Qub Rooms Creates An Unexpected Sight in A Dense Commercial Strip

Qub Rooms is a 10-room hotel located in a dense commercial strip in the centre of Semarang, Indonesia. Once a mundane 3-storey shophouse, the building is transformed into an industrial yet chic structure with a unique façade made out of multiple-sized openings, cladded with black steel. This creates an unexpected sight among the 90's white ceramic tiles and blue glass façades. Also fitting within the urban fabric of the city, the qub(ic) shaped openings articulated across the façade in varied sizes are meant to blur the visual understanding of the real floor levels behind the façade, thus heightening the scale of the building.

The existing structures are reutilised as much as possible to sustainably reuse the building while adapting it to the new function. The old drywall ceilings, walls, and existing staircases are all stripped off from the building to maximise the usable space for the hotel.

The interior design of the hotel is a play of monotone new elements, such as curved white exterior walls of the rooms and rough black brick walls as the backdrop of each hotel room. They are juxtaposed with the rawness of exposed concrete ceiling deck that is adorned with a network of electrical conduits playfully running across the rooms and corridors of the hotel.

Sleek lines of steel bar lighting are added in the design of the lobby, the hotel rooms, and the corridor to create a sense of finesse and sophistication to the hotel.

The stairs are fully made of perforated steel plates, allowing air to go through the void. The movement up and down the stairs can be seen through its transparency which further makes the public space more active and dynamic. The corridors of the hotel are also allowed to breathe by the use of louver windows at the front and back of the hotel, thus allowing cross ventilation throughout the building.

Behind the louver windows at the back, lush tropical greeneries are planted to reduce the effect of air and noise pollution in the city as well as the heat gain while creating fresh air into the hotel.

Qub Rooms challenges the typology of common 3-storey shophouses found in many corners in Semarang. Within the typical width and height constraint, a transformation of function is able to form a much more interesting articulation of commercial façade, utilizing specific material and architectural form while enriching the urban experience.