The Iron Horse Hotel’s transformation from an old mattress factory into a trendy, dim-lighted, evocative place showed the immense amount of thought put into design process. It’s a place for motorcycle enthusiasts, the well off business cliental, and even the average day Joe.
After the few seconds of observing the general layout of the building, I became well aware that the design of the hotel was not only preserving the building’s foundation and wooden beams, but also utilizing elements of the preexisting factory as well as maintaining both past and present elements of Milwaukee.
Besides the usage of gears and gadgets as functional pieces, the subtle details of worn looking furniture add to the theme that the space is untouched history. My favorite aspect of design was their attempt to preserve a historic snap shot of Milwaukee’s local residents through the use of murals. Supposedly someone mentioned that Milwaukee does not have beautiful women, which I have heard myself on numerous occasions. To correct that myth, each hotel room has a full wall mural of a gorgeous ‘Milwaukee’ girl. No professional models were used in the making. When the tour guide explained the meaning behind the breath-taking murals on the hotel walls it added to the essence of Milwaukee making a statement to the rest of the states of being of equal value.
It stood out to me right away because every hotel, whether it is old, new, expensive, or average, never uses permanent décor on their walls. Styles change, so when they do the hotel can take down their dated artwork and replace it with a new picture frame. The murals were the hotel’s way of preserving the present day culture and stylizing it in an old fashion way. It demonstrated their commitment to keep an element of modern day culture that could one day be considered another historic element.
I also really enjoyed the mural and how it demonstrates a commitment to the city. The way in which they designed the floors to fit the structure which was in no way intended to be a hotel is nothing short of amazing.
ReplyDeleteThe mural was also very interesting to me. It's beautiful not only objectively but also subjectively, because in a sense, the idea of the mural of the woman from milwaukee, just because a woman straight off the street, is a sort of juxtaposition with the building being being old and preserved and still maintaining beauty, when many people do not associate the old with being beautiful.
ReplyDeleteExcellent selection of image. I think that the integration of the images, which were originally photos blown up to wall size really transformed the rooms. I loved that the photographer came in and personalized each of the images in the rooms to create that unique experience.
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