”, explains Cornoedus of the interiors that relate to his residential loft work. The bathroom areas are defined both by hanging half-height walls and raised terraces. In the larger rooms , bathtubs are sunk into the white bed headboard that also provides the desk space. A dropped ceiling above the tub and bed increase the intimacy.

The workmanship, seen in the custom-built dark wood casework and sealants around the glass-sided shower stall and black porcelain sanitary wear by Porcelenosa is exemplary. A coal-related image decorates one wall and colour is derived from the gold-green bed throw, and two conical Fab chairs by Fabiaan van Severen for Indera, in red upholstery.

The chairs sit either side of a brushed chrome pole that supports a swiveling flatscreen TV. The TV may swivel,  but watching it from the chairs is less than satisfactory, and the fixed position of the pole destroys any view to the courtyard. A minor grumble in an otherwise well thought through space.

Carbon Hotel is truly a destination hotel. The hotel with its meeting spaces, spa and restaurant really do make it a destination.

Carbon Hotel

Europalaan 38, 3600 Genk, Belgium

Tel +32 89 32 29 20

www.carbonhotel.be

Rooms  60 guestrooms
Dining    Taste Restaurant
Drinks    Taste Winebar
Leisure    Sense Spa
Facilities    2 Meeting Rooms