Expand view for photograph Black and white floor plan of a food hall with labeled areas including lobby, stage, storage, restrooms, kitchen, public seating, theater/food hall bar, to-go counter, and an enclosed courtyard with trees.
Expand view for photograph Architectural rendering of a long, narrow hallway with ornate wooden carvings on the ceiling and walls, intricate patterns, and glowing round ceiling lights. The polished floor reflects the decorative designs above.
The studio project involved the revamp of the historic Von Minden Hotel, located in Schulenburg, Tx. It operated as a traveler’s hotel and theater since 1926. I wanted to capture the town and the hotel’s history through my design proposal. I pulled in aspects of Wes Anderson’s directorial aesthetic as inspiration for my project. The proposal aimed to translate concepts such as one-point perspective and symmetry with more abstract ideas of nostalgia, humor and exaggerated theatrics into a guest experience of a space through design.
Creating framed views through circulation, framed panel designs, niche wall spaces were all part of the narrative that I wanted to weave through my project. To highlight the building’s history with its unusual combination of hotel + theater, the panels and framework were all designed to look like theater curtains that are being drawn open. The guests are brought into the stage, into each frame, and into the narrative and continued history of the Von Minden Hotel.
Fall 2020 Design Excellence Award Winner
Malati Vasudevan
Advanced Interior Design Studio
Instructor: Lysa Janssen
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