Mollie hotel celebrates Aspen’s close ties to the Bauhaus
Mollie hotel, by CCY Architects and Post Company, pays homage to the Bauhaus influence on the Colorado ski resort
Set along Aspen, Colorado’s central Paepcke Park, Mollie is a new 68-room hotel with stylistic nods to the Bauhaus, the German architecture and design school that helped spawn modernism. One of its most prominent students, Austrian American architect Herbert Bayer, was instrumental in shaping the look and feel of the popular ski resort town.
Mollie hotel is perched on Aspen’s Paepcke Park
Polymath Bayer – perhaps most famous for developing the eponymous geometric san serif typeface – was behind the design of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, the renovation of Aspen’s Wheeler Opera House, and numerous local arts and culture buildings. His implementation of rational functionalism is evident throughout the city.
With a façade evoking Silver Boom-era lot lines but also the simplicity of rectilinear massing so critical to the Bauhaus principle, Mollie stands out amongst nearby Victorian homes, yet its proportioning is conducive to its context. Large exposures help frame the surrounding natural beauty, while reflecting the scale of these historical, 19th-century structures’ fenestration. Award-winning local firm CCY Architects was responsible for this thoughtful, site-responsive approach.
Much of the chosen building material reflects this explicit yet nuanced treatment. A dark red and purple structural base suggests the natural oxidation of stone in the nearby Elk Mountains, but also the components prevalent throughout Aspen’s downtown. The exterior is clad in fast-growing, sustainably harvested radiata pine and applied in a slightly non-uniform fashion to emulate the area’s dense forests.
‘Mollie Aspen is an homage to the city’s reputation as a place of art, culture, and adventure,’ says Ruben Caldwell, partner at Post Company, the firm charged with the hotel’s interior design. ‘We took inspiration from the town’s storied mining history, natural landscape, and Bauhaus presence, which reflects its tradition of being firmly grounded while gazing abroad.’
Through the various public spaces – an open-plan lobby and living room-esque bar – and guest rooms, the reduction of superfluous excess, as espoused by the Bauhaus, is harnessed in the idiosyncratic shapes common in the American West. The latest energy efficiency technologies – such as solar-powered heat pumps – pull this holistic concept together.
Clean lines play off of natural materials, earthenware ceramics, sand-cast solid brass, and pared-back yet hand-woven textiles indicative of Anni Albers, another of the Bauhaus’ influential graduates. Earthtones and soft yet restrained shapes abound throughout. The hotel is a testament to the fact that the ability to achieve formal rigour doesn’t have to come at the cost of the finest artisanal prowess. Industry and craft aren’t always mutually exclusive.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Adrian Madlener is a Brussels-born, New York-based writer, curator, consultant, and artist. Over the past ten years, he’s held editorial positions at The Architect’s Newspaper, TLmag, and Frame magazine, while also contributing to publications such as Architectural Digest, Artnet News, Cultured, Domus, Dwell, Hypebeast, Galerie, and Metropolis. In 2023, He helped write the Vincenzo De Cotiis: Interiors monograph. With degrees from the Design Academy Eindhoven and Parsons School of Design, Adrian is particularly focused on topics that exemplify the best in craft-led experimentation and sustainability.
-
Get to know Issey Miyake’s innovative A-POC ABLE line as it arrives in the UK
As A-POC ABLE Issey Miyake launches in London this week, designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae gives Wallpaper* the lowdown on the experimental Issey Miyake offshoot
By Jack Moss Published
-
Eurovision unveils its 2024 stage, designed by Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour creatives
This year's stage design aims to bring the audience into the performance more than ever before.
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Ikea meets Japan in this new pattern-filled collection
New Ikea Sötrönn collection by Japanese artist Hiroko Takahashi brings Japan and Scandinavia together in a pattern-filled, joyful range for the home
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Southern Arizona sets the scene for a corking vineyard experience at Los Milics
Los Milics winery, designed by Chen + Suchart Studio, is set among vines at the foothills of the Mustang Mountains
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Enjoy camp escapism at Hotel Bardo Savannah
Hotel Bardo Savannah is a sophisticated resort inspired by the grand tradition of the early 20th-century salon
By Sallie Lewis Published
-
Dario Restaurant brings a pink punk edge to Minneapolis’ North Loop
Minneapolis’ Dario Restaurant dishes up homemade pasta in quirky interiors designed by Wittkamper Studio
By Carole Dixon Published
-
Get groovy at The Pinky Ring, Las Vegas, a 1970s cocktail lounge shaking up the city
The Pinky Ring is a Las Vegas cocktail and live music venue designed by Yabu Pushelberg for Bruno Mars
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Inside the lavish, members-only Core Club New York
Core Club opens a new flagship in New York, boasting top-tier hospitality and entertainment, and a terrace with panoramic Manhattan views
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Warren Street Hotel is a colourful marvel in downtown Tribeca
The Warren Street Hotel boasts a distinct blue façade and eclectic interiors by Kit Kemp Design Studio
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
San Sabino offers mellow Italian-American dining in New York
San Sabino debuts in New York’s West Village, helmed by Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli, with interiors by GRT Architects
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Fried chicken fever? Coqodaq knows how to do it
Devoted disciples of Korean fried chicken can worship at Manhattan’s Coqodaq, designed by the Rockwell Group
By Sofia de la Cruz Published