Q&A POWERSTRIP STUDIO
Dayna Lee and Ted Berner launched Powerstrip Studio in Los Angeles in 2000. The company specialises in conceptual design for hotels, restaurants, lounges, spas, outdoor living areas and theatres and has created such hotels as Ivy Hotel, 39 Degrees Aspen, The Bridge, W Los Angeles, W New Orleans, Blowfish, Hotel Derek, Westin Governor Morris, and Quarter Kitchen. Powerstrip Studio has also worked with directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Ridley Scott and Paul T. Anderson on projects that have been acknowledged with Emmy nominations for Outstanding Art Direction and an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction.
The company’s latest project is
Berlin’s iconic Hotel Zoo, where the soaring ceilings have been restored and the original brick and steel work revealed. There are
touches of fantasy in the public spaces, where Alice-in-Wonderland whimsy is invoked with playful proportions.
Hotelier International: What attracted you to The Zoo and did you have to adapt your regular way of working at all when working in Europe?
Powerstrip: It is not often that a legendary huge private residence—fitting 140 hotel guest rooms—comes our way to design, and in fabulous Berlin on one of the world’s grandest boulevards, Kurfurstendamm. Berlin is our perfect city—it is both deeply historical and avant-garde. It is still social and awake where late nights fold into early mornings, which matches our creative style. We adapt our way of working for all projects. In Germany, there are more phases of design
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than in the US. For our historic hotel project in London, there were triple the number of consultants required and the city is heavily involved. In Asia, detailed renderings pave the way for approvals from the mysterious “Chairman”. The most amazing part of designing Hotel Zoo is that we never shared the same language with the architect and engineers at the work session table. We communicated through drawing. It was so smooth, a really phenomenal experience.
HI: What does your West Coast sensitivity bring to your project, and will guests notice the influence?
Powerstrip: We are East Coasters with a design studio on the West Coast because it embraces a lovely informal lifestyle within glamorous spaces. Our team laid out high-
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