We recently stayed a night at a Lotte Hotel in Seattle. I must admit with some shame that I only thought of Lotte as just a candy company — but they are, in fact, a multinational conglomerate, and Korea’s fifth largest chaebol. So, hotels too.

First of all, that’s a seriously great logo.

Second of all, it was a really nice fancy hotel.

And third of all, being the off-season, we somehow lucked our way into an upgrade — a huge corner room with beautiful views of Seattle!!

But once we got in the room, I noticed something… odd… in the corner.

That funny little strip of curtain?!

W… why?

Why would you hang a curtain there?

You know I had to check that out.

And so, we found… well, see for yourself:

Yes.

There’s a (very, very) tiny, weird little fully finished enclosed corner hidden behind that blackout curtain. With an incredible view.

The perfect kid space, tucked out of sight.

I wondered, how did this happen?

The building is built with diagonal stripes that I, as an architectural moron, would’ve guessed were purely decorative. But now it’s obvious that they are actual structural supports that cut right through the rooms.

So what happens when two of the supports meet?

Of course, they leave a little triangle of space.

And the hotel — thankfully — ran with it. Carpet and all. Nice work, Lotte.

There’s one other thing to note.

If you look closely on the glass in that space, you’ll find indisputable anthropological evidence that my kids were not the first to discover it.

Those three little stickers represent a beautiful universal guarantee: if you build a weird funky little hidey space, kids will find it.

Did the architect consider that? I doubt it.

And, if you ask me, that makes it even better.

Best,
Cabel

PS: Room #1548

PPS: Yes, she was still in there the next day