The hotel occupies a former light industrial building that dates from 1903. It is located within the district of Friedrichshain, an area formed around manufacturing and built when the railway and waterworks were opening in the late 19th Century.

The fourth floor of the Michelberger Hotel was formerly used as office space but it has been radically overhauled as a calm refuge from the hustle and bustle of Berlin city life. As the hotel evolves, the addition of a new floor provides the opportunity to offer more rooms to a growing number of guests, creating a better balance between private and social spaces.

Timber screens subtly partition open-plan spaces and offer views through the rooms and into different areas. These were inspired by an S-Bahn signal box opposite the hotel, that appears as a piece of furniture within the city landscape.

In contrast to the arborescent upper portions of the rooms, a series of datums have been introduced into the lower level. The material, textural and chromatic character of these datums attempt to describe the rooms in terms of ground, plinth, firmament and canopy.