After reading about the Hollywood mansion that Graft architects Lars Krückeberg, Wolfram Putz and Thomas Willemeit designed for Brad Pitt, hotel owner Wolfgang Loock knew immediately that Graft would be the ideal firm to realize his vision for Q!. Combining fluid organic shapes and functional contemporary design, Graft’s design is wildly futuristic and still seductively comfortable.

Q!’s curvilinear architecture, especially dominant in the hotel’s lobby and lounge, contains no right angles, opting instead for a “continuous flow of form and space.” Occupying a seven-story building, Q!’s public spaces invite guests to relax in warm incandescent reds, with banquette seats carved out of the sweeping walls so that guests become living extensions of the interior topography.The space-age atmosphere of these shared spaces is softened by sensuous earth tones, smooth fabrics and a hint of retro glamour.

The lounge’s use of unusual, almost lunar shapes continues in each of the 77 pared-down guestrooms, where décor is kept to a minimum in order to focus attention on the spaces’ sculptural elements. Color schemes are clean and simple, limited to black and white, neutral tones and the occasional hint of red, with rich textures like artificial ostrich leather that complement the room’s abstract forms. The guestrooms’ primary focus are the integrated bed and baths, which epitomize Graft and Loock’s desire to combine form and function through unexpected design. Handsome smoked-oak bed frames wrap around the sink and bathtub to create one unit, while recalling the smooth organic lines of the lounge downstairs. Understated and elegant, the guestrooms incorporate slate and other natural materials, while the ceilings bear subtle traces of an arousing image by renowned photographer Christian Thomas of two bodies mingling seductively.

Temperatures also rise in the underground spa, which features a Japanese washroom, Finnish sauna, a Turkish bath and a heated “sandroom” lounge. Soft lighting radiates from the interior walls, bathing the sand in a diffused glow, while red lounge chairs resolve the hotel’s color palette, adding vivid forms to the otherwise sedate setting. Essential oils complete the sensory experience of this urban oasis that offers a sublime sanctuary from Berlin’s harsh winters. The hotel’s inconspicuous façade offers passersby only a glimpse of the interior’s otherworldly ambience. Its bold composition of luminous colors, desire-inducing shapes and fluid contours stimulates the senses, while soothing the mind. With its sleek forms and arousing spaces, Q! is refined without being redundant.