600 Years-old - Design & Architect Talk: Blaue Gans, Salzburg

What we love doing at The Aficionados – and indeed, why we do what we do - comes from a desire to find small, inspiring hotels that value design, style and architecture just as much as we do.

The Arthotel Blaue Gans in Salzburg, Austria, is just one of those hotels.

Christian Prasser, architect of self-assured and confident Blaue Gans, explains how once he saw the building and spoke to the owner (and avid art fiend) Andreas Gfrerer, he saw that Blaue Gans would simply glow if he made sure it presented a “a cautious co-existence of old and new.”

One of Austria’s most striking design and art hotels, Blaue Gans is also Salzburg’s oldest coaching inn, dating far back to the 1350’s.

Found sitting right on the cobbled streets of Altstadt (Old Town), it is not far from where Mozart was born – and is most probably and old drinking haunt of his.

An incredibly old building, the architect’s clever manipulation of light and the classically Austrian whitewashed walls expand the spatial dimensions of these slightly smaller (yet enticingly old) rooms.

Christian’s humorously literal interpretation of furniture also adds to the architectural and design impact of the place, as he regarded each piece of furniture as a solitaire – a gem unto itself, and so, highly respected and fiercely considered, each piece is terribly functional as well as, of course, incredibly stylish.

In the CitySuite, Wittmann, Austrian handcraft since 1896 - was the perfect partner for the legendary hotel Blaue Gans in the heartlands of oldtown Salzburg. Antique baroque doors, marble-floored entrance halls and ornamented ceilings transport guests to the grandeur of centuries past. Wittmann furniture in cool blue, yellow and orange, and the Wings beds with hand-made Wittmann mattresses promise the highest levels of comfort. An interior that will truly give you goosebumps.

Ultimately, as the architect he established that within Blaue Gans’ walls there is no neutral design.

“The further the tension between tradition and modernity, the more the space becomes free for inspiration.”

In pursuing this aim and designing to this tune, Blaue Gans has a freeing, exciting, inspiring atmosphere that sees clever architectural and design devices parallel the old and the new to extreme yet complementary dimensions.

In this one of a kind Austrian build; the architecture and design have worked seamlessly together to make Blaue Gans a hotel in which it seems anything is possible.