LAVA’s Y–shaped Sports Youth Hostel is the new generation of youth hostels – international, innovative and integrative – and has recently opened in Bayreuth, Germany. LAVA’s concept for the sports hostel was: 1. International – the design creates a feeling of the place and combines it with modern design elements 2. Innovative – a new spatial configuration of the whole sports facility, individual room modules, material use and design. 3. Integrated – inclusive ‘barrier-free’ building, grounds and facilities.
LAVA chose a ‘Y’ shape for the 180-bed hostel because it cleverly generates a connective central space and interweaves the interior and exterior spaces, offering expansive views and multiple accessible openings to the sports fields and gardens.
The central atrium is a hub for offline and online entertainment, interaction and communication. Here a skylight provides natural daylight to a central amphitheatre that connects the different levels, whilst horizontal and diagonal sightlines direct guests to different building functions.
There are flexible room walls with contemporary modular ‘built-in furniture’ elements; and rooms, grounds and sports fields are all wheelchair accessible.
The designer age means Gen Y travellers want funky design, access to online and community, unique experiences, not just a clean bed and shower.
LAVA’s design is a yardstick for the sports hostel of the future through innovative spatial configurations, sustainability at environmental, and structural and social levels, and integrated sporting facilities.
Design and info © LAVA
Images © LAVA, Häfele, Studio Huber, DJH, Robert Pupeter