It could’ve been so kitsch.
When you hear that a former prison has been transformed into a hotel, you’d be forgiven for imagining an incarceration-themed novelty destination, replete with door handles in the shape of handcuffs and complimentary striped pyjamas. Grüntuch Ernst Architekten’s sensitive adaptation of a women’s jail in Berlin-Charlottenburg is anything but, however. The landmark building, originally completed in 1896, has been carefully honed into a place of light and tranquility, and has already managed, since its opening last year, to cultivate a loyal community of discerning – and returning – guests in search of restorativeness rather than restorative justice. ‘We never woke up and decided to buy a prison and run a hotel,’ explains co-founder Almut Grüntuch Ernst. (She and her partner Armand Grüntuch are both Wilmina’s architects and its owners.) ‘It’s the kind of story you jus…
