Axel Vervoordt redesigns Hotel Bayerischer Hof’s lobby

hotel bayerischer hof axel vervoordt lobby — (Image credit: Photo by Daniel Schvarcz)

First impressions matter. Formed in a moment, they set the tone for everything that follows. A lobby, in many ways, is to a hotel what a facial expression is to a person. Welcoming guests is a precise ritual: weekly floral arrangements, an impeccably dressed front-of-house, a perfectly timed glass of something sparkling. Yet every choreography needs its stage, and this is where architecture takes hold.

In Munich, Hotel Bayerischer Hof – often dubbed the city’s ‘grande dame’ – has unveiled the latest chapter in its ongoing transformation, led by Belgian interior designer, art collector and antiques dealer Axel Vervoordt. Their collaboration began in 2009 with the hotel’s Atelier and Garden restaurants, before expanding across public, entertainment and guest spaces. The newest evolution in this nearly two-decade partnership is the reconsideration of the lobby, conceived as a reflection of the city’s palatial grandeur.

Axel Vervoordt redesigns Hotel Bayerischer Hof’s lobby

‘The lobby is the first impression and simultaneously the central space where the full diversity and depth of the hotel must be manifested,’ says Vervoordt. As such, the space now connects seamlessly to the hotel’s F&B landscape: Falk’s Bar, Trader Vic’s, Palais Keller, alongside the Garden and Atelier restaurants.

To establish clarity and proportion, Vervoordt tapped Japanese architect Tatsuro Miki, a close collaborator with whom he has worked on myriad projects, from a monolithic art gallery on the Oaxacan coast to a stately penthouse, part of the Greenwich Hotel in New York. For Hotel Bayerischer Hof’s new lobby, an original balustrade was replaced with non-load-bearing walls, while an inserted coffered ceiling now encloses the Italianate courtyard façade above.

Materially, the language remains grounded and exacting. Walls are finished in clay plaster; joinery in European walnut; leather elements in naturally tanned and dyed hides. The existing stone flooring is retained, with additional surfaces realised in ‘Hungarian Red’, sourced from the country’s last active quarry and long associated with aristocratic and ecclesiastical architecture across Austria and southern Germany.

Restraint carries through to the art. Positioned just off the Atrium entrance, an imposing work by the late Korean abstract painter Chung Chang-Sup anchors the room. ‘It expresses the peace and strength of the Seonbi spirit, typical of Korean art: intelligence conveyed in the most noble and humble way,’ notes Vervoordt.

Hotel Bayerischer Hof is located at Promenadepl. 2-6, 80333 München, Germany

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Sofia de la Cruz is the Travel Editor at Wallpaper*. A self-declared flâneuse, she feels most inspired when taking the role of a cultural observer – chronicling the essence of cities and remote corners through their nuances, rituals, and people. Her work lives at the intersection of art, design, and culture, often shaped by conversations with the photographers who capture these worlds through their lens.