Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery, Hilton Cologne Hotel Interior Design, New German Architecture Photos

Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery at Hilton Cologne

4 January 2022

Design: THDP

Location: Hilton Cologne, Marzellenstraße 13-17, 50668 Köln, Germany

Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery At Hilton Cologne By THDP

Photos by Stefan Bunkofer

A place to return home and set off, a place to connect people from all over the world.

A culinary and social hub – ideal to mingle, relax or work in Cologne’s city heart.

Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery, Hilton Cologne Interior

THDP is proud to introduce the new Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery at Hilton Cologne, with a design concept inspired by the history of the hotel and its building – once being a Post Office.

A brand new bar and kitchen offers a combination of local dishes and beverages mixed with Mediterranean ingredients and infused with international influences.

The location

The Hotel is nestled in an amazing location in Cologne’s city heart, being a stone’s throw from the most visited attraction in the city the Cologne Cathedral, a building of superlatives that is the centre and hallmark of this city on the Rhine. The city began life as a Roman colony (hence its name) and was a key strategic site. Catholicism flourished in this part of the Roman Empire and in 1248 construction began on a mighty cathedral worth of housing the relics of the Three Kings themselves.

Because of these relics, the cathedral became one of the most important places of pilgrimage in Europe. Its two massive towers have dominated the city’s skyline since their completion in 1880. At 157.38 meters, the northern tower is 7cm taller than the southern one.

Germany’s fourth-largest and arguably most cheerful city is one of the most important commercial and cultural centres in Germany. Cologne (Köln in German) is famous for its 12 great Romanesque churches – especially the magnificent Cologne Cathedral as well as some other great sights. Cologne’s art comes in many forms, from Roman mosaics and impressive stained-glass windows to world class art museums featuring Andy Warhol, Roy Liechtenstein and Pablo Picasso.

Then there is the classic appeal of the Old Town, with its narrow streets and houses painted in pastel shades. Cologne’s vibrant cultural life attracts both national and international visitors. The City is known for vibrant cultural scene, including numerous festivals such as Cologne Carnival, Cologne Lights, Cologne Pride, Art Cologne, IMM Cologne, Heinzels Winter Fairy-tale: Handbrotzeit and several food festivals, amongst many others.

The Hotel

The Hilton Cologne lobby, bar and social space were redesigned and re-furbished with a modern, innovative gastronomy concept. The centerpiece is the new ‘Pigeon Post’ – a combination of restaurant, bar and lounge and social working area – with an unusual name and funny details as a clear reference to the history of the building. It was a post office in the early 1950s through to the late 1990s. Later, after a long vacancy, in 2002 it was finally gutted and converted into the Hilton Hotel.

The Pigeon Post replaces the Lobby Bar and the previous IceBar. The Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery invites you to enjoy special coffee specialties in the morning, after which it becomes the “Eatery” with a separate entrance for external guests. At lunchtime and in the evening, there are refined à la carte dishes on the menu – while the bar tempts you with a variety of cocktails and drinks from 5 p.m.

The optically chic restaurant & bar was built with a total of 110 seats, with a variety of furnishings, seating options including intimately lit dining areas. The Interior designers implemented the new concept and included some quirky details, typewriters as artworks, mailboxess in which you can leave books and magazines for other guests – you can even choose and send postcards for free.

Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery Concept

Keywords: charming, fresh ,inviting, invigorating characterful & big on fun.

The hotel was once home to Cologne’s postal savings bank, a landmark building on the famous Marzellenstrasse. The building’s heritage is the inspiration for the interior design – expressing this vintage vibe, considered, contemporary with fun quirky details.

A feature central bar with prominent overhead gantry in wood and copper colours, Table tops are in faux marble effects from Dekton and Neolith – expressing the previous functionality of the building and updating the effect to offer a more intimate but contemporary vibe.

Seating options in the bar are either at the bar on new Stellar Works bar stools, and custom made half moon cozy booths fabricated by Hagenauer, providing private dining in a more intimate space.

Dining/lounge sets of 4 and 2 are for more casual occasions.

The interior uses a simple earthy colour palette of blue greens, greys drizzled with mustard, and has a unique balance between industrial, vintage and modern styling. Visually attractive textures and materials were chose as guest touchpoints, visual appeal and durability.

