Budget hotels always offer basic, boxy rooms, but not many are as creative as this alternative gem in the Brussels' brutalist Jam Hotel.
Brussels is a city of grand townhouses and art nouveau. Yet plonked in the middle of the Belgian capital, on a nondescript street corner, has appeared a hotel that looks like downtown LA had it been swallowed by lava. An old 1970s art college has been redesigned and rebuilt, by people who usually make film sets, to become the oddest, most fashionable, most affordable stopover in Europe.
The reception desk is held up by a pair of motorcycles dipped in concrete – above it rest maquettes, Paolozzi-like little bricks of angles and texture.
In bedrooms, the roughness of concrete and cement is softened by elegant plywood, glowing in the bright light of those office-wide windows. To the right of the double bed, above a built-in sofa, a ladder climbs up to what looks like a cupboard. But slide the doors open and here is the promised cabine bed. Its sleek neatness is pleasing, its promise of claustrophobia less so.
In a place where every corner hides a new, brutalist thrill, this is the most exciting aspect of the Jam Hotel and starts from €18 (£15) a night per person.
This is one of a group of alternative Belgian hotels that are run by Jean-Michel André, a hotelier aiming to innovate the industry. They offer “experiences”, he says. I note that as well as bikes, there are skateboards for guests to borrow.
The interior designer, Lionel Jadot, came up with the hotel’s name – he was thinking of traffic. He said he treated the ground floor like a “big constructivist sculpture” and it’s an odd feeling, emerging from this romantic bleakness into streets of neo-classical architecture.
However, if you’re attempting to recreate the Jam’s interior, it will take a little more than a morning at the market.
Dorm rooms cost from €18 (£15) a night, while a room sleeping six costs from €150 (£128) at Jam Hotel, Brussels (jamhotel.be). Eurostar operates up to 11 daily services from London St Pancras International to Brussels, with fares from £29 one way (eurostar.com).
Source: Concrete thinking's in fashion at Brussels' brutalist Jam Hotel
Brussels is a city of grand townhouses and art nouveau. Yet plonked in the middle of the Belgian capital, on a nondescript street corner, has appeared a hotel that looks like downtown LA had it been swallowed by lava. An old 1970s art college has been redesigned and rebuilt, by people who usually make film sets, to become the oddest, most fashionable, most affordable stopover in Europe.
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| Plywood paradise … Jam Hotel |
The reception desk is held up by a pair of motorcycles dipped in concrete – above it rest maquettes, Paolozzi-like little bricks of angles and texture.
In bedrooms, the roughness of concrete and cement is softened by elegant plywood, glowing in the bright light of those office-wide windows. To the right of the double bed, above a built-in sofa, a ladder climbs up to what looks like a cupboard. But slide the doors open and here is the promised cabine bed. Its sleek neatness is pleasing, its promise of claustrophobia less so.
In a place where every corner hides a new, brutalist thrill, this is the most exciting aspect of the Jam Hotel and starts from €18 (£15) a night per person.
This is one of a group of alternative Belgian hotels that are run by Jean-Michel André, a hotelier aiming to innovate the industry. They offer “experiences”, he says. I note that as well as bikes, there are skateboards for guests to borrow.
The interior designer, Lionel Jadot, came up with the hotel’s name – he was thinking of traffic. He said he treated the ground floor like a “big constructivist sculpture” and it’s an odd feeling, emerging from this romantic bleakness into streets of neo-classical architecture.
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| Lane swim … the thin pool on the rooftop. |
Dorm rooms cost from €18 (£15) a night, while a room sleeping six costs from €150 (£128) at Jam Hotel, Brussels (jamhotel.be). Eurostar operates up to 11 daily services from London St Pancras International to Brussels, with fares from £29 one way (eurostar.com).
Source: Concrete thinking's in fashion at Brussels' brutalist Jam Hotel
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