The Smirnoff Button Room
Forbidden fruit in a hotel room
One enters the room through a chrome-plated sheet metal door. Above the bed, the same bed hangs from the ceiling. The walls are bright red and above the headboard of the bed there is a bright red emergency stop button with a sign underneath that reads:
DO NOT TOUCH BUTTON
If you do, nothing happens at first (curiously enough). Then strange sounds come from under the bed. Strange singing in an unknown language fills the room. And suddenly, with a hellish rattle, chrome-plated steel shutters drop down along all four walls. Past the window, in front of the knob and in front of the phone. Almost imperceptibly, the room temperature has also dropped dramatically.
Fully locked in, there is anything but soothing music. After a few minutes, three monitors light up in the upper bed. It becomes clear to the hotel guest that he has been filmed by five hidden cameras for some time. After about 15 minutes, with the same infernal rattle, all four shutters go up simultaneously. The light and temperature return to normal. The entire room is exactly as it was before the breach.
Client: Winston Hotel, Frans Verlinden
Jasper de Haan architects
Amsterdam 2000-2002
With Dirk Krechting