Artworks & Accessories

Curating the artwork and accessory package sprang from the narrative of the F&B concept, an early choice was to re-use obsolete German 70’s office equipment and furnishings and to re-appropriate them in a relevant contemporary way. The overall effect was to convey a sense of heritage with a real 1970’s vibe. Vintage mechanical typewriters, light fittings and objet d’art were curated to give an aesthetic appeal and to be a curio or an ornamental talking point for “Pigeon Post” guests.

Artworks were inspired by the buildings history as a post office and represented using various mediums, including mixed media painting, stamp collages, ceramics, wood and digital prints created by local and international artists.

Fun, colourful decorative objects, books and curiosities were incorporated for the dressing of the social working area Library. Artworks inspired by collages, typography recalling the graphics of old German post offices, with perching wooden pigeons, screening inspired by typewriter keys were all incorporated to layer the interior. Typewriters are mounted in glass display cases each with a love letters being typed, post boxes and writing counters are postioned to invite guests to pick up a free postcard and write to a loved one or friend – the hotel then posts them for free.

The cool relaxed dining area uses dark faux stone for the table tops, seating is framed by rear glass privacy screening with bespoke lighting which is retro illuminated and visible front street.

Signage is taken from Post Office Graphics mimicking postal or travel signage – using post marks and postage stamps.

Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery Contractor & Suppliers

• Main Contractor Hagenauer Group
• Kitchen & Furniture Hagenauer Group
• Lighting: Decor Amo, Anglepoise, Lee Broom, Il Fanale, Marset, Insight Cordless
• Carpet: Brintons Carpets
• Seating: Stellar Works & Parla Design
• Fabrics: Flukso, Sekers, Kvadrat, Naturtex
• Finishes: Dekton by Cosentino, Neolith

THDP

THDP was founded in 2005 by partners and couple Italian Architect Manuela Mannino & British Interior Designer Nicholas J. Hickson. The studio is based in London England and Milan Italy and has a team of 10 people between the two countries.

Manuela and Nicholas met in London in 2000 and their first hospitality project was the Olympic resort of Pragelato for the Turin 2006 winter games. Since then, the studio has gone on to design hotels, restaurants, and residences internationally, focusing on the UK, Europe and in particular Italy. The THDP creative team works comfortably in the demanding discipline of international hospitality design, focusing on re-branding hotels and new delivering amazing concepts for new and old properties alike.

THDP aims to be flexible and able to react to the fast-moving waters of the hospitality sector, incorporating an authentic narrative based approach with deep local research. THDP works with a curated selections of local; manufacturers, artisans, and talented artists, their interiors reflect an experiential guests focused approach.

The THDP approach springs from an endless creative curiosity, enthused by the founders into every team member, each of them chosen because they have a true passion for Interior Design, and everyone an integral part of the successful THDP team – evident in their 35 Hotel projects and counting.
THDP is a chartered RIBA member, SBID and NEWH member in the UK. Manuela Mannino is a member Turin board of architects since 1995.
www.thdpdesign.com
https://www.instagram.com/thdp/?hl=en

Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery, Hilton Cologne – Building Information

Address: Hilton Cologne, Marzellenstraße 13-17, 50668 Köln, Germay
Brand: Hilton
Operator: International Brand Hospitality GmbH
Seats: 200 (combined from restaurant, bar & lounge)

Web: https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/cgnhihi-hilton-cologne/dining/
Phone: +49 221 130710
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pigeonpostbar

Executive Chef: Stefan Luxem
Concept:mediterrane Küche mit Kölner Touch
Host & Bar Manager: David Sasse

Interior Design: THDP
Hilton Design Manager: Jeremy Whyntie
Hilton Project Director: Leo Kenyon
Lighting Consultant: DPA Lighting
General Manager: Martin Soerensen

Photo credits: Stefan Bunkofer

Pigeon Post Bar & Eatery, Hilton Cologne Hotel information / images received 040122 from THDP

Location: Hilton Cologne, Marzellenstraße 13-17, 50668 Köln, North Rhine-Westphalia, Northwestern Germany

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