Architecture as Organism

One of the most transformative events in the history of evolution occurred almost two billion years ago, when a single-celled organism engulfed a smaller cell, but did not digest it. Instead, the pair formed a symbiotic relationship. This mutually beneficial partnership enabled cells to become more complex, ultimately making multicellular life—plants, animals, and us—possible. Like the environment around us, architecture benefits from the interdependence of its parts. When designed as relational systems, the built world becomes capable of adapting and responding to the evolving needs of its inhabitants.

LAVA's Future Hotel, a 2008 prototype that emerged from the Fraunhofer IAO’s research into the future of hospitality, was influenced by such thinking. This hotel room is not a box outfitted with furniture and fixtures, but an organism in which all elements—bed, television, workspace, bathroom—are integrated and purposeful. Designed as a “spatial continuum,” the room replaces fragmentation with flow, using embedded technology to create a setting shaped by the rhythms and requirements of its users. Soft, curved forms create a cocoon-like atmosphere in this all-white suite, where zones for work, rest, and relaxation are anchored by a central bed and an immersive media window.

The design centers on rest and recalibration. “Usually, people go to a hotel to sleep,” explains Alexander Rieck, Partner at LAVA and Senior Researcher at Fraunhofer IAO. “Our research indicates that beyond the hours spent sleeping, individuals actually spend very little time in their rooms. This insight positions the bed as perhaps the most important element in a hotel room.” Sleep, a deeply individual experience that is easily disrupted, is difficult to design for—particularly in hotels, which typically rely on generalized solutions. LAVA’s prototype offers a responsive model that supports rest in the way that nature does, with a futuristic bed programmed to 60 Hz, a frequency that replicates our resting heart rate. “It’s like being in the womb,” says Rieck, “it’s the rhythm of the body, so it instantly creates a sense of safety and calm, helping soothe the body and prepare it for sleep.”

For guests arriving from different time zones, rest can be elusive—even in a bed designed to lull you to sleep. To address the discombobulation that comes with jet lag, LAVA devised a lighting system that simulates natural cycles to support circadian rhythm. LAVA explored a similar concept in the design of Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3, where a sculptural ceiling channels natural light into the marketplace to help travelers recalibrate after long journeys. In the Future Hotel, the light shifts in intensity and temperature throughout the day: cooler, brighter light promotes alertness while warmer, lower light helps transition to rest. The system is context-aware and programmed to respond to the movements of guests. “Technology is part of the architecture of the room itself,” explains Rieck. “The floor functions as a sensor, analysing data—movement, patterns, time—to anticipate the guest’s needs. Whether going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, preparing for a flight, hosting a party, or experiencing a medical emergency, the space adjusts lighting or signals for assistance as required.”

In nature, form and function are one and the same, each element works in concert to create the whole. LAVA’s design similarly integrates multiple functions into a single, unified form. The wraparound window that defines the walls of the room is both visual amenity and spatial interface. It operates as an opening to the outside world, reinforcing orientation and connecting the room to place, and—at the push of a button—transforms into a fully immersive digital surface. Visible from the bed and the bathroom, this screen reimagines isolated television units as an integrated architectural feature. The bathroom continues this logic of spatial consolidation. Rather than relegating wellness functions to a distant spa or basement sauna—as is typical in many hotels—LAVA reimagines the bathroom as a multi-sensory, restorative environment. Equipped with a steam bath and infrared sauna, and positioned to maintain visual continuity with the adaptive window system, the bathroom embeds recovery and ritual into the architecture itself.

This vision of architecture as an adaptive organism, one that is attuned to the rhythms and requirements of the body, informs much of LAVA’s work: “Really, every hotel that we design references these ideas,” says Rieck. “The level of technology varies, but the understanding of space and how it should respond to human experience remains constant.”