I had heard of Play Design Hotel through several different platforms and wanted to check it out for myself. The idea of a hotel not just being a place to rest and it being an interface for experiencing unique design sounded like a lot of fun.
Don’t be fooled by the modest exterior of Play Design Hotel. What it lacks here, it makes up for and then some in the rooms upstairs.
After you’ve climbed the stairs/taken the elevator to the 5th Floor, you’ll be greeted by Beta, this happy soul at the front desk! With excellent English and knowledge of all of the rooms, Beta will make sure you’re comfortable with your stay and is quick to answer any questions about any element of the hotel.
Immediately you see the nice notes that previous guests have left, interesting books about design and also about shops around the local area.
They’re clearly doing something right ^
After you’ve checked in with Beta, she’ll take you to your room and explain the features to you.
The hallway goes for that kind of bare-bones design look. The hotel boasts 5 rooms.
There are plenty of books to get your head into, for designers and foodies, alike.
Also, at the end of the corridor, you’ll find a collection of a lot of the cute things you will discover in each of the rooms within the hotel.
I’ll explain this weird looking thing in a later picture…
What’s this?? A bottle opener…
Mmmm, tea 🙂
An interesting concrete ‘air freshener‘. A few drops on top of the concrete sculpture, and you’ve got instant fresh smells filling the room. Want a different aroma? Then wash it off under the tap, leave it to dry, and repeat with your desired scent. Cute!
Every time I use these teapots, I burn my fingers. But it doesn’t stop me from using them again and again. It’s an interesting way to brew tea, and doesn’t look like the typical teapot we have in the west.
I really enjoyed this simple LED lamp. It also reminded me of something I’d expect to see on Mad Men.
More books to pique your interest.
Future Lab
From $4, 200/night
We were fortunate to take a look into Future Lab. Future Lab is the baby of three design artists: Pei-Ying Lin, Kuang-Yi Ku and Paul Gong from the “Ouroboros Organic Organisms of O” in Taiwan.
Striking as soon as you walk in, is this design piece of the Norovirus structure. It kind of sets the tone for this playful room.
Scattered on the floor are more pieces of similar art, and the long yellow one is meant to represent a long armpit hair. Put your arm through the hole and wear it on your arm…
I felt like a lab technician walking in here. It definitely made me smile a lot.
Although, there were some parts that could be interpreted to be cringe – take this fake armpit hair, for example.
…or this white gown with fake hair affixed to one armpit, where you can wear the other long armpit hair on the other arm.
I’ve definitely not had this kind of experience in a hotel before.
If anyone wanted to take a look at one of my armpit hairs through a microscope…
This room also exclusively has a petri dish in the fridge. Open it, stick your fingers inside and press down, then seal it back up again. Write your name, and they will grow the culture inside the petri dish and put it for all to see if they start to see some results.
Future Lab also has a unique interaction system. Scan the QR code for this specific room…
…Chinese or English…
…a schematic of the room will appear, highlighting different items in the room that you can find information on. Click on the area…
…then it will expand the area and you can hone in on the specific item you’d like to learn more about.
Brilliant. I could spend hours in here!
I strangely enjoyed these mugs, too.
Beautiful design. What is it? A Bluetooth speaker 🙂
I wanted to buy this clock so much.
Installation art all over the place!
They also have all the modern appliances you could expect of an Air BnB/hotel. It’s nice to have your own washing machine, but we were only here for 1 night.
MIT 3.0 Room
From $4,200/night
This beautiful chair and desk combo was a winner. The chair is a beech and walnut combo, and the desk you can buy it in both walnut or oak.
Made entirely from recycled products, this moveable cupboard is beautifully made.
Concrete clock, anyone? They also make this in a watch, but the watch is a bit too big for my liking. This clock was nice, though.
Localware lamp. To the untrained Taiwanese eye this may look like any ordinary lamp, but take a closer look and…
..you can basically see 7-11 recycled products everywhere!
The legs are from water or tea bottles, the lamp base is made out of a microwavable lid from a meal box, and the lamp itself is made from one of those Cream soda-like drinks. Fun!
These tea cups were beautiful, too.
How beautiful is this set? This Kung Fu Tea set was a joy to use, but I think I prefer Dot Design’s ‘Two Leaves’ Tea pot, instead…
I was a big fan of this beautiful vase, made from Terrazzo. You’ve probably seen Terrazzo on the floors of apartments, schools or other places around Taiwan before. But here, they’ve made it into a vase. And let me tell you this, this was damn heavy!
This mini duster was so cute. Handmade, useful, and discrete enough to act as a paperweight. Beautiful.
My morning cup of tea, always!
Even this Brass pen was legit and handmade.
The Bottom Line
Basically, from start to finish, Play Design Hotel was just the perfect place for the curious amongst you to check out. The Future Lab and the MIT 3.0 room were both full of interesting artistic design from cups to tables, and from pens to dusters.
I had a lot of fun exploring this hotel, and I will absolutely be coming back to check out their other rooms!
Eating in Taipei 