Hotel experience with art at its core in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki
Hotel AX initially started as an artist collective with a desire to create a hotel experience with art at its core. Once Prime Hotels became a partner in the project, Sarc was approached to design the building in Jätkäsaari, a former harbor area now becoming a bustling urban extension of the Helsinki city center.
Cues of this context are in the building’s design: a concrete base of warehouse-scale windows accented with Hanna Vihriälä’s sculptures, a metal façade in collaboration with Grönlund & Nisunen offering privacy to guests and a kinetic light experience for the surroundings. The entrance is guarded by Stefan Lindfors’s sculpture, a friendly bouncer pointing the way to the bar inside.
The ground floor is a flexible space for art, food and drink. Fixed works by Pekka Jylhä, Rauha Mäkilä and Stefan Bremer are accompanied by a curated collection of changing works as a mixed gallery. The basement was carved into the program to house necessary and fixed hotel amenities and utilities, pushed underground to free space above for people, art and fun.
Accommodation on the upper floors is a mix of room types with a selection of signature rooms designed and executed by different artists. In the spirit of the arts, studio rooms on the top floors offer views over Helsinki. The interiors were designed and executed with Stefan Lindfors and Vallila Interior.
Facts
| Location | Helsinki |
| Year | 2022 |
| Size | 6500 m² |
| Client | Prime Hotels, S-Pankki |